Rev. Pierre-Philippe Blaser was newly elected to join the council. Blaser will succeed Rev. Daniel de Roche, who was not up for reelection. The newly elected council member “considers dialogue to be a virtue and an opportunity. The FSPC is an indispensable stepping stone for interacting with other denominations and religions in Switzerland.

For many years, Pierre-Philippe Blaser has played an active role on decision-making committees facilitating constructive projects. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Synodal Council (executive body) of the Protestant Reformed Church of Freiburg Canton, which he also has been presiding over since 2012. “Church institutions are never an end unto themselves, but they can take on the function of a fan belt to transport the word of God. They also have a regulating function to protect against excesses in the religious sphere.”

Since the start of 2017, Pierre-Philippe Blaser has been presiding over the Assembly of Delegates of the Conférence des Églises réformées de Suisse romande (Church Conference of West Switzerland). In cooperation with his future council colleagues, he will strengthen the ties between Western and German-speaking Switzerland.

Reelected Council Members

Sabine Brändlin (BL), Esther Gaillard (VD), Ulrich Knoepfel (GL), Ruth Pfister-Murbach (TG) and Daniel Reuter (ZH), who ran for reelection, were all reelected by the Assembly of Delegates. The new council starts its term on January 1, 2019 and will play an important part in implementing the new constitution.