The Menno Simons Sermon Prize was established by Dr. h.c. Annelie Kümpers-Greve (1946-2017), member of Hamburg-Altona Mennonite congregation in Germany, in 2008 on her conviction about the spoken word. Each year, the Centre for Peace Church Theology at the University of Hamburg, Germany, in cooperation with the Hamburg-Altona congregation awards the €2 000 prize for an address on peace.
“The Menno Simons Sermon Prize encourages and acknowledges sermons that explore the biblical witness through the lens of the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition; promote the peace church tradition in the larger ecumenical context; and communicate in a manner that is effective, convincing and strengthens the spirituality of the hearer,” says Fernando Enns, endowed professor at the Center.
Half the prize money is given to the preacher; the remaining half is awarded to the preacher’s congregation to encourage scholarly biblical reflection.
Submissions for the 2021 are welcomed from pastors and lay preachers from around the world in German, English, Dutch, French, Spanish before 1 December 2020. The sermon should have been preached elsewhere before submission.
Praising the Creator and preserving God’s creation are important parts of our call as Christians to be “salt” in the world, says Andrea Schneider. The broadcasting officer of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (VEF) in Germany received the 2020 prize for her sermon on Matthew 5:13.
Her award-winning sermon will be heard 1 November 2020 at the service of the Mennonite Church in Hamburg-Altona. The public award ceremony will take place immediately after that.
“Preaching is not [simply] information, but the beginning of a process of transformation,” says pastor Markus Hentschel of the host church. The peace sermons put current social or political conflict in the light of God’s peace and the church’s agency, he says.
“We also hear the voice from another congregation which reminds us that peace also means being connected with one another,” says Hentschel.
The 2012 sermon by Lydia Penner, a Canadian living in the Netherlands, continues to inspire him. “The great dream of peace…is not realized through power politics and violence but grows out of seemingly ineffective acts by individuals.”
The selection committee includes Fernando Enns, Hans-Martin Gutmann, Lukas Amstutz, Christina Duhoux, Birgit Foth, Christiane Karrer, Heinrich Wiens.
Previous prize winners
- 2025 Yusef Daher, coordinator of the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches in Jerusalem
- 2024 Riki Neufeld, pastor of the Schänzli evangelical Mennonite congregation in Muttenz, Switzerland
- 2023 Joachim Lebrerecht, pastor of Lydia-Congregation Herzogenrath, Protestant Church in the Rhineland (EKiR), Aachen, Germany
- 2022 Peter Stucky, pastor of Iglesia Menonita de Teusaquillo, Bogotá, Colombia
- 2021 Daniel Kaiser, broadcaster, Radio NDR 90.3, Hamburg, Germany
- 2020 Andrea Schneider, Broadcasting Officer of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (VEF), Germany
- 2019 Dr. Jochen Wagner, chair of the Council of Churches in Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland, Germany
- 2018 Rainer W. Burkart, pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Enkenbach and Neudorferhof, Germany
- 2017 Dr. Betty Pries, Waterloo North Mennonite Church, Canada
- 2016 Marie-Noëlle von der Recke, Mennonite congregation at Weierhof/ Pfalz, Germany
- 2015 Dr. Pieter Post, pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Ijmond, Netherlands
- 2014 Carmen Rossol, pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Weierhof/Pfalz, Germany
- 2013 Andrea Lange, Mennonite theologian, Mainz, Germany
- 2012 Lydia Penner, Pastor of Doopsgezinde Gemeente Den Haag, Netherlands
- 2011 Lukas Amstutz, Mennonite theologian at Bienenberg, Switzerland
- 2010 Jürg Bräker, Mennonite theologian, Heidelberg-Bammental, Germany
- 2009 Ernst Christian Driedger, Mennonite congregation of Limburgerhof-Kohlhof, Germany
To apply, contact
Center for Theology of Peace Churches / Department of Protestant Theology / University of Hamburg
Phone: 040 – 428 38 3780
e-mail: friedenskirchen@uni-hamburg.de