According to pastor Hanna Jacobs, there is a lack of constructive conflict resolution in the Protestant church.
"There is a lack of a way to discuss serious problems in public in a respectful and fair manner," said the pastor of the social welfare organisation in Hildesheim in an interview published online on Thursday in the monthly magazine "chrismon", which is published in Frankfurt am Main.
As a result, she received many negative reactions on social media and by email.
She was "directly attacked personally", said Jacobs: "I'm lazy, I don't want to prepare for church services. Or: I'm incompetent, it's down to me and my work that nobody comes to my church service. I had missed my job and was stupid."
Criticism often came from pastors
The pastor reported that the senders were often pastors, especially those who worked in positions involving training and further education or on the topic of worship culture.
"My text was read as an attack on my own work," Jacobs surmised. With her text, she had broken the principle of the church that problems should be discussed behind closed doors and that harmony should be maintained on the outside.
According to Jacobs, the Protestant church also has a problem with sexism.
Speeches by young women are criticised particularly harshly and accusations of incompetence are quickly levelled at them.
Although none of her critics explicitly mentioned that she was a woman, Jacobs said: "No one would publicly admit that this is an additional provocation."
But the reactions of many older men had this flavour for her.