UMNS File Photo
Bishop Ruediger Minor
Bishop Ruediger Minor spoke at the 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., while he was president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council of Bishops regrets to announce that retired Bishop Rüdiger (Ruediger) R. Minor of Germany passed away last night, September 3, 2017. He had been diagnosed with ALS last year.
From 1986 to 1992 Rüdiger Minor was bishop of the Central Conference of The United Methodist Church in the German Democratic Republic and then in the East Germany Central Conference of the unified Germany.
He later served Eurasia from 1993 to 2005 when he retired. He was the president of the Council of Bishops from 2003 to 2004.
“We trust that Rüdiger is at home now in God’s love and grace. He was prepared and confident and has put his earthly and heavenly life into God’s hands. We continue to lift up in our prayers Gerlinde and all the family. May God comfort them with comfort that only He can provide and peace beyond our understanding,” said Bishop Harald Rückert, the current residential bishop of Germany.
The funeral service for Bishop Rüdiger Minor will take place on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2 PM at Johannisfriedhof, Dresden, Germany.
He is survived by his wife, Gerlinde, three children and eight grandchildren.
Bishop Minor was born in Leipzig. The son of a Methodist family, he went to school and university in his home city. He is a graduate of Karl Marx University, Leipzig (Dr. Theol. and Dr. Theol. Habil.) and United Methodist Theological Seminary, Bad Klosterlausnitz.
He joined the Middle German Annual Conference and was appointed Assistant Minister at Plauen. He was ordained elder by Bishop Friedrich Wunderlich. When he served Jena he became a part-time member of the faculty at the United Methodist Theological Seminary, Bad Klosterlausnitz. He was appointed full time in 1976 and served as the Director of the Seminary 1984-1986. On May 22, 1986, he was elected Bishop by the Central Conference in the German Democratic Republic, and was assigned to the Dresden Area. In 1992, he was assigned to the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia and its neighbor countries) with the task of reorganizing Methodist work after in this area after Communism. He was elected to the Eurasia Area by the North European Central Conference in 1993, serving it until his retirement in 2005.
He was a delegate to the 1980 General Conference; he has been a member of the General Council on Ministries 1980-1986 and of the World Methodist Historical Society since 1973, serving on its Executive Committee 1976-1986 and as a Vice-President for Europe 1986-1991. As a bishop, he served as a director of the General Board of Church and Society, the General Commission of Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns and the General Board of Global Ministries as well as various assignments in the European Methodist network. He was the president of the Council of Bishops 2003-2004.