The Fünfhaus Congregation Welcomes Pastor Antje Klein

On behalf of ESUMC, I offer a heartfelt welcome to the Rev. Antje Klein, who begins her term of service as the new pastor of the Fünfhaus congregation on 1 May, with an official installation planned for September.

We look forward to welcoming Pastor Antje in person, when she might have an opportunity to worship with the ESUMC congregation on an upcoming Sunday.

Below please find a recent article about the arrival of Pastor Antje to Vienna, written by Pastor Stefan Schröckenfuchs (translated from the original German).

The UMC in Vienna Grows Stronger

Since September 2024, the two German-speaking UMC congregations in Vienna have been led by Pastor Stefan Schröckenfuchs. In May 2025, the congregations will grow stronger with a new pastor.

Antje Klein is currently working as a pastor for the Evangelical Church of Württemberg in Geislingen an der Steige, Germany. She studied theology at the universities of Heidelberg, São Leopoldo (Brazil), Berlin and Tübingen. From 2015 to 2019, she worked as an assistant at the Institute for Church History at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna, where she completed her doctorate in 2021 with a thesis on church history.

Pastor Antje has experience in children and family ministries, theological education, pastoral training, and ecumenism. She is married and the mother of three children.

The United Methodist Church recognizes the ordination rights of other Protestant churches within the framework of the “Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe.” The Board of Ordained Ministry of the United Methodist Church in Austria has approved the ministry of Antje Klein in accordance with Art. 346.2 of the Discipline of the United Methodist Church.

The Vienna congregations have already had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Antje in November at a worship service in Vienna-Fünfhaus. She will begin her ministry with the UMC in Austria on 1 May 2025.