Values congress focuses on young German speaking Christian leaders

The year 2025 may still seem distant, but for organisers of the Kongress Christlicher Führungskräfte (Congress of Christian Leaders, KCF), it is coming closer rapidly. At the end of last month, the chairman of the largest Christian values congress in German-speaking Europe announced the fourteenth edition: from March 6th to 8th, 2025 at the Karlsruhe Trade Fair, close to the French border.

The congress was started in the late nineties to "motivate to live Christian values in everyday working life", explains Rainer Küchler, managing director of the German Evangelical news agency IDEA and KCF. "We originally started this event because there were no special events for Christians in leadership positions."

Since then, every two years, German speaking Christians from across Europe gather for the networking event that includes seminars and talks from influential Christians. This year, speakers included Martin Daum, CEO of the Daimler Truck Holding and Jörg Steinbach, Minister of Economic Affairs of the federal state of Brandenburg. Over 2,200 people visited this edition, that took place in Berlin.

“The people visiting can also be pastors, but we mainly want to reach those responsible in business, politics and society”, Mr. Küchler explains. He says that for 2025, the organisers are working hard to make KCF more interesting for young professionals. Although he cannot yet share specifics, KCF 2025 will offer “topics and formats aimed at younger groups.”

Sunday

The congress is an ecumenical event, meaning that it is not part of a specific church or denomination. “We work on the theological basis of the Evangelical Alliance”, explains Küchler, referring to a Congress Statement. In this document, participants claim that they seek to live “according to God's standards as exemplified in the Ten Commandments.” They are “convinced that economical behaviour requires Christian values to take the lead”, and “fight for keeping Sunday as a day of rest.”

The full agenda of the congress will be published in the spring of next year, says Küchler. For Martin Scheuermann, the chair of the congress, the 2025 edition promises to be inspiring. "At the KCF it will become clear that Christian values still have indispensable importance today: Honesty, reliability and fairness create stability and trust.”