It will come as a shock to the members of the Evangelical Church in Schongau: Pastor Jost Herrmann is leaving Schongau after five years.
The sympathetic and passionate fighter for justice and a reasonable asylum policy will take up the position of parish leader in Kaufbeuren in the autumn.
Schongau – Jost Herrmann contacted the editors objectively and soberly: “I will face a new challenge in the fall and take up the post of parish leader in Kaufbeuren.” After his application last week, the 58-year-old was from the regional church to the church board been presented.
"I didn't expect to be accepted straight away.
There are colleagues who have applied nine times,” reports Herrmann.
And is looking forward to the new area: "It is a big task and shows a great sign of trust on the part of the Dean of Kempten, Dittmar, and the regional bishop, Axel Piper."
As a rule, you stay in a community for five to twelve years.
"But it was clear to me that I didn't want to stay until I retired," says Herrmann.
"I'll soon be 59 years old, so it was also a timing decision: either now or no longer." It has nothing to do with Schongau itself, "on the contrary," emphasizes Herrmann.
"A lot of things went well here, I didn't get much headwind and did a lot in the district."
After 16 years in the Weilheim-Schongau district, nine of them in Weilheim, it was time to move on to another station with his wife Annette.
"We both like to be on the road and would have liked to go abroad," says Herrmann.
You have decided against it.
"Kaufbeuren is not Harare, but it's still a nice challenge."
It is actually not many kilometers to Kaufbeuren.
Locally, the two communities would border on each other, and yet because of the different administrative district and church district, Schongau and Kaufbeuren seem to be worlds apart, Herrmann describes it.
"Kaufbeuren is the mother parish of Schongau and one of the few places south of Munich where Protestants have lived since the Reformation."
Jost Herrmann will leave a gap in Schongau.
Whether it's a family threatened with deportation, a refugee who needs information and assistance, or a fundraiser for people in need, Herrmann finds a viable path for everything.
Especially during the Corona period, together with Pastor Julia Steller, he had maintained a community life in Schongau that, despite the distance, created closeness - online and modern.
During his term of office, the renovation of the church, the conversion of the parish hall and the renewal of the organ also fall - with unusual campaigns again and again to generate donations.
Born in Freising, he was also the full-time asylum coordinator in the Oberland for two years and is now the chairman of the “Asyl im Oberland” association, which was founded in 2017.
Herrmann will take up the pastorate in the fall, a date has not yet been set.
A new challenge
