Installation Service for Pastor Annika Klappert on October 17, 2021

Lead by Pastor David Tin (Dean of the Central Toronto ministry area, Eastern Synod of the ELCIC) and our Pastor Annika Klappert with special guest Oberkirchenrat Pastor Marcus Garras from Germany (EKD). Intercessions by Pastor Katharina Moeller (St. George’s Lutheran Church) and our Vicar Adam McComb. Music by Organist: Linda Marcinkus, Cantor: Tanya Zielke, Trumpet: Sylvia Kunde. Church Council: Peter Kearns, Kai Herrmann, Andrea, and President Iris Schweiger. Photography by Mona Frantzke and Marlena Muller.

Normally we would have invited all church members from near and far, all friends of the congregation, the German Consulate, politicians at all levels and all pastors we know. But this time, for this pastor installation service in 2021, because of the ongoing pandemic, it was a smaller group of around 50 people. If you would like to express your good wishes to Pastor Annika Klappert, please send a letter or e-mail to the church office.

From Service Sheet PDF:

Pastor David Tin (Dean of the Central Toronto ministry area, Eastern Synod of the ELCIC)

Pastor David Tin: People of God, will you receive Pastor Annika Klappert as a messenger of Jesus Christ sent to serve all people with the gospel of hope and salvation? Will you regard her as a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God?
A: We will, and we ask God to help us.
Pastor Tin: Will you pray for her, help and honor her for her work’s sake, and in all things strive to live together in the peace and unity of Christ?
A: We will, and we ask God to help us.
Pastor Tin: Annika Klappert, the office of pastor is now committed to you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
A: Amen.

Introduction by Oberkirchenrat Pastor Marcus Garras from Germany (EKD):

Dear Pastor Annika Klappert, dear Mr. Tim Büchner, dear congregation,
You both look exhausted and have flushed faces- in the photo that Iris Schweiger sent us by e-mail to the church office in EKD Hanover on the day of your arrival in Toronto. Flushed and exhausted…yes…but above all relieved and also happy… finally we are here!
Because your start to life and ministry here in the Martin Luther congregation in Toronto had really been anything but smooth.
At first everything went according to plan: There was the farewell from your work as a student pastor in Münster, the departure course of the EKD in Berlin, then in July, the packing for the move and the certainly not easy parting from the people who are especially close to you: the friends and of course from the family – and all this in these times of Corona, where we cannot reliably plan visits to other countries with the same ease as before, where with Covid a new uncertainty additionally resonates. And then with these mixed feelings to the airport: pain of parting on the one hand and anticipation of what is to come. Well, and then a little later the “cold shower”
of realization: This is not going to work today. There will be nothing with our departure. We can turn around and have to start all over again with the church council of the congregation in Canada and the EKD and see how we can enter the country at all. And who knows if and if so, when an exit to Canada can take place at all.
Flushed and exhausted you both look – in the photo that Iris Schweiger sent us by e-mail to the church office in Hanover on the day of your arrival in Toronto. Flushed and exhausted…yes…but above all relieved and also happy…finally we are here!

Dear Pastor Annika Klappert
the watchword for the day of your arrival in Canada is in the prophet Haggai chapter 2, v.4 and reads:
Be of good cheer, all the people of the land, says the LORD, and work! For I am with you. (Haggai 2:4)

What a beautiful and fitting word for this transition, for this new chapter of life that you may now open and begin in these weeks. And there are several new chapters in your life at the moment:
After the two years of vicariate in Hamm and the years as a student pastor in Münster, you are now on the road as a parish pastor for the first time. After the experiences abroad in studies and vicariate in Ireland and Israel, now the new
experience of several years of service in Canada.
And finally, the new chapter in your life, the marriage you entered into with your husband Tim a few months ago. A lot of new things await you, with a lot of potential and certainly a lot of treasures to be unearthed on the road ahead.
And despite your young age, you are not embarking on this journey unprepared. On the contrary, you bring a great deal of know-how and experience with you:

On the one hand, of course, there is your experience in the field of community and here especially the experience with a young, student and multicultural community and the associated opportunities and challenges of living and working together. I was impressed by your innovative, and at the same time, missional attitude, which is expressed in your application when you write, in retrospect, of your work as a student pastor in Münster: “I applied for the position as a student pastor because the young adults, in particular, do not appear in the “normal” church work. I wanted to come into contact with this target group, which is so important for the future of the church, to develop new spiritual offerings together with students from all disciplines, and to try out what the church can look like in the 21st century.”

Taking courageous steps along the way and exploring this question of what the church of Jesus Christ can look like in the 21st century. My impression is that you, Pastor Klappert, and the congregation of Martin Luther Church, in this multicultural and modern metropolis that is Toronto, have found a good match and that you will be able to walk this path together in a good way. And certainly, your experience in the area of budget and finances, where you were responsible for the management and controlling of budgets in the higher six-digit euro range in recent years, will be just as useful to you as your experience in the area of social counseling and pastoral care. Dear Pastor Klappert, Many challenges and opportunities lie ahead of you on this journey that officially begins today with your installation as pastor of Martin Luther Church congregation in Toronto. You bring with you many things that will help you on this journey – some of which I have just mentioned.
AND: You are not walking this path alone, neither privately, with your husband at your side, for which I would like to thank you very much, Mr. Tim Büchner, nor in your ministry, where you are working together with people who are with you in search of how the Church of Jesus Christ can be believed and lived in the 21st century here in Toronto on Lake Ontario.
And finally, you will not go this way alone, because you may know that you are secure in God’s promise, which is so beautifully visible and audible in the motto for the day of your arrival in Toronto:

Be of good cheer, all the people of the land, says the Lord, and work! For I am with you. (Haggai 2:4)

To be confident in your work – and to know God is with you. May this promise of God be over your ministry and during your time here in Canada.
Amen!