Membership

When you are baptised, you automatically become a member of the National Church.

As a member of the Danish National Church, you pay church tax. Church tax is a membership fee that is calculated based on your taxable income and is collected together with taxes to the state and municipalities.

You cannot be a member without also being baptised.

How to join

If you have not been baptised and you wish to join the National Church, you should contact your parish priest or choirmaster to arrange baptism. Children over the age of 15 must give their consent before their parents can enrol them in the National Church. Both infants, older children and adults can be baptised in the National Church.

I would like to re-register

If you have cancelled your membership of the Danish National Church and wish to rejoin, you must contact the parish priest in charge of the church register in the parish where you live in writing. At sogn.dk you can find out which parish you are affiliated with.

You can find contact information for the priests at Sankt Hans Church by clicking HERE

Christian denominations other than the National Church

If you can document that you were baptised in a Christian denomination other than the Danish National Church, the pastor cannot refuse your request to become a member of the Danish National Church. If you move to Denmark from abroad as a baptised member of another Evangelical-Lutheran denomination, you will automatically be admitted as a member of the Danish National Church unless you opt out on the entry form in the National Population Register.

You can see if you are a member of the Danish National Church in the CPR register.

Withdrawal

If you want to resign from the Danish National Church, you must contact the priest or church office in your parish. You can apply in person or in writing and must state where and when you were born and baptised when requesting to withdraw. This information can be found on your birth and baptismal certificate.

The church registrar will register the cancellation in the church register and it will automatically be registered in the CPR register. You will then be sent a new birth and baptismal certificate with a note stating that you have left the Danish National Church and when this happened.

You do not have to pay church tax after you leave the church. You must change your withholding tax statement yourself at skat.dk.

Send secure mail to the church office. Click  HERE

Children's withdrawal

A child cannot leave the Church of Denmark on their own - that decision is made by the parents as long as the child is unmarried and under the age of 18. However, a young person over the age of 15 must give their consent to withdraw.

If you are not a member of the church

If you are not a member of the national church, you do not have to pay church tax. If church tax still appears on your tax assessment notice, you should contact SKAT, who will correct the error.

Are you cancelling your membership in the church,

this means that you are not entitled to the same church services as those who are members. For example, you can only be married in church if at least one of the couple is a member.

In addition, you can usually only be buried with the participation of a priest if you are a member of the National Church, and the fees for burial plots are often higher for non-members.

If you are not a member of the Church of Denmark, you cannot vote or stand for parish council elections.

Termination of membership

You cannot be a member of the National Church and another religious community at the same time. However, if you join another faith community, you will not automatically be registered as having left the National Church.

You must notify the priest or church office in the parish where you live. It will then be registered in the electronic church book and the CPR register that you have left the Danish National Church.

If you want to complain

If your application for membership of the Danish National Church has been rejected, you can appeal to the bishop of your diocese. If you are dissatisfied with the bishop's decision, you can appeal to the Ministry of Church Affairs.

If your priest has decided against your will that you can no longer be a member of the National Church, you can also appeal to the bishop of your diocese. The bishop's decision can be appealed to the Ministry of Church Affairs.