Ecumenical Relations

and Ministries Abroad

Annual Report 2008

Evangelische Kirche

in Deutschland

3

Radical change, paradigm shift, further conceptual development and

staff renewal—these themes are given considerable space in the present

report. Our church is faced with urgent challenges—in both the social

and ecumenical contexts—characterized by increased religious ques tio-

ning on the part of individuals and in cultural and political circles.

These challenges call for new responses both in terms of contents and

structures.

A conference of pastors serving abroad marked the start of a new

round of dialogues on the foundations and goals of our work outside

Germany. What does the rediscovery and reaffirmation of being a mis-

sionary church mean for the work of our congregations abroad in the

context of increasing diversity of Christian spiritual and charismatic

expressions? What are the characteristics of an intercultural and inter-

religious dialogue guided by Protestant values? How must future forms

of ecumenical cooperation be shaped in order to lend—in the name of

the God of creation and reconciliation—compelling and credible form

‚to the common witness of churches for the preservation of the bases

of existence and the equitable partaking by all human beings in lives

of fullness?

This annual report takes up aspects of this debate and this questio-

ning process. Theological reflection must be the basis on which answers

to the analytical insights into cultural, social, and political changes are

founded. The training and accompaniment of individuals through edu-

cation, personal development, and the strengthening of congregations

are key components of our work. The structures of ecumenical coope-

ration and networking require greater transparency, clearer aims, and

critical assessment. Ecumenical solidarity in the area of development

cooperation leads to better coherence and closer interaction among all

players involved.

This report gives a glimpse into our work; we invite your critical

comments and remarks.

Sincerely,

Martin Schindehütte,

Bishop for Ministries Abroad

and Ecumenical Relations

Editorial Table of Contents

Key TopicsWorld Congress on Activities Abroad Page 4

Wolfgang Huber: Theological Foundations Page 7

ReportsNew background paper giving guidance

on religious instruction in German

schools abroad Page 16

(Not) a sand castle: a new congregation

takes root in Dubai Page 20

Council visit to the United States Page 24

New Head of the Europe Department Page 26

ReportsEuropean affairs Page 28

Southern and south-eastern Europe,

tourist mission abroad Page 30

Northern and western Europe Page 33

Central and eastern Europe Page 37

Orthodox churches, scholarships,

and general ecumenical affairs Page 39

Near and Middle East, foundations

in the Holy Land,

World church organizations Page 41

Africa and development policy Page 43

East Asia, Australia, Pacific,

and North America Page 45

Central and South America,

the Caribbean, training for

ministry abroad Page 48

Islam and world religions Page 51

Maps Page 54

Publishing credits Page 56

4

René Lammer

…and so there they were: around a hundred

pastors from over 70 countries all over the world

came to Berlin in early July 2008 to attend the

EKD’s first global congress for activities abroad.

No matter where in the world the German-

speaking congregations they serve are located –

be it in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, or North or

South America—for one week, they had all come

together to present and discuss their work. They

met as a gathering of specialists to reflect collec-

tively on how to generate new theological impetus

and develop new strategies and perspectives.

The congress began with a special worship ser-

vice in Berlin’s Friedrichstadt Church. And it soon

became quite clear that the worship and prayer

services would constitute highlights of the entire

event. The services brought to life how much ener-

gy and spirituality the Protestant tradition can in-

spire, despite its reputation of sobriety.

This was also reflected in the ability of pastors to

add an esthetic musical flavor to their services,

seemingly without effort. And it was also reflected

in the ability of the participants to incorporate

their own life contexts, time and again, into the

process, leaving their personal stamp on it.

The degree of differences among the contexts

in which these pastors abroad live became quite

evident from the very beginning of the congress.

The premiere of Thomas Kabel’s film Jenseits von

Germany (“Beyond Germany”), which had been

commissioned by the EKD, portrayed important

aspects of activities abroad, drawing on the expe-

riences of congregations in Hong Kong, Addis

Ababa, and The Hague. It clearly showed how

diverse the challenges of work abroad can be.

It is only possible to pray genuinely in one’s

mother tongue, for the experience of faith is deeply

rooted in childhood.

In the frantic atmosphere of the Chinese

metropolis, where only the pursuit of fast money

“We are here…” – World Congress on Activities Abroad

Key Topics World Congress

5

seems to matter, the church strives to provide

expatriates and their families, who are mostly only

there for a short time, with a touch of home. In

Africa, diaconal and social work is a priority, and

the efforts of the German-speaking congregation

there consist mainly in maintaining a school for

poor and handicapped local children. The German-

language church service in The Hague is held in

one of the few downtown churches that are still

used as places of worship. Even if decades of living

in the country have allowed those who attend this

church to become fully integrated linguistically,

of one thing they are certain: it is only possible

to pray genuinely in one’s mother tongue, for the

experience of faith is deeply rooted in childhood.

After the diverse nature of the work in

German-speaking congregations abroad had been

presented, experts invited to the conference as ex-

ternal observers shared their views on the subject.

New perspectives on the EKD’s work abroad were

explored in presentations by Hermann Barth

(President of the EKD Church Office), Wilhelm

It is only possible to pray genuinely in one’s mother tongue, for the experience of faith is deeply rooted in childhood.

Key Topics World Congress

Hüffmeier (President of the Gustav Adolf Founda-

tion), Werner Wnendt (German Foreign Ministry)

and others. Bible studies were also led by Professor

Marlene Crüsemann and Meehyun Chung of Korea.

These activities were summarized brilliantly in a

closing presentation by Bishop Michael Bünker of

Austria.

The meeting with the German president, who

provided a vivid description of his own foreign

experience and gave thoughtful insights concer-

ning the experiences of pastors, was also of great

interest. This, once again, clearly demonstrated

how church–state cooperation abroad can be

fruitful and lead to new synergies.

While the first part of the conference focused

on an external portrayal, the second part focused

on internal dialogue and an understanding of the

principles and goals of EKD’s work abroad. As a

first meeting at which both European and overseas

pastors were present, this was of particular interest

and led to surprising new insights. Pastors live and

work differently in Namibia and Chile than in

Toulouse, Helsinki, or Mallorca, yet, in all these

locations, the goal of expressing a Protestant iden-

tity in differing social contexts is the same. And

even if the daily experiences of a pastor in Iran are

completely different from those in a German-

speaking congregation in Melbourne, it is still

EKD pastors from

around the world.

6

possible to engage in meaningful conversations,

and the unfamiliarity can even suddenly open up

new horizons. In the end, the mere fact of having

competent and attentive people willing to listen

to what one has to share suffices.

In addition to these often informal exchanges,

participants focused their considerations on the

presentations by EKD Council Chair Huber and

Bishop Schindehütte. While Bishop Huber spoke

on the “Theological foundations of the EKD’s

mission and ecumenical work,” using the Barmen

Theological Declaration as his basis, Bishop Schin-

dehütte went on to develop further perspectives

and strategies for this sphere of church activity.

Key Topics World Congress

Pastors live and work differently in Namibia and Chile than in Toulouse, Helsinki, or Mallorca…

... yet, in all these locations, the goal of expressing a Protestant identity in differing social contexts is the same.

He began with a discussion of the identity and pro-

fessionalism of collaborators and the tasks and

role of the congregations abroad in their ecumeni-

cal contexts, and went on to explore the issue of the

scope of ecumenical diakonia and, lastly, the mis-

sionary dimension of church work abroad.

To be sure, there was much that could not be

explored exhaustively at this first global congress,

and at times criticism was expressed, particularly

with regard to methodology. It also became clear

how, in some respects, the EKD’s work outside of

Germany is still in its infancy. The participants all

agreed, however, that this first global conference

provided helpful and meaningful ideas that will

lead to new ways of thinking and acting.

Left: German

President Köhler

speaks to pastors.

Right: Feedback

7Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations

“Theological foundations of the EKD’s ecumenical and global work”, an address to the convention of EKD pastors abroad

Wolfgang Huber

EKD Council Chair

I. “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of

darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the

light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the

face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6)

I would like to take this passage from the New

Testament for July 5, 2008 as the watchword for our

chosen task of reflecting jointly on the direction of

EKD’s ecumenical and international activities. I

am glad that I can do this together with you, you

who have taken up your ministry with the Evangeli-

cal Church in Germany throughout the world in or-

der that, with God’s help, “the light of the know-

ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”

can shine out.

Over the past few years, I have been able to

gain a diverse understanding of the amount of pas-

sion, joyousness, and imagination with which this

ministry has been carried out. I think back to me-

morable encounters during EKD Council visits to

China, Latin America, the United States, and the

Holy Land, and to numerous meetings with Euro-

pean congregations on a variety of occasions. In

recent years, I have had the privilege of taking part

in German-speaking congregational life in places

such as New Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai, Santiago de

Chile, Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre, São Leopoldo,

Washington, New York, Atlanta, London, Kiev, Je-

rusalem, Beirut, Moscow, Rome, Brussels, Naples,

Geneva, and most recently, Dublin. Over time,

I have seen my enthusiasm for this important task

grow and deepen. We will soon be travelling to

Namibia, South Africa, and Ethiopia.

I am planning to visit Warsaw later this year.

Next year’s agenda includes a trip to The Nether-

lands. Travelling for the Council over the past few

years – whether with Council delegations or

Church Office officials – has been key to increa-

sing both my own awareness and that of the Coun-

cil as a whole with regard to the great significance

of the work of our congregations abroad, making it

a matter of special interest to us. On behalf of the

entire EKD Council, I would like to use this occasi-

on to emphasize the Council’s immense interest in

your work, and to convey to you our heartfelt ap-

preciation for your great efforts in this important

area.

II.God has shone in our hearts. This is the starting

point for any theological discussion of EKD’s ecu-

menical activities and work abroad, to which I

would like to add a few thoughts of my own. It is in-

deed the work of our entire church that provides

the basis for these efforts. The question where this

special task is concerned, therefore, is to precisely

describe the common foundation on which the

church stands and God’s acts of grace on our be-

half, which give rise to the church and sustain it.

Let us fi rst consider the essential, fundamental

vocation (Grundgeschehen) of the church, from

which everything proceeds and toward which every-

thing flows. This fundamental, vocation consists in

the reception of God’s word, in the interpretation

of the biblical message, in the sharing of bread and

wine and thus in the body and blood of Christ, in

our common calling through one baptism, and in

the fellowship of the faithful, joined in praise and

lamentation, prayer and blessings. I wish to expand

on this in three respects: theological ascertainment,

spiritual development, and acknowledgement of

responsibility I will use as the basic theological

model for my comments the Barmen Theological

Declaration of 1934.

I will begin with theological ascertainment.

The church is a church that listens. But it must also

be a church that proclaims and teaches. For us as

those entrusted with the mission to proclaim the

word, the fact that faith emanates from that which

we hear places theological work in center stage.

Theology thus is and remains the basis for the

interpretation of the word of God, and, through the

power of the word, the means by which the present

takes shape, springing from and illuminated by

the gospel of God’s love for humankind. Only by

dedicating time and energy to this theological ex-

ploration and discussing with others and engaging

in personal reflection can we achieve the depth and

feeling of trust that will touch and transform people.

This theological task takes on its particular

significance in the broad and diverse context of the

work in congregations abroad. We need this theo-

logical work to break out of the hermetic language-

game, to disentangle a language that is often diffi-

cult for insiders to fathom and which therefore

certainly appears alien to the outside world. I fore-

see and support a new reliance on a solid theology

that is both overt and elementary; one that is not

marked by its hermetic language, but by the rele-

vance with which it connects the biblical message

to our current understanding of truth and the

challenges of our time.

We now come to spiritual development. Efforts

to produce good theology cannot achieve their goal

if they are not linked to pious living and Protestant

spirituality. In our ministry, we are sustained by

our complete trust in that which we cannot say to

ourselves. Being part of the flow of tradition, sur-

rounded by the cloud of witnesses, and united with

Christ at the Lord’s Table: all this constitutes an

essential dimension of Christian life. Because of it,

not only do we find continuity and reliability, but

we also see how the treasures of our past that seem

at times to be forgotten and buried can spring back

to life and deploy transformative powers.

Exploring the significance of spiritual life by

the power of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest

challenges that we face, as shown by my own expe-

rience and that of our ecumenical brothers and

sisters. The astonishing growth of the Pentecostal

and Charismatic movements has an effect on the

work of our congregations abroad. By reflecting on

and sharing these experiences, these congregations

provide important answers to questions that we at

the EKD are increasingly being confronted with.

Combining good theology and gospel-based

spiritual living constitutes one of the fundamental

tasks of the renewal process that we are currently

undergoing at the EKD.

Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations 8

“I envision and support a new trust in a solid theology that is both public and elementary.”

9Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations

Lastly, the acknowledgement of responsibility.

Listening to the word of God through theological

reflection, and spirituality, exercised both perso-

nally and communally in worship, sets us free to be

responsible. Given the diverse dangers and dilem-

mas of human existence, we are inescapably faced

with the question of the ethical implications of

Christian faith. This applies equally to congregati-

ons in Germany and to our congregations abroad.

It is, however, often our congregations abroad that

are faced most directly with the immediate ethical

challenges of poverty, violence, illness, and human

rights violations. These congregations are also of

particular importance for us in the EKD commu-

nity as we can see in their example how a firm

commitment to human dignity and human rights,

to a just peace, and to environmental preservation

are consequences of our faith. As we come to see

time and again, this is a corollary of our Christian

freedom.

These three aspects of the word given to us by

God, which shines brightly in our hearts, can be

summarized using the main statement at the begin-

ning of the Barmen Theological Declaration of

1934: “Jesus Christ, as attested for us in Holy

Scripture, is the one word of God that we have to

hear and which we have to trust and obey in life

and in death.” As we see in the present day and age,

theology, spirituality and responsibility for the

world fall apart if they are not cemented together

by our recognition of Jesus Christ as the one word

of God. You have, presumably, also been confronted

with this type of centrifugal process in your work

abroad, with theological specializations – such as

interreligious dialogue – where there is the risk

of losing touch with our cohesive center, where the

tendency toward spiritual experimentation and

toward paying greater heed to the excitement

novelties than to the treasures of our own Christian

spirituality exists. This can also involve projects

of social responsibility whose connection with the

basic mission of Christian congregations needs to

be re-clarified. The scope of our activities can be

more easily sustained if they are clearly connected

to the core message of our mission: the liberating

word of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

“It is, however, often our con gregations abroad that are faced most directly with the direct ethical challenges of poverty, violence, illness, and human rights violations.”

Former bishops at

the congress: Held

(right) and Koppe

(2nd from right)

IIIBecause of its origins, our work abroad is the

expres sion of a national church. It represents a

unity of faith, language and culture that needs to

be maintained in foreign lands. But this work has

begun to undergo fundamental changes in recent

years, reflecting the situation on each continent,

in each country, and within each individual con-

text. It seems to me, however, that these changes

are marked by a common characteristic that I would

describe as religious, philosophical and even intra-

Christian pluralization. Religious and philosophi-

cal pluralization places renewed empha sis on our

mission; and the pluralization of Christianity gives

our ecumenical tasks a new complexion. I will turn

to these two points in the next two sections.

I will begin with the missionary aspect of our

activity. The rediscovery of the missionary dimen-

sion of our identity as a church is perhaps the most

important experience and most important sign of

hope for a “church on the move.” We can see sever-

al indications of this church, but at the same time

can only pray God to bring it about.

I would like to refer once again to our biblical

passage: God has shone light into our hearts so

that, through us, one can receive the light of the

knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ. This is about God’s “yes” to which we reply

with our “amen” (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:19f.); it is

about God’s “yes” in Christ that is to become visible

in us and through us. We say “amen” for that which

is granted to us in terms of a successful life, which

includes our thanks for all the blessings and succes-

ses that God has given us. This amen, however, also

includes those things in which we have failed and

in which we have been at fault. It is in the forgive-

ness of sin and the justification of sinners that we

are set free to live a life in God’s “yes” to repentance,

one which opens us up, through his Spirit, to the

understanding of the truth and to righteous action.

We want to convince people through living lives

of responsible freedom and of faith in Jesus Christ,

to bind themselves to his church as the fellowship

of believers. This is the fundamental obligation of

Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations 10

“The rediscovery of the missionary dimension of our identity as a church is perhaps the most important experience and most important sign of hope for a ‘church on the move.’”

11Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations

every congregation – and thus of every Protestant

congregation abroad. When churches or congrega-

tions give up growth as a goal, they place their very

substance in jeopardy. This is why the EKD will

support the growth of congregations as best it

can, and we are indeed currently working toward

the founding of a congregation in Dubai and the

re-estab lishment of our congregation in Belgrade.

We bear in mind the EKD Synod’s visionary state-

ment in 1999: “The task of gaining new members

has an ecumenical dimension. Our priority is not

to increase membership in our church, but rather

to provide people with a spiritual home. Since we

consider the Church of Jesus Christ to be one, we

also rejoice about the growth of other Christian

churches.”

We are developing a new awareness for the

diverse ways of participating in the life of our con-

gregations and of our church. We also wish to learn

from those who are not directly part of our com-

munity but who deal with issues that are important

to us as a church.

Many people consider “mission” to be a loaded

word, although the term has been used constantly

in connection with the global Christian mission.

Now, however, when the term is applied to our

work as a church, we hesitate. Critically reassessing

the history of mission, which is certainly necessary,

must not mean that we give up the term, nor the

dimension of church action that it designates. Mis-

sion refers to the intention of convincing others to

join us on the “road to Emmaus” with the hope that

the certainty of Christian faith becomes their own

personal certainty. To be sure, this requires on our

part an attitude of humility and a willingness to

learn. Mission, therefore, implies entrusting to

God that which is crucial. It is contrary to any form

of intolerance. Tolerance, understood correctly,

is indeed not a tolerance “despite” one’s faith, but

a tolerance anchored in faith.

We render our faith visible in a profoundly

changed and extremely contrasted religious con-

text. The reality of religious competition is often

clearer in our congregations abroad than here in

Germany. This is yet another area in which you

have gained experience that is valuable to us all.

You are exploring new paths and are called upon

to attempt new things that we can all learn from.

We must now learn to articulate our faith.

In the context of other cultures, it becomes all the

more important to reaffirm the certainty of that

which is our own. This does not, however, occur

in a spirit of separation or dominance, but rather

according to a completely different understanding.

When we seek to hold a dialogue based in our own

background, we need both an identity that can be

communicated and a readiness to understand others.

Only then can we genuinely learn from each other;

only then are we able to identify commonalities;

and only then do we acquire the ability to treat one

another with respect, even in the presence of

“We render our faith visible in a profoundly changed andextremely contrasted religious context. The reality of religious competition is often clearer in our congregations abroad than here in Germany.”

The EKD

Church Office Team

fundamental differences. The task of educa ting is

inherent to mission, a task that we have to, indeed

must want to, set for ourselves.

Precisely with regard to this task, it is possible

to better see the relevance of the Barmen Theo-

logical Declaration whose sixth and final thesis

states that “the Church’s commission, upon which

its freedom is founded, consists in delivering

the message of the free grace of God to all people

in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry

of his own Word and work through sermon and

sacrament.”

IV.I will now focus on the ecumenical dimension of

our work abroad.

The passage from the Barmen Theological

Declaration quoted above mentions the gift of uni-

ty in Christ’s Church, the basis and origin of every

visible form of the church. All churches are respon-

sible for ensuring that the bond between humanity

and Jesus Christ, who is and wishes to be the light

in our hearts, is not slackened but instead,

strengthened. Together, we share the task of

ensuring that people do not lose touch with their

spiritual home or their faith. In this religiously

pluralistic world, our being church, whether as

individual churches or as the ecumenical fellowship,

is not only a witness as mandated by the Gospel,

but also an intrinsic part of our common duty to

provide “an accounting for the hope” that is in us

(1 Peter 3:15). The way in which we deal with our

differences and the strength of our ecumenical

fellowship are of immense importance to the cre-

dibility of our proclamation. This is indeed a deci-

sive test of how successful we are in our common

quest to achieve better theological understanding

and to strengthen spirituality and worship our

community, as well as instill greater common aware-

ness of social responsibility. Our congregations

abroad constitute a very particular example in this

regard as well.

The struggle, the quest and yearning for unity

in truth, have characterized the history of Christia-

nity from the very beginning. And this focus on

unity in truth continues to be determinant in cases

where the struggle for truth has resulted in divisi-

ons. We remain true to the fundamental vocation

of the Church only when we take seriously both our

mission to bring about unity and our struggle for

the truth. For this reason, our ecumenical efforts

must do justice to both: unity founded in Christ,

and a diversity of approaches to the one truth that

is Christ himself. This explains the different paths

that our churches take, and also shows how we

remain united to one another despite our diffe-

rences. The concepts “ecumenism” and “indivi-

duality” are thus not opposites, but productively

intertwined in the form of a “reconciled different-

ness”. It remains our task to strive for and promote

this unity, which is already a reality in Christ. We

must respect one another in the individual ways in

which, in our struggle for the one truth, we attempt

to remain faithful to Christ, who is the Lord of the

Church, its foundation and purpose. This implies

being aware that no church is in control of its

“being church”. Each church is at once characteri-

zed by light and shadow, righteousness and sin,

loyalty and treachery, faith and disbelief. “I believe,

help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) This call for help

can and indeed must be the common call of the

churches, over and over again.

Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations 12

“We remain true to the foundational event of the Church when we take seriously both our mission to bring about unity and our struggle for the truth.”

13Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations

For Protestant churches, respect for the eccle-

sial identity of those who strive toward the unity

and truth of Christ is thus a fundamental ecumeni-

cal principle. It is not possible for us to determine

whether achieving unity in diversity or reconciled

differentness can be done in a different way. At

the same time, we do not underestimate the diffi-

culties involved. Today we must work toward an

ecumenical communion in a context in which the

churches concerned not only have different under-

standings of what being a church means, with

regard to pastoral care and ordination, to scripture

versus tradition, and to women and ordained

ministry, but also different ideas of what visible

unity means. It would indeed be surprising that

diverging theological approaches and historical

experiences did not result in different views of

church unity.

For our congregations abroad, this definition

of our ecumenical mission leads to the realization

that we can only carry out our work as Protestants,

but yet in close ecumenical fellowship with the

Christian congregations and churches with whom

and among whom we live. No matter how important

and meaningful it may be that our congregations

abroad serve as a linguistic and cultural oasis for

people from Germany living there, whether short-

term or permanently, this can indeed be a main

motivation for their work, but by no means the

only one. No matter how strong the need to express

one’s faith in one’s mother tongue, the experience

of the Pentecost event transposes our own language

and our own faith into a larger common witness.

This should be recognizable in the visible form and

structure of our collaboration.

It is therefore a positive and necessary deve-

lopment that, in countries where this is possible,

our German-speaking congregations become part

of the local Protestant churches. This has happened,

in an exemplary fashion, in Chile, Brazil, and

Argentina, as well as in the Scandinavian countries.

Other congregations have become independent

churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church

in Italy. The fellowship of Reformation churches

created with the Leuenberg Concordat and which

has grown in importance not only in Europe but

in Latin America as well, forms the basis and the

guiding principle for these processes.

At the same time, of course, the work of our

congregations abroad is imbedded in an ecumeni-

cal context which includes our Roman Catholic,

Anglican, and Orthodox sister churches.

At this point, I would like to mention the

succinct affirmation of the third thesis of the

Barmen Theological Declaration: “The Christian

Church is the congregation of the brethren in which

Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and

sacrament through the Holy Spirit. As the Church

of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of

a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience,

with its message as with its order, that it is solely

his property, and that it lives and wants to live

solely from his comfort and from his direction in

the expectation of his appearance.” This

expresses in a nutshell not only the Protestant

understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ but

also, when properly understood, of an ecumeni-

cally committed understanding of his church.

“It is therefore a positive and necessary development that our German-speaking congregations become part of the local Protestant churches in countries where this is possible.”

Appeal”. Our deliberations focused on the basic

challenges of global poverty, climate change,

military conflict and terrorism, and the continued

presence of nuclear, biological, and chemical wea-

pons of mass destruction. We attempted to adopt

a common approach, based on reverence for that

which is sacred, protection of the integrity of nature,

and respect for the equal dignity of all people, to

serve as a common platform for religions in the

international debate on these issues.

I think of the congregations and churches,

whether in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, or São Paulo,

which, in collaboration with our development

agencies, strive to assure young people a future,

endeavor to enable families to provide for them-

selves, launch initiatives to help people claim their

rights, initiate campaigns to rechannel the econo-

mic and cultural effects of globalization for the

benefit of individuals, and attempt to ensure just

participation for all in general.

Our ecumenical and international work places

you as pastors and your congregations in a broader

ecumenical network, in which specific aspects

of our Christian responsibility for the world are

addressed. Your work is inextricably linked to what

has been referred to since the early 1980s as the

“conciliar process for justice, peace, and the inte-

grity of creation.” At the same time, we have lear-

ned to more heavily emphasize in this process the

aspects of human dignity and human rights, reli-

gious freedom, and other individual freedoms than

had been in the case in certain phases of the conci-

liar process. In a process in which spiritual and

political aspects intermingle, important questions

concerning life in the contemporary world will be

raised as challenges for our Christian witness.

The best example of this clarification process

in the case of Europe is the Charta Oecumenica.

Despite the importance of the Third European

Ecumenical General Assembly in Hermannstadt in

this regard, it would have been better had the

assembly’s structure been more participatory and

the outcomes clearer in terms of content. The same

may be said concerning the situation of the World

V.In this last section, I would like to return to the

point we made at the outset, namely that social and

political responsibility for our world is a direct

consequence of the Church’s fundamental voca-

tion. As we take up this aspect of church activity,

we by no means intend to imply that they are

merely secondary tasks.

I think back to my October 2006 visit to our

congregation in Beirut in the midst of the danger

and misery of a country devastated by war. With

great amazement I saw what the congregation was

doing for people who had been displaced or forced

to flee.

I think of the complex situation in the Holy

Land, which I have been following closely for some

time, and which became most vivid to us during

our Council trip there last April. Christians in

Israel and Palestine – as well as our “Protestant in

Jerusalem” project – are contributing toward peace

and reconciliation in this seemingly inextricable

situation.

I also, however, think of the issues and chal-

lenges that we discussed recently in Sapporo,

where religious leaders from six religions and

20 countries developed a common position on

the upcoming G8 Summit and issued a “Sapporo

Appeal” as a follow-up of the 2007 “Cologne

Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations 14

Lively discussion

15Wolfgang Huber Theological Foundations

Council of Churches. And yet, cornerstones such

as the Charta Oecumenica and the WCC Decade to

Overcome Violence and the International Peace

Convocation to be held in Kingston, Jamaica in

2011 are important points of reference for that

which we as churches undertake in connection

with our political and social obligations.

It is important to me that we remain steadfast

in this aspect of our ecumenical commitment even

when times are difficult, and that we make this

commitment a reality in our congregations abroad.

Your work is of great importance to our develop-

mental cooperation (which is about to enter into

a new phase of integration and diaconal focus), as

well as to a multidimensional network of cultural

and interreligious encounters.

Your work is in many ways an outpost, an expe-

rimental arena for that which we will have to address

in Germany in the context of increasingly diverse

and complex pluralism.

We are aware that the global responsibility of

our church encompasses all of creation. Indeed, we

know that the whole of creation, to this very point

in time, groans and fears with us together. But not

only the creation, but we too, we “who have the

first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we

wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”

(Rom 8:22-23)

I hear this as the description of the full per-

s pective in which the second thesis of the Barmen

Theological Declaration is to be understood, and

with which I conclude: “As Jesus Christ is God’s

assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so, in

the same way and with the same seriousness he is

also God’s mighty claim upon our whole life.

Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from

the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful

service to his creatures.”

“Your work is inextricably linked to that which we have described since the early 1980s as the ‘conciliar process for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.’”

“In a process in which spiritual and political aspects intermingle, important questions concerning life in the contemporary world will be raised as challenges for our Christian witness.”

16

Many German schools abroad are faced with uncer-

tainty with regard to the place and significance of

religious and ethical instruction. High teacher and

student turnover, regional differences, as well as

a lack of understanding of the purpose and goals

of these subjects have led to the introduction of

combined Catholic and Protestant learning groups

in several schools, to a blurring of differences

between religious and ethical instruction and to

such classes being offered to only a few age groups.

The current lack of clear guidelines has also led to

negative effects on the job security, particularly for

Protestant pastors abroad, whose salaries to a con-

siderable extent often also depend on teaching re-

ligion classes. There have, therefore, been attempts

over the past years to improve this situation by

provi ding official support, but these efforts have

failed time and again due to the complex orga-

nizational structure of German schools abroad.

Thanks to our privileged contacts with the

Conference of German Culture Ministers, we were

able to introduce this topic before the Joint Feder-

al–State Committee for School Education Abroad

(BLASchA). In March and September 2007, this

committee adopted resolutions defining “organi-

zational regulations” on religion and ethics classes

in German schools abroad for the first time. They

still need, however, to be implemented locally.

Most importantly, it must become clear why confes-

sional religion classes in German sc hools abroad

make sense and why they cannot be supplanted by

standardized religion and ethics courses.

At present, anxiety concerning national, ethnic,

cultural and religious identity is growing every-

where. And it will be further exacerbated if the

current diversity is steam-rollered into uniformity

through supra-national political structures that

fail to take into account a nation’s right to a relati-

ve degree of autonomy, by imposing a process of

civilizational homogenization that leads to the

extinction of individual cultural traditions and

lifestyles, and by giving in to pressure to unify in

OKR* Matthias Otte

Church and School Office,

Special Education Affairs

Tel.: +49/511/2796-241

E-Mail: Matthias.Otte@ekd.de

* Oberkirchenrat, title in German

church leadership

New background paper giving guidance on religious instruction in German schools abroad

Report Religious instruction in German schools abroad

17

the name of one form of Christianity or a universal

religion and system of ethics. At the same time, it

is equally important at all these levels to resolutely

oppose self-sufficient isolation and to strive for

greater commonality. The people of the ever more

closely knit “One World” need the creative inter-

play of more identity and better mutual under-

standing.

The identity–mutual understanding dichotomy,

as explored in a 1994 EKD publication on religious

instruction (“Identität und Verständigung”), sugges-

ted an appropriate solution for confessional religious

instruction in the form of classes which are both

mono- and pluri-denominational. Such classes

would neither simply lump together things that are

Report Religious instruction in German schools abroad

not the same, or allow that which belongs together

to fall apart. The reciprocal interdependence of

confessional identity and ecumenical understan-

ding illustrates the challenge with which we are

con fronted, namely the task of promoting cultural

understanding and education in schools and socie-

ty in a situation of philosophical and religious

pluralism. This involves emphasizing commona-

lities, using differences as a vehicle rather than an

impediment. Ignorance and indifference hamper

true dialogue in a multicultural and multireligious

society.

The need for intercultural and interreligious

learning is frequently brought up nowadays. This,

quite often, is done in an overzealous and naïve

fashion or even as a quite aggressive demand for

tolerance. A solid and sustainable conception of

tolerance, however, implies that tolerance is not

acceptance of a lowest common denominator, nor

a consensus which disregards these points of view.

Acknowledging such pluralism does not mean

Most importantly, it must become clear why confessional religion classes in German schools abroad make sense

18

glossing over existing differences. Deeply ingrai-

ned blocks to learning cannot therefore be ignored

when it comes to intercultural and interreligious

learning. It is a dilemma which is difficult to over-

come, for that which is alien or different, engen-

ders fear, which in turn leads people to cling more

fiercely to that which is their own. This, however,

leads to an even stronger sense of alienation,

which in turn reinforces the fear for one’s own

identity. How can a positive spiral of greater trust

be set into motion to counter this?

Identity entails thinking, feeling, and acting

in harmony with oneself. Identity and individuality

are indeed closely connected. Every person comes

to terms with his or her self, living environment,

experiences, and religion in his or her individual

way, from early childhood onwards. This process

involves continuous interaction with others; edu-

cation is thus to be seen as a process between “I”

and others. Many young people (and adults, too)

find it difficult to navigate in our pluralistic soci-

ety. They need therefore to develop new abilities

and behaviors in order to come to terms with

complex structures and the heterogeneity of a plu-

ralistic society. One must not affirm one’s own

identity at the expense of that of others. Only those

who are secure about their own identity can open

Report Religious instruction in German schools abroad

themselves to others and assume responsibility.

Achieving this requires a well-balanced rela-

tionship between feeling at home and reaching out,

between philosophical or religious homogeneity

and diversity. As far as education is concerned, it

is important to promote mutual understanding at

the primary level already. The point of view of the

home religion, however, still retains a degree of

priority over reaching out to others. A continual

back and forth between religions in multicultural

religion classes makes it difficult, for younger

children especially, to become familiar with a reli-

gious tradition in a continuous, reliable way and to

achieve cognitive clarity and emotional security.

The legal aspects also need to be taken into

consideration. The Constitution of the Federal

Republic of Germany guarantees the freedom of

all individuals to confess their faith and practice it

in word and deed, publically and in the company

of their fellow believers. This positive freedom of

religion ensuring a “space” in which to develop

and open up is counter-balanced by a negative

freedom that ensures the freedom of individuals

from demands imposed by the state with regard to

religion. This negative freedom of religion must

not, however, be construed to mean that the state

must shield its citizens from any sort of confron-

tation with religious and philosophical beliefs and

symbols. Because the state is secular and ideolo-

gically neutral, its authority is limited to worldly

matters and it does not directly pursue religious

goals. There is thus no state religion or church. The

German federal state, however, does acknowledge

the significance of religion for society and thus

allows for the participation of religions and other

bodies of belief in the educational arena. As a mat-

ter of principle, churches do not enjoy any special

privileges in this regard. The modern state relies

generally on cooperation with the country’s diverse

groups and organizations, not least because its

activities extend to an increasing number of areas

of life.

Only those who need not worry about their own identity can open themselves for others in a responsible way.

19

For these reasons, the EKD Church Office and

the Office of the German Bishops’ Conference have

taken up BLASchA’s “organizational regulations”

on religion classes and have published a background

paper giving guidance on the subject. Following a

foreword written by the Protestant and Catholic

bishops for foreign affairs, the paper deals with

questions concerning religious instruction:

Why does it exist? Why is it denominational?

What characterizes Protestant and Catholic reli-

gious instruction? How does religious instruction

related to education in ethics? What links are there

with German congregations abroad?

Report Religious instruction in German schools abroad

The BLASchA resolution also called for the

creation of a commission to decide on curricula for

the Protestant and Catholic religion classes in the

lower secondary level. The idea is to draw on exist-

ing curricula used in German states where legis-

lation regarding religious instruction which is both

mono and pluri-denominational already exists.

It will still, however, take some time before these

curricula are ready. One must also expect that

organizational regulations on religious education

in German-speaking schools abroad, for example

with regard to the conditions in certain school

forms and levels, will be further specified in the

future.

The churches hope for broad dissemination

of their background paper, and to make schools

abroad and their supporting agencies, as well as

expatriate congregations, embassies, consulates,

culture offices, etc. familiar with it. The Office for

Foreign Affairs has also pledged its support in this

matter. It is most important, however, that those

with responsibility in schools and church congre-

gations locally come together to discuss religious

education, and that the congregations boost their

educational activities. Religious instruction cannot

compensate for the absence of religious life in

families and congregations. Religious education

in public schools strives to provide young people

with the opportunity to experience liturgical life,

intergenerational learning, community sharing

and social commitment. As the 1997 EKD Synod

declared: “A living church is the lifeblood of

religious education.”

Religion classes cannot replace a lack of religious life in families and congregations.

20

Jens Nieper

How do you found a congregation? The question

may seem unusual in today’s world, in which it is

more common for parishes to merge and churches

to close. And yet, the topic has arisen in recent

months. And the place where this question has

come up is equally unusual: Dubai, the aspiring

metropolis on the coast of the Persian (Arabian)

Gulf, where a German-speaking Protestant

congregation has been founded and is growing.

Report New congregation in Dubai

Pastoral care for German-speaking Protestants

living in the Arabian Peninsula over the past few

decades has been a kind of “construction site”

chaplaincy. German pastors have been coming from

Germany and other German-speaking congrega-

tions in the region once or several times each year

to countries in which Germans were mostly active

in the petroleum and construction industries. They

conducted worship services for them and provided

pastoral support.

Pastoral care for German-speaking Protestants

living in the Arabian Peninsula over the past few

decades has been a kind of “construction site

chaplaincy.”

In recent years, however, changes are swee ping

through the Gulf States, from Kuwait in the north

to Oman in the south. The previous concentration

on petroleum and natural gas has, in view of the

foreseeable depletion of these raw materials, given

way to more diversified economic activities. Trade

and finance, tourism and other services are having

a greater impact on the regional economy and way

of life. People outside the several ruling families

now also have a stake in the huge economic boom

– although to diverse degrees. And consumers also

wish to partake of this wealth being generated

between the Shatt-al-Arab and the Strait of Hormuz,

and not only at the traditional meeting places of

the “rich and beautiful” in Europe or in the United

States, but right there at home. And – with the

exception of Saudi Arabia – the exotic and relatively

tolerant states of the Arabian Peninsula are increa-

singly becoming a preferred destination for

German vacationers.

As a result, the composition of the region’s

German community has changed. The engineers,

technicians and diplomats rub shoulders with

trade representatives and bankers, specialists in

fields ranging from medicine to travel and various

“fortune hunters” in the cities of Arabia. And,

more often than ever before, these people are

accompanied by their families.

(Not) a sand castle: a new congregation takes root in Dubai

Pastoral care for German-speaking Protestants living in the Arabian Peninsula over the past few decades has been a kind of “construction site chaplaincy.”

Jens Nieper and

members of the

parish council of the

new congregation

in Dubai.

21

From group to parishIn the face of all these changes, many Germans

living in Dubai and other cities in the United Arab

Emirates (UAE) felt the need for different, deeper

pastoral support. This eventually led the EKD, the

Research Institute for Evangelism and Church

Development (IEEG) in Greifswald, Rev. Heidi

Wolfsgruber, a Bavarian pastor working in the

Emirates on a volunteer basis, and Rev. Karl Jacobi,

a German pastor based in Teheran, Iran to begin

a process which was to culminate in the transfor-

mation of the local group into an official congre-

gation. This process has been accompanied by a

series of parish seminars under the aegis of the

IEEG in Dubai, attended by a large number of Ger-

Report New congregation in Dubai

man expatriates. These seminars focused less

on technical matters than on two other topics.

The question of volunteer service was discussed

with participants, firstly, because it was not certain

that a pastor would indeed be sent to lead the parish

in the Emirates, nor could it be guaranteed that a

pastor would be able to remain there indefinitely,

and, secondly, the highly decentralized situation of

congregations in the Emirates and throughout the

region (there are other German “colonies” in the

UAE in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, and the number

of Germans is growing in Qatar, Oman, Bahrain,

and Kuwait as well) made reliance on a conside-

rable amount of volunteer work on the part of

parishioners indispensable. This factor is also

consistent with the Protestant understanding of

the congre gation as a fellowship of the faithful.

In relation to the concept of fellowship, ques-

tions involving spirituality in congregations were

also discussed. This reflection effort was and con-

tinues to be necessary in order to identify needs

and wishes with regard to the church. Processes

like this are indeed important in establishing the

profile of a congregation.

The Dubai

Parish now

includes Abu Dhabi,

which features the

world’s largest

mosque.

22

A high rate of fl uctuation in a fascinating environmentThis discussion process helps congregations to stay

afloat in a challenging environment. Most expa-

triates (currently some 10,000 Germans live and

work in the UAE and that number is rising) in fact

remain for only a relatively short period of time

(2-3 years). When they first arrive, they enter into

a new and fascinating context, so that initially the

question of a church is secondary. Local society

is, moreover, characterized by great pressure to

perform and heavy workloads, making free time

a scarce and valuable luxury.

And yet, precisely these risks constitute oppor-

tunities for the new Dubai-based “Evangelical

German-Speaking Congregation in the UAE”.

Report New congregation in Dubai

Indeed, once the initial fascination has ebbed,

many expatriates become disillusioned and, because

of the extreme pressure to perform, begin to raise

existential questions. A church congregation offers

a piece of home. It therefore makes perfect sense,

despite the international talents of Germans wor-

king abroad, to maintain a German-speaking con-

gregation, for we know from experience that faith

is one of those things that people prefer to live,

feel, and express in their native language.

Hence, the congregation was founded in January

2008 with a newly elected parish council that was

installed during a worship service in April. The

congregation is officially recognized by the Emira-

te of Dubai, and registration in the neighboring

emirates is pending. Since in the UAE full licen-

sing, which is needed in order to be able to perform

all pastoral acts, requires a church building, the

congregation will have to ”cohabit” with the local

Anglican church center, where German services

are already being held. The process has been sup-

ported by a remarkably active group of parishioners.

Plans call for the signing of a basic agreement

between the EKD and the local Anglican province

that is modeled on the Meissen Declaration and

respects the joint Anglo-Prussian bishopric

established in Jerusalem in the 19th-century.

The EKD assigned a pastor to Dubai in Septem-

ber. The criteria for the choice of pastor included

fundraising skills, since, in addition to the spi ri-

tual and personal consolidation of the Dubai con-

gregation, financial stability will play a role as is

the case with other congregations abroad. While

the EKD will assist the Dubai congregation for the

first three years as a project, sharing the costs and

achieving a balanced budget will nonetheless be a

challenge.

Once the initial fascination has ebbed, many expatriates become disillusioned and, because of the extreme pressure to perform begin to raise existential questions.

A Roman Catholic

church under

construction

in Qatar.

23

A future regional congregation The Dubai project is of particular interest to the

EKD for a number of reasons. The congregation

is located in a Muslim environment. While other

churches are already active in the Gulf, the region

has lacked a strong Christian tradition, at least

since late antiquity.

While the Gulf states have striven to preserve

their traditional values and cultural identity, these

partially restrictive efforts clash with the desire

to modernize and to grant foreigners living in the

country the latitude they need, including in the

area of religion. The contact with these states also

presents new opportunities in the Muslim-Christian

dialogue. These small Gulf states, situated between

the Sunni/Wahhabi “major power” Saudi Arabia

and Shiite Iran, can make themselves a reputati on

based on their openness to dialogue.

Report New congregation in Dubai

The Dubai congregation will serve as a trial

balloon for attracting a church “constituency” that

is often missing in German congregations. Among

the Gulf expatriates, the 20-40 year demographic

group is especially well represented, an age group

that is often absent from everyday church life. The

jobs of German expatriates in the region are often

demanding and involve a large amount of respon-

sibility. The EKD hopes to make them interested in

the church and to maintain their ties to the church

even after their stay in Dubai comes to an end.

With the Dubai project, the EKD is responding to

new migration patterns and the effects of globali-

zation.

The establishment of the Dubai congregation

is only the first step toward a new breed of church

work abroad: regional churches. The region, in this

case, encompasses the area from Iraq in the north

to Oman in the south and includes Iran. The plan

there is to serve and accompany congregations

throughout the region from two locations, Dubai

and Teheran, forming a network that would even-

tually become one large congregation. How this can

be accomplished, however, still remains to be

seen. It is therefore all the more interesting to see

whether Dubai proves a successful step in this di-

rection – or whether instead, an entirely new path

opens up unexpectedly. To answer the opening

question of this section, who indeed knows what

happens when a new congregation is founded!?

With the Dubai project the EKD is responding to new migration patterns and the effects of globalization.

The Dubai congregation will serve as a trial balloon for attracting a church “clientele” that is often missing German congregations.

24

Paul Oppenheim

In September 2007, an EKD delegation to the Uni-

ted States, led by Council Chair Wolfgang Huber,

made stops in Washington, DC, New York, and

Chicago. During its visit to Washington, the group

held political discussions with the World Bank, the

International Monetary Fund, the German ambas-

sador, and the United States Institute of Peace.

The group also held meetings with lobbyists from

various Protestant churches and organizations.

This included a meeting with Richard Cizic, spokes-

person for social policy of the National Association

of Evangelicals (NAE), and an evening at the Luther

Institute with a broad range of dedicated church

representatives to discuss the situation in Sudan.

John Thomas, President of the United Church

of Christ (UCC) arrived from Cleveland with several

of his staff members to meet the EKD delegation.

The intensive discussion made it clear that the

partner ship between the UCC and Germany’s

United churches continues to be very lively and

capable of growth after over 25 years. While a part-

nership agreement between the UCC and EKD

was considered possible in the medium-term,

the delegations agreed that current partnerships

between individual German churches and the

American church should be intensified.

The German congregation in Potomac, Mary-

land also formally dedicated its new fellowship hall

with the German delegation in attendance.

The three-hour train ride to New York came as

a welcome break following the densely packed pro-

gram in Washington. Immediately upon arrival, the

delegation met in the offices of the National Coun-

cil of Churches on Riverside Drive, with visits in

the subsequent days to the Church Center for the

Council Visit to the United States

Report Council visit to the United States

Signing of a new

agreement between

the EKD and ELCA

in Chicago

25

United Nations and the Deutsches Haus to meet

with the German consul general and the German

ambassador to the United Nations. After further

meetings with UCC pastors and a welcome by the

Lutheran bishop of the New York Metropolitan

Synod, the delegation attended the Sunday service

of the German-speaking congregation, followed

by a traditional sausage meal in the impressive

19th century St. Paul’s Church.

In Chicago, the EKD delegation was received

by the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Luther-

an Church in America (ELCA) and current President

of the Lutheran World Federation, Mark S. Hanson,

at the ELCA headquarters. A new partnership agree-

ment between the EKD and ELCA was

signed during a special worship service. The agree-

ment, similar to the 2002 agreements with Sweden

and Finland’s Lutheran churches, provides for full

church communion between a Lutheran church

outside Germany and all EKD member churches.

In all-day meetings with numerous ELCA depart-

ment directors and officers, many areas of church

work were discussed in which the EKD and ELCA

will be cooperating more closely in the future. This

includes both churches’ commitment in the Middle

East and in Wittenberg. Bishop Huber stressed the

significance of the Leuenberg Agreement for ecu-

menism in the United States in his presentation

on the Reformation understanding of the unity of

the Church before students and professors of the

Lutheran School of Theology.

Report Council visit to the United States

The Goethe Institute hosted an evening of

discussion in which Bishop Huber and the Evange-

lical professor Amy Black compared the different

relationship between politics and religion in Ger-

many and the United States. Further meetings with

David Neff and others at the Evangelical publishing

house Christianity Today International, and a visit

to Wheaton College, an Evangelical institution in

Wheaton, Illinois, also provided opportunities to

dialogue with representatives of the richly diverse

Evangelical movement within American Protestan-

tism.

Upon the invitation of the German consul

general, Wolfgang Drautz, the delegation met with

American church representatives at Chicago’s

famous Mid-America Club to discuss church invol-

vement in Israel and Palestine. The delegation

completed its trip with a breathtaking view of

Chicago and Lake Michigan from the 80th floor

of the Aon Center. The nine participants were most

impressed by how both church and society evolve

faster in America than in Europe. Change was

indeed in the air, as Barack Obama’s presidential

campaign for change got under way.

The nine participants were most impressed by how both church and society evolve faster in America than in Europe.

Left: Speaking with

Dennis Frado (right)

at the United

Nations Office of the

Lutheran World

Federation in

New York

Right: Delegation

members in

Washington, D.C.

(from left to right)

Gerrit Noltensmeier,

Brigitte Andrae,

Hermann Gröhe

26

After 11 years of service in charge of the Europe

Office of the EKD Church Office, OKR Antje

Heider-Rottwilm left her post on April 3, 2008

with a special church service and farewell ceremony

in Hanover. Bishop Martin Schindehütte and

numerous guests from Germany and abroad lauded

her extraordinary commitment to the ecumenical

movement in Europe.

A New Head of the Europe Department

Rev. Heider-Rottwilm, originally from Soest,

Germany, studied theology in Marburg, Kiel and

Tübingen, and then served as student chaplain at

Paderborn beginning in 1979. She and her husband,

Martin Heider, are among the co-founders of the

Laurentiushof Bosenholz, a new Christian commu-

nity, and Heider-Rottwilm joined the Laurentius

Convent, to which the new community belonged.

Report Europe Department

Antje Heider-Rottwilm

bids farewell to

colleagues.

Rev. Heider-Rottwilm became a pastor in the

Westphalian Church office “Ecumenical Decade

– Church in Solidarity with Women” whose task

it was to prepare the “decade” at several different

locations simultaneously, in particular in Geneva

and in the Westphalian Church. The nucleus of this

activity was to connect different levels of ecumeni-

cal work and formations, from the World Council

of Churches down to the individual congregations,

as well as in institutional structures and indepen-

dent initiatives and groups.

While Rev. Heider-Rottwilm was head of the

EKD European Department beginning in 1997,

she launched a wide variety of specific programs

and projects thereby expanding the EKD’s ecu-

menical and international mission. She closely

accompanied the approximately 60 congregations

throughout Europe that are associated with the

EKD, both with respect to their internal develop-

ment and to numerous conflictual situations.

Bishop Schindehütte praised Rev. Heider-

Rottwilm for her efforts to make, through the com-

mon witness of the churches, the guiding power

of Christian faith visible in a Europe reconciled in

peace and just participation. Her work thus focused

in part on the creation, nurturing, and organizati-

on of European ecumenical structures. The Confe-

rence of European Churches and its Church and

Society Commission was a particularly challenging

commitment for her, especially in relation to

reconciliation and human rights.

Rev. Heider-Rottwilm was also active in the

work of the Community of Protestant Churches in

Europe (CPCE), which since its general assembly

in Budapest has shown new vitality and effec-

tiveness. Thomas Wipf, president of the CPCE,

expressed his sincere appreciation to her for her

efforts.

27Report Europe Department

At the farewell, other ecumenical partners

emphasized the significance of the dialogues with

the Orthodox churches of Serbia and Russia that

Rev. Heider-Rottwilm took great care to sustain.

The many persons present praised and thanked her

for her contributions to the 3rd European Ecume-

nical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania in 2007, and to

preparations for it.

Rev. Antje Heider-Rottwilm will now dedicate

her time to the development of a new ecumenical

center in the “Hafencity” development of Hamburg.

The project, which is receiving critical support

from the Laurentius Convent, calls upon both her

previous experience and her rich ecumenical back-

ground.

Dine Fecht new head of the Europe Department as of June 1, 2008

After completing her theology studies, Dine Fecht,

a native of Germany’s East Frisian region, served

as pastor in Schneeren/Mardorf, Hanover-Stöcken,

and Ehlershausen. She was elected to the Synod

of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover in

1996, and became the director of the Hanover

House of Church Services in 1999.

OKR Dine Fecht is

welcomed by

Bishop Bünker.

28

Antje Heider-Rottwilm

Telefon: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -130

E-Mail: europa@ekd.de

European Affairs

Church work in the European arena

Europe and the Decade to Overcome ViolenceIn 2007, Europe was the focal point for

the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence

(2001-2010), concentrating on the issue

of human trafficking. The Christian Net-

work against Trafficking in Women, the

Ecumenical Form of Christian Women

in Europe, numerous women’s associa-

tions and diaconal institutions, and the

European Parliament have taken energe-

tic measures to denounce and combat

human trafficking and forced prostitu-

tion. Churches in both eastern and

western Europe have been planning

further campaigns in this area.

Church and Society Commission met in ArmeniaAt the invitation of the Armenian Apos-

tolic Church, the CEC Church and

Society Commission held its annual

meeting in June 2007 in Etchmiadzin,

Armenia, the seat of the Catholicos of

All Armenians Karekin II. The theme of

the meeting was intercultural dialogue.

The meeting’s venue was particularly

well suited, as it afforded the commis-

sion’s 24 members the opportunity to

experience firsthand a church tradition

that dates back to the 4th century both

in the course of the meetings and at the

Sunday liturgy.

Department European affairs

Prayer at the

Genocide Memorial

in Etchmiadzin,

Armenia.

29

CEC Consultation process on globalization and climate changeOne of the direct outcomes of the Euro-

pean Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu,

Romania (EEA3) was a “consultation

process on globalization and climate

change” which is to prepare a European

church contribution to the international

debate on the subject. The Church of

Greece is hosting a consultation on

globalization in 2008. The CEC is parti-

cularly interested in including the Latin

American, central and eastern European

perspectives in the debate. Recently,

regional church councils from other parts

of the world have begun requesting that

the CEC voice their perspectives, expec-

tations, and concerns before European

institutions, since the decisions of the

EU have such a great repercussions glo-

bally that they directly impact the lives

of people in other continents.

CPCE general secretary is named bishopThe general secretary of the Community

of Protestant Churches in Europe

(CPCE), Dr Michael Bünker, was installed

as the new bishop of the Evangelical

Church of the Augsburg Confession in

Austria on January 27, 2008. He will

maintain CPCE office as well, and will

continue his commitment to the inten-

sification of cooperation between the

CEC and the CPCE.

Dr Michael Bünker,

general secretary

of the CPCE

European consultation on pastors’ training in BerlinA consultation process on the training

of pastors is to take place from Novem-

ber 2008 through 2010 under the aegis

of the CPCE. The goal of the process is

an understanding of the principles and

methods of pastor training in CPCE

member churches. The first consultati-

on, which will be attended by delegates

from Europe’s Protestant churches, will

convene in Berlin in November 2008

and is to be prepared by the EKD.

Department European affairs

Report Southern and south-eastern Europe, tourist mission abroad30

Southern and Southeastern Europe and the Tourist Mission Abroad

What do Baku and Birmingham have in common? Parish council members in the diaspora EKD congregations from all over Europe share their experiencesThe scent of far-away places once again

wafted through the EKD Church Office

as some 50 parish council members

from German-speaking congregations

in all of Europe gathered in Hanover

from February 14-17, 2008.

As the Head of the EKD‘s Europe

Department Antje Heider-Rottwilm

said, “We want to support these volun-

teers and help them with the important

tasks that they have taken on for their

congregations. They do not have a

church-district finance office or buil-

ding expert within reach.”

Volunteer parish council members

play an important role in the life of the

congregation, participating with their

pastors in making decisions that affect

the administration, finances, and orga-

nization of their parishes. This requires

a fair amount of expertise. So, on a sun-

ny Friday afternoon, the group stoically

sat in a dark conference room to listen

intently to the presentations of church

office experts on matters related to

ecumenism, personnel management,

finance, and the training of volunteers.

The participants responded with nume-

rous questions, often leading to intere-

sting discussions. And yet, the exchange

of views among the participants them-

selves was just as important, characte-

rized by a strong sense of solidarity.

This was reflected in the donations that

the European congregations collected

this past year for the small Evangelical

Lutheran community in Baku on the

Caspian Sea.

The needs and questions of the indi-

vidual congregations are often similar.

Topics such as fi nancial planning, public

relations, and caring for members are of

equal importance to all, especially since

the congregations abroad are mainly

funded directly through members’

donations and contributions.

This year’s convention thus focused

on “the spiritual responsibility of the

parish council for the pastoral care and

the congregation.” Matthias Kaiser, the

EKD Church Officer for northern and

western Europe explained that it was

important to stress this point since

“parish council members have many

strengths and gifts and are able to assist

and complement pastors in their spiri-

tual work.” The spiritual fellowship was

manifest in the morning and evening

worship services, which included litur-

gical elements from throughout Europe,

and in a Eucharistic service on Sunday

in the Church Office chapel. The parti-

cipants returned to their parishes

between Tenerife and Kaliningrad with

the words from Psalm 139:9-10: “If I

take the wings of the morning and settle

at the farthest limits of the sea, even

there your hand shall lead me, and your

right hand shall hold me fast.”

OKR Wolfgang Wild

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -127

Report Southern and south-eastern Europe, tourist mission abroad 31

Lay preacher seminarActive lay preachers were invited to a

seminar at the Center for Worship and

Church Music in Hildesheim from

Thurs day February 7 to Sunday, Febru-

ary 10, 2008. Nearly 40 lay preachers

from Europe’s German-speaking con-

gregations attended, most of whom had

begun their training with Rev. Hannes

Bauer in Madrid three years earlier.

The seminar was run again by Rev.

Bauer, the secretary for lay preachers,

and OKR Wolfgang Wild, officer for

Southern and Southeastern Europe.

They received considerable assistance

from the directors of the Hildesheim

Institute, Rev. Dr Jochen Arnold, Rev.

Fritz Baltruweit and Rev. Christine

Tergau-Harms.

The seminar focused on matters

concerning worship service planning.

Well-designed exercises accompanied

lessons on theory. Particular emphasis

was placed on understanding how to

organize worship services around a con-

sistent theme. Matters related to prea-

ching that had been dealt with in intro-

ductory courses and at regional mee-

tings therefore were granted secondary

importance at the seminar.

Lay preachers in the German-

speaking congregations of Europe are

usually commissioned by their parishes

to serve for a period of five years, and

the EKD assists the congregations in

their initial and further training. They

are also authorized to perform other

pastoral acts besides conducting church

services independently, including deli-

vering the sermon. This is of particular

importance in southern Europe, where,

according to custom, burials must take

place within 24 hours after death. In

tourist areas, because of the great num-

ber of worship services offered, the work

of lay preachers is particularly desired

and appreciated.

The EKD plans to offer a beginners

course every four years and a refresher

course in the off- years. The next begin-

ners course is scheduled for 2010.

Distance-learning course for lay preachers abroadA small working group led by Wolfgang

Wild, the EKD officer for southern and

southeastern Europe, had set out to

revise the EKD distance-learning course

for lay preachers that was published in

1982, to run parallel to the continuous

training course. After the work had

begun, it became apparent that the course

needed to be entirely revamped, espe-

cially since it could no longer focus only

on preparing and holding sermons, but

would have to take the complete church

service as a whole into account. Hope-

fully the new distance-learning course

for lay preachers abroad will be ready by

in 2008. The course should be attuned

to the possibilities provided by new

media technology – which are relied

more heavily abroad than in Germany –

and to the EKD’s new course program.

It is expected that the course will be

available for download from the Inter-

net for a fee. The distance-learning

course will provide the material for the

introductory course and for the regional

groups that are to be created locally

under the leadership of EKD pastors

abroad.

32

The purchase has a long history.

Rev. Götz, who was the pastor there

before Rev. Heitland, succeeded in

having a couple donate a large house to

the congregation. This house was then

used by the parish as a “meeting place”

until certain neighbors managed to have

congregational use of the house legally

prohibited because it was located in a

residential zone.

So, the path was clear for new ideas,

willingly or unwillingly. And the EKD

“Church away from home” project came

to the rescue of the parish council just

in time. The congregation was receptive

to the idea of a facility that would not

only serve the parish, but would also be

accessible to tourists and thus opted for

a shop in a commercial area directly

adjacent to the beach promenade. A

pastor’s apartment was also purchased

in a quieter section of town.

Until this was possible, however,

a few obstacles needed to be cleared.

First, after the contract for the sale of

the old premises had been signed, the

buyer was not able to get his funds trans-

ferred to Tenerife from outside the

country in time. But in the meantime,

the congregation had already signed

the contract for the new real estate. The

EKD budget committee thus quickly

decided to provide funds to bridge this

gap. Fortunately, this was not necessary

in the end, since a new buyer was found

for the former “meeting place”.

The new facility was inaugurated

on December 15, 2007 in the presence

of representatives from German institu-

tions and other foreign ecumenical

partners in the area. Even the island’s

government was represented in the

person of its president, who had known

the Chair of the parish council from

their school days.

Now it is up to the parish to organi-

ze its day-to-day activities. While the

tourist season on the island lasts all year

round, winter is the preferred season

when many tourists spend several

months there. Contact with many tourists

is also established during the regular

church services offered by the con-

gregation followed by coffee in the new

center.

Far from home: the Tenerife ChurchThe South Tenerife Parish now has a

new home. The parish has purchased a

large shop building near the beach and

San Eugenio, the main place of worship

in the area, and has remodeled it for the

congregation and for tourist use. This

move stems from the awareness that the

EKD’s “Church away from home” con-

cept is based on synergy between local

congregations and the ministry for tou-

rists, and constitutes a form of hospita-

lity. The space is thus available both for

parishioners to meet after Sunday ser-

vices and for other programs during the

week. Residents also run a coffee shop

there.

Report Southern and south-eastern Europe, tourist mission abroad

Ecumenical prayer

service to consecrate

the new

congregation facility

in Tenerife

Report Northern and western Europe 33

Council delegation in IrelandEKD Council Chair and Bishop Dr Wolf-

gang Huber visited Ireland from May

17-20, 2008, stopping to get acquainted

with the German-speaking Lutheran

congregation in Dublin. The congrega-

tion is made up of Lutherans as well as

United and Reformed Christians from

Germany, many of whom have recently

moved there for their work. Revs

Corinna and Joachim Distelkamp have

been serving there since they were sent

there by the EKD in 2005. The parish

maintains very close relations with the

Anglican Church of Ireland and the

Roman Catholic Church, serving as a

platform and builder of bridges within

Ireland’s complicated ecumenical con-

text, particularly in Belfast. Without

this ecumenical network in the area, the

delegation would not have been able to

obtain an insider’s understanding of the

past and current situation of churches

in the Irish Republic and in Northern

Ireland.

As Dr John Neill, the Anglican arch-

bishop in a conversation with Council

Chair Huber said, the Church of Ireland

greatly welcomed the Meissen Agree-

ment between the Church of England

and the EKD. He added, however, that

he doubted that the multitrack approach,

based on a variety of different ecumeni-

cal agreements, should be the final word

on the matter.

Cardinal Brady, the Roman Catholic

Archbishop of Armargh, expressed his

appreciation of the role of the small

German Lutheran church as an oasis of

neutrality in Ireland where Catholics,

Presbyterians, and Anglicans could

meet. The ecumenical situation there

OKR Matthias Kaiser

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 - 531

E-Mail: matthias.kaiser@ekd.de

Northern and Western Europe

EKD delegation with

Archbishop Harper

in front of Armargh

Cathedral

34 Report Northern and western Europe

has in fact relaxed considerably over

the past several years. It has now, for

example, become common for pastors

and priests from both confessions to

concelebrate interconfessional weddings,

an ecumenical gesture on the part of the

churches toward newlyweds and their

families. The cardinal admitted that the

secularization of the country has done

much to facilitate straight-forward

coexistence between the conflicting

factions there.

Archbishop Alan Harper, the Angli-

can primate of all Ireland, spoke of

decisive reforms in the training and

personal development of Anglican

priests. He was optimistic about the

chances in Ireland for the “reshape the

church” program, a missionary concept

present in broad areas of the Anglican

Communion. He noted the great need

for spiritual leadership and for a church

that can be trusted, especially in light

of the sexual abuse scandals that have

shaken both the Roman Catholic Church

and the Church of Ireland. He added

that the traditional churches in Ireland

had for this reason lost considerable

ground to independent churches.

Council Chair Huber spoke at

Dublin’s Methodist Centenary Church

on “Remembering the past in reconci-

liation – ethnic and religious conflicts

in Europe” and at an event hosted at

Dublin’s Trinity College by the Irish

School of Ecumenics on the “Theolo-

gical reasons for human rights and their

consequences for the ecumenical

process.”

To close the trip, the Irish Council

of Churches hosted a reception at the

Moravian Church in Belfast, where the

German Congregation regularly holds

their services. One young Protestant

told of how a Roman Catholic church in

Belfast was attacked with dye bags. The

next day, he set out with other Protestant

friends of his to clean the church walls,

surprising both local Catholics and

Protestant agitators. Actions of this sort

have become very important for Belfast

as a means of avoiding greater problems.

And yet, one has to remain realistic,

explained Michael Earle, general secre-

tary of the Irish Council of Churches.

Unlike Berlin, around a mile of dividing

walls still break up the Belfast landscape

at hot spots and other streets, as a kind

of warning not to allow the conflict to

heat up again.

Above: Cardinal

Brady speaks with

the Bishop Huber.

Below: The Revs.

Diestelkamp and

their family play

music at a German

church service

in Dublin.

35Report Northern and western Europe

German-Finnish Consultation in RatzeburgThe alternating consultation between

the EKD and the Evangelical Lutheran

Church of Finland (ELCF) took place

at the Ratzeburg Cathedral Monastery

from June 12-15, 2008. There, the EKD

council chair, Bishop Dr Wolfgang

Huber, and his deputy, Bishop Dr

Christoph Kähler welcomed Archbishop

Dr Jukka Paarma and an 11-member

delegation from Finland. Archbishop

Paarma and Bishop Kähler both pre-

sented the current situation of their

churches. The ELCF is strongly con-

cerned with the fact that many young

The Finnish church stresses participati-

on, in particular, as a means of achieving

these goals.

The delegations were able to find nume-

rous analogies between the Finnish plan

and the EKD’s current reform process,

launched with the discussion paper

“Church of Freedom.”

The EKD representatives also intro-

duced to their Finnish colleagues the

model that was used to integrate the pre-

viously separate church offices of the

VELKD and UEK church associations.

The EKD delegation was pleased to

report on the first positive results of

better cooperation at all levels, while

people are leaving the church. In res-

ponse, they have proposed their

„Strategic Guidelines until 2015– Our

Church as a Participatory Community.“

The goals for 2015 outlined in the

guidelines include:

• strengthening spiritual life through

varied and relaxed parish church

services, emphasizing human warmth

and spiritual depth;

• responsibility for the vulnerable

and sharing global challenges;

• improved communications and

renewal of church structures.

Ratzeburg Cathedral

and Monastery

36 Report Northern and western Europe

preserving the specific confessional

differences and missions.

The delegations also focused on

reports and agreements related to their

ecumenical relations with Orthodox

churches, the Roman Catholic Church,

the World Council of Churches, the

Conference of European Churches

(CEC), the Community of Protestant

Churches in Europe (CPCE) and the

Porvoo Communion. Presentations

given by Mati Repo, Bishop of Tampere,

and Prof. Friederike Nüssel of the Uni-

versity of Heidelberg, were followed by a

lively discussion on the consecration of

bishops in the ELFC and the installation

of bishops in member churches of the

EKD.

The delegations also discussed how,

according to the approaches of the

Porvoo Communion and the Leuenberg

Communion, Christ’s presence in the

gifts of bread and wine is to be under-

stood. The willingness of both sides to

reevaluate their previous inability to

bridge these differences was manifest,

a task that is will be dealt with by experts

in the field.

Both delegations, moreover, agreed

to coordinate their participation in the

celebrations to mark the 500th anniver-

sary of the Reformation in 2017.

The main players in the ecumenical

process for the Baltic region area Bishop

Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter of the North

Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church,

OKR Dr Jürgen Danielowski of the Evan-

gelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg,

and Bishop Dr Hans-Jürgen Abromeit

of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church.

They reported on efforts on the part of

their respective churches to form a uni-

fied North German church.

During the visit, Archbishop

Paarma awarded the Mikael Agricola

Medal to the EKD Council Chair for

his service in the spirit of the Finnish

reformer, Mikael Agricola († 1557).

Archbishop Paarma thanked the EKD

for its hospitality and invited the dele-

gation to attend the next meeting in

Finland in three years.

The consultation concluded with a

special worship service in the Ratzeburg

Cathedral, hosted by the dean of the

cathedral, Gert-Axel Reuss. Archbishop

Paarma delivered his sermon at the

service in German.

Discussions on

board – Bishop

Wartenberg-Potter

and Archbishop

Paarma

37

German-speaking congregation founded in BelgradeFor well over three years, the EKD has

commissioned retirees to provide

German-language church services and

pastoral care in Belgrade and Serbia.

This has now changed, however, with

the (re-)founding on December 2, 2007

of the German Protestant Congregation

in the Zemun suburb of Belgrade, and

the subsequent election and inaugura-

tion of the new parish council on Feb-

ruary 2, 2008. The congregation is now

working toward its official registration

in Serbia and toward the restitution of

the former German church in Zemun.

This has been supported by the Slovak

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg

Confession in Serbia, which over the

past few decades has provided for the

spiritual needs of the few remaining

Germans in Yugoslavia. The German-

speaking congregation constitutes a

separate seniorate within the Slovak-

speaking church. The restitution will

be followed by the extensive renovation

of the building, which had been used

as a bar and a dance venue. The work

Central and Eastern Europe

OKR Michael Hübner

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -135

E-Mail: michael.huebner@ekd.de

Report Central and eastern Europe

The Protestant

church in

Belgrade-Zemun

38 Report Central and eastern Europe

of the congregation benefits from

conside rable ecumenical inputs as part

of the reconciliation process between

confessions and faiths in the region.

Gratitude and recognition for aid committees

The EKD Council has expressed its

thanks and recognition of the declara-

tion of the Convention of Former Pro-

testant Churches in the East on April 16,

2008, entitled “Sixty Years of Protestant

Aid Committees in the Past and for the

Future.” The convention’s aid commit-

tees attending the convention looked

back over sixty years of work for refu-

gees, displaced persons and resettled

persons, and noted the transition

toward reconciliation and cooperation,

while still bearing in mind the remai-

ning challenges posed by these tasks.

The original text (in German) is avai-

lable at ikoe@ekd.de.

Christian meeting in BratislavaChristians from the Protestant churches

of six countries (Poland, Germany,

Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and

Hungary) met at a regional and yet very

international meeting in the Slovakian

capital of Bratislava, on June 27 to 29,

2008. Well over 3,000 participants

assembled there to worship, study the

Bible, and take part in discussion

groups, and to present their individual

forms of social, congregational, and

educational commitment in a veritable

“Christian opportunities market.”

Guests also arrived from other, more

distant countries ranging from Slovenia

to Ukraine. The high esteem in which

the Protestant church is held in Slovakia

was clearly demonstrated by the wel come

extended by the country’s president,

and in the broadcasting of the worship

services and the extensive media cove-

rage. The meeting is the result of an in-

itiative launched in the German-Polish-

Czech border region and last convened

in Prague in 2005. The next occurrence

is slated for Dresden in 2011, in con-

junction with the German Protestant

Kirchentag, a major church event.

Informations- und Kontaktstelle Osteuropa (IKOE) fully revampedA fully revised edition of the IKOE infor-

mation brochures providing contact

information for all church and diaconal

partners in central, eastern, and south-

eastern Europe has been available since

March 2008. The data, however, need

to be constantly brought up to date.

Corrections may be submitted at the

following address: ikoe@ekd.de.

Permanently up-to-date country infor-

mation is available online [in German]

at www.ekd.de/EKDTexte/43416.html.

The Zemun

congregation at

Christmastime

39

Bilateral theological dialogues with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of MoscowOn October 14, 2007, Metropolitan

Augustinos and the Deputy EKD Council

Chair, Bishop Dr Christoph Kähler

signed a joint communiqué on “The

significance of the councils and creeds

for ecumenical dialogue.” During the

14th Meeting in Bilateral Theological

Dialogue between the EKD and the Ecu-

menical Patriarchate of Constantinople,

both churches stressed the exceptional

significance of the creeds of the Early

Church; it became clear that the Refor-

mation creeds are built on the decisions

made by the councils of the Early

Church. It was stressed that the Nicene-

Constantinopolitan Creed, the Reforma-

tion creeds, and the Barmen Theological

Declaration all arose in historical situa-

tions in which attempts were made to

uphold the apostolic truth in the face of

heresies and misguided developments.

Both churches agreed that conciliarity

and synodality were fundamental at all

levels of church life. An understanding

of the symbols of the Early Church and

of the Church Fathers of both East and

West was deemed indispensable for this

dialogue, for mutual understanding,

and a common confession of faith.

Both sides agreed that the dialogue

had already brought about a growing

sense of community between them, and

a mutual enrichment that was encoura-

ging for the future.

The 24th Bilateral Theological Dia-

logue between the EKD and the Russian

Orthodox Church took place in Witten-

berg in February 2008 with the theme

“The Christian concept of freedom and

responsibility.” In his speech, Bishop

Schindehütte underscored that human

rights could be imposed as universal

rights from various religious and philo-

sophical points of view. For Christians,

however, they were binding, not for

secondary political reasons, but because

Report Orthodox churches, scholarships, and general ecumenical affairs

Orthodox Churches, Scholarships, and General Ecumenical Affairs

OKR Dr. Johann Schneider

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 - 528

E-Mail: johann.schneider@ekd.de

The delegations

of the EKD and

the Ecumenical

Patriarchate in front

of Oppurg Castle in

Thuringia, Germany

40

60th anniversary of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) – 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian UnityCelebrations surrounding the 60th

anniversary of the Council of Christian

Churches in Germany (ACK) began on

January 18, 2008 with an ecumenical

church service in the Mainz Cathedral

attended by Bishop Dr Friedrich Weber,

Cardinal Karl Lehmann, and represen-

tatives of all other Christian churches.

What began on March 10, 1948 as a

primarily Protestant ecumenical group,

gained an ecumenical breadth and depth

that has borne much fruit with the joi-

ning in 1974 of Roman Catholic and

Orthodox Churches. To date, the ACK

is the only forum for all churches and

Christian communities in Germany

in which faith in the visible unity of the

church in prayer and worship, theologi-

cal dialogue, church mission, and social

action is clearly visible and audible.

The EKD is thankful for the ecumenical

progress of 100 years of weeks of prayer

and the 60 years of the ACK.

Consultations with the Eastern Orthodox churches in Germany – refugees from IraqOn July 31, 2008, the EKD invited all the

Eastern Orthodox churches to a consul-

tation on the admission of Christian

refugees from Iraq. Iraqi Christians and

other religious minorities who have fled

to Syria and Jordan are in a very vulne-

rable situation and, for the foreseeable

future, a return to their home country

is out of the question. Many refugees

had to flee from death threats, kidnap-

pings, torture and expulsion on the part

of armed militias and gangs of crimi-

nals. Their houses have been destroyed,

their shops plundered, and their fields

devastated. The EKD thus hopes and

requests that Iraqi refugees from

Syria and Jordan also be allowed into

Germany and welcomed into churches.

Report Orthodox churches, scholarships, and general ecumenical affairs

they were anchored in Christian faith.

Both sides agreed that a secular under-

standing of freedom as the broadest

range of choice or the least outside cur-

tailment of the individual in fulfilling

his or her desires is inadequate and

directly contradicts the Christian under-

standing of freedom. They concluded

that freedom without responsibility was

indeed unthinkable in the Orthodox and

Protestant traditions. The protection

of human rights is a fundamental social

obligation. It was the role of churches to

“remind the state of this duty to protect

the freedom and dignity of all human

beings, and to enshrine this in law.”

The dialogue was characterized

by brotherly and sisterly openness

and theological depth, and both sides

stressed that their mutual trust and

reliability had grown in 50 years of dia-

logue in a variety of historical, political,

and social contexts, and in sometimes

difficult ecumenical situations.

Bishop Schindehütte

holds a sermon in

Leipzig’s Russian

Orthodox Church.

41

Near and Middle East, Foundations in the Holy Land, World Church Organizations

OKR Jens Nieper

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -223

E-Mail: jens.nieper@ekd.de

Archaeological dig at an ancient crossroadsThere is hardly a place in Palestine

where the historical period of the Old

and New Testaments can be researched

as intensively in so small an area as

in Wadi al-‘Arab. With its numerous

springs, fertile soil, and moderate

climate, the 30-kilometer long valley

in northwestern Jordan, near Gadara,

offered excellent living conditions to

people for thousands of years. An

important trade route crossed the val-

ley, connecting Egypt with the Syrian-

Mesopotamian region. The GPIA is now

conducting research in the region, wor-

king toward creating a detailed picture

of life in the Holy Land in earlier eras.

The organization is focusing its endea-

vors on Tall Zira’a, which was probably

the most important settlement site

among the more than one hundred

archeological sites in the area. Located

on a natural hill with an artesian aquifer

in the center, the settlement was inha-

bited continuously from the 4th millen-

nium B.C. through the 19th century A.D.

The rise and fall of the towns and villa-

ges there have left over twelve meters of

occupation layers behind, which raised

the height of the original hill. The team

Report Near and Middle East, foundations in the Holy Land, World church organizations

Provost Uwe Gräbe,

Pastoral Intern Heidi

Kuhfus-Pithan,

OKR Jens Nieper, pa-

rish councilors, and

ecumenical guests at

the dedication of

a new parish center

in Amman

EKD joins “Amman Call”The EKD Council has endorsed the

“Amman Call”, an initiative launched

in Jordan by an ecumenical conference

in the summer of 2007, and has recom-

mended it, with critical comments, to

its individual churches, offices, and

organizations. The declaration calls for

churches around the world to actively

advocate for a just peace between Israel

and the Palestinians.

Parish center in AmmanBecause of its remarkable dedication,

the Protestant German-speaking con-

gre gation in Jerusalem was able to give

the Amman parish its own parish quar-

ters. Thanks to the spirit of cooperation

of the German Protestant Institute of

Archaeology in the Holy Land (GPIA),

the institute’s building in Amman, the

capital of Jordan has been expanded.

The building now includes a parish and

worship hall, a small kitchen, a parish

office, and lodgings for the pastor. The

“Jerusalem” congregation includes Jor-

dan, Israel and the Palestinian Territo-

ries. The congregation there used to meet

in the Theodor Schneller School and the

Center for the Evangelical Lutheran

Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

42

led by Prof. Dieter Vieweger and Dr

Jutta Häser are unearthing remarkable

discoveries that may prove invaluable

for the church and theology.

New ecumenical milestone in Limuru The November 2007 Global Christian

Forum in Limuru, Kenya became the

first world conference of both traditio-

nal and “new” Evangelical, Charismatic

and Pentecostal churches. Over 250

participants from many churches all

over the world became acquainted and

strove to dispel prejudices and to achie-

ve a common vision of church unity.

The EKD came as one of the representa-

tives of “historical” Protestant churches.

The conference called for the dialogue

to be continued by churches of different,

sometimes conflicting characters, at

the regional, national, and local levels.

The World Council of Churches plans a peace conferenceAt the February 2008 meeting of its

Central Committee, the World Council

of Churches (WCC) resolved to host an

International Ecumenical Peace Convo-

cation (IEPC) in 2011. The event, which

is set to take place in Kingston, Jamaica,

will be the first major international ecu-

menical event in the Caribbean, and will

constitute a worthy culmination of the

WCC Decade to Overcome Violence. The

conference is also expected to pro vide

impetus for further peace work, inclu-

ding, for example, an ecumenical peace

declaration.

Between now and 2011, numerous

events are planned leading up to the

Kingston mee ting. The EKD, for in-

stance, has deci ded to set up a project

office in 2009 to liaise between the dif-

ferent decade-related activities in Ger-

many and make them useful to the

IEPC. German initiative groups, paris-

hes, and institutions are expected to

provide their input for the declaration.

Living Letters in GermanyAs part of the IEPC process, a WCC

“Living Letters” delegation (cf. 2 Cor

3:3) visited Germany in July 2008.

Six ecumenical church representatives

learned about efforts in Frankfurt,

Cologne, Hanover, Berlin, and Dresden

to overcome violence, and in turn con-

tributed ideas and incentives from their

own countries and churches. Themes

taken up during the visit included non-

violent celebrations by soccer fans of

different origins in the context of the

European Football Championship,

Germany’s role as an arms exporter, and

the fight against forced prostitution.

The WCC has plans for Living Letters to

appear annually in 15 countries through

2011.

60th anniversary of the WCCThe WCC jubilee was celebrated in a

worship service in Geneva’s St Pierre

Cathedral on February 17, 2008. In

his official address there, Ecumenical

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constanti-

nople expressed the clear support of

his Orthodox Church for the ecumenical

movement.

Report Near and Middle East, foundations in the Holy Land, World church organizations

DEI archaeological

dig site in

northern Jordan

43

Africa80th anniversary of the German-spea-king congregation in Addis AbabaThe German-speaking congregation in

Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa cele-

brated the 80th anniversary of its foun-

ding on February 24, 2008. Torsten Böh-

mer and Ruth Gütter of the EKD Africa

office numbered among those present,

with Dr Gütter delivering the sermon.

The German-speaking congregation in

Addis Ababa is located in a country in

which the Christian tradition stretches

back to the earliest days of Christianity,

but which is challenged by major politi-

cal, economic, and social problems.

The congregation is working to play

a part in meeting the economic challen-

ges of the country through its social

welfare activities. The German Church

School, which is located on the church

premises and which is supported by the

congregation, provides over 1000 Ethio-

pian youths and adults from poor back-

grounds with the opportunity to receive

an education, an opportunity that they

would not otherwise have. The school

program includes special support for

blind students, school lunches, and wel-

fare services provided by social workers.

Numerous partners and donor organi-

zations in German support these efforts.

The congregation is affiliated with

the Ethiopian Evangelical Church

Mekane Yesus and maintains strong

ecumenical contacts with other Ethio-

pian churches, including the country’s

Orthodox and Catholic churches.

An EKD Council delegation visited

Ethiopia and the German-speaking con-

gregation in Addis Ababa in September

2008.

Africa and Development Policy

OKR Dr. Ruth Gütter

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -235

E-Mail: ruth.guetter@ekd.de

Report Africa and development policy

Above: Church

service to celebrate

the 80th anniversary

of the German-

speaking congrega-

tion in Addis Ababa.

From left to right:

the principal of the

German School,

Rev. Martin Gossens,

Sabine Gossens,

an Eritrean singer,

OKR Gütter, and

Torsten Böhmer

(from left to right)

Below: Coffee in the

church garden after

the church service to

celebrate the

80th anniversary of

the German-speaking

congregation in

Addis Ababa

44

Violent unrest in Kenya and ZimbabweIn view of the violence that followed the

Kenyan elections in January and Febru-

ary 2008, the EKD published the posi-

tions adopted by the Kenyan Council of

Churches in which the churches called

for peace and reconciliation, while ack-

nowledging their own ethnic divisions.

The role of the churches in the country’s

conflicts was also critically analyzed at

the partner consultation of the All Africa

Conference of Churches in Nairobi in

February. Torsten Böhmer and Ruth

Gütter took part in the consultation on

behalf of the EKD.

During the period of violence, the

German-speaking congregation in

Nairobi became a place of refuge from

violence and persecution for a number

of Kenyans and Germans.

The EKD Africa office has also been

monitoring the extremely difficult poli-

tical and social situation in Zimbabwe

with great concern. Because of the vio-

lent attacks on supporters of the oppo-

sition which occurred following the

controversial parliamentary and presi-

dential elections in April, the EKD has

declared its solidarity with those who

are suffering in Zimbabwe The EKD has,

through diplomatic channels, also

openly called for fair elections with inde-

pendent observers and more external

pressure from other countries, especial ly

South Africa, for peaceful change in

Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s German-speaking

congregation has become involved in

humanitarian relief efforts such as the

distribution of food and help for the

persecuted, despite the difficult condi-

tions.

Development policy Climate change and justiceThe Development Policy Office has

focu sed on the connection between

climate change and justice in a number

of different contexts.

The annual development policy con-

ference of churches and church institu-

tions, which convened in April, focused

on the theme of “climatic change as a

theological and ecumenical challenge.”

The conference was prepared by a com-

mittee composed of the Protestant

Development Service (EED), Brot für

die Welt, missionary institutions, the

Church Development Service (KED),

and the EKD. Some 120 participants

from Germany and speakers from the

German and international ecumenical

community attended the conference.

It became clear during the discussions

that climatic change was one of the

greatest challenges of our time, calling

for economic models entirely beyond

the ideology of growth, and obliging the

world’s churches to make even more

radical acts of practical repentance.

The EKD’s highest decision-

ma king body, the EKD Synod, will also

tackle the topic of climatic change at

its meeting in the autumn of 2008.

The EKD Advisory Commission

on Sustainable Development will submit

a study on the connection between

climate change and justice to the EKD

Council in 2009. The Council published

an Advisory Commission study on bio-

fuels in the summer of 2008.

Merger of Brot für die Welt and the EEDThe governing bodies of Brot für die

Welt and the EED and the EKD Council

published identical resolutions provi-

ding for consolidation of the activities

of the two agencies into a single Berlin-

based institution in 2012/2013. In this

way, a decision already made by the EKD

Synod in 1998, but which for various

reasons could not be implemented until

now, will finally be implemented. For

the past several years, however, by

virtue of a cooperation agreement, the

activities of both institutions have been

synchronized and have been placed

under a single, joint decision-making

body.

By the autumn of 2008, all legal

questions and major structural matters

regarding the new institution should be

finalized. The decision to merge the two

bodies has been largely endorsed by

churches and church institutions; only

the choice of Berlin as the new agency’s

seat of operations has been the object

of some controversy.

40th anniversary of the KEDThe Church Development Service cele-

brated its 40th anniversary in October

2008. In 1968, the members of the EKD

Synod in Berlin-Spandau made the

decision to use two percent of the church

tax income to fi ght poverty and injustice.

The occasion was to be marked by

a commemorative speech given by the

EKD Council Chair, and with a worship

service and celebration with represen-

tatives from the churches, church insti-

tutions, and ecumenical guests from

around the world.

Report Africa and development policy

45Report East Asia, Australia, Pacific, and North America

East AsiaNew facility in BangkokAfter 11 years, the Protestant German-

speaking congregation in Bangkok has

relocated to a new center. The previous

building at 31 Sukhumvit Road provided

a meeting place for the German-spea-

king congregation in a sort of peaceful

green oasis nestled between the sky-

scrapers of the Thai capital. Like many

other East Asian congregations, the

Bang kok parish has neither its own

church nor a parsonage. The house has

now been sold to a neighboring inter-

national school. As elsewhere in Asia,

rent has been skyrocketing in Thailand,

and the congregation had to dig deep

into its pockets to be able to rent a new

congregational house. The new center is

now in a quiet part of the city center at

209 Soi 9 Pridi Panomyong (71Sukhum-

vit) and can be reached by public trans-

portation. The facility features a con-

gregation hall which can accommodate

up to 120 people for worship services,

in addition to suitable lodgings for the

pastor, and a large yard for children’s

parties and parish get-togethers. The

new center was filled nearly to capacity

at the dedication ceremony. Its central

East Asia, Australia, the Pacifi c and North America

OKR Paul Oppenheim

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -230

E-Mail: paul.oppenheim@ekd.de

location makes it easy to find and to

reach by public transport for everyone,

whether they are new to Bangkok or are

just passing through.

Aid for earthquake victims in ChinaIn the severe earthquake that shook

Sichuan Province in central China on

May 12, 2008, 5.8 million people lost

their homes, and around 70,000 were

killed and hundreds of thousands

wounded. Volunteers poured into the

area from all over the country, demon-

strating an impressive willingness to

help. German-speaking Christians

based in Beijing and Shanghai also did

their part. Church collections in May,

from communion and confirmation

alone, totaled in the five-digit euro

range. The donations of German-spea-

king Christians in Shanghai went to the

Amity Foundation, a Christian organi-

zation that was present on the scene to

distribute aid, help rebuild schools and

churches, and provide specialized coun-

seling to the traumatized victims of the

catastrophe.

Rev. Bartel at the

dedication service

46

An inspection, however, showed that

the 50-year-old parsonage on the church

grounds was significantly flawed and

would have to be rebuilt.

The parish will need more time to

carry out its plans and to obtain a con-

struction permit. During the construc-

tion period, the parish will function

in difficult circumstances, but, this is

the parish’s price to pay to have its new

home in Gotanda.

AustraliaCelebrating the 125th anniversary of Sydney’s Martin Luther Church Sydney has had a Lutheran congrega -

tion since 1866, with worship services

ini tially being held in rented rooms.

Eventually the congregation was able to

purchase a piece of land for 464 pounds

sterling. In 1882, the cornerstone was

laid for the church, and a year later the

church was dedicated.

The church dedication was conduc-

ted by Rev. Hermann Herlitz who had

been born to a Jewish family from Sile-

sia. The church was able to continue to

hold Sunday services during World War

I, despite the fact that all other German-

language activities had been prohibited.

When World War II began, the

church was closed down and both the

pastor, Rev. Gerhard Wittmann, and

mem bers of the parish council were

interned by the government. One year

after the war ended, normal parish

activities resumed. Prominent church

figures such as Martin Niemöller and

Bishop Otto Dibelius came from Ger-

many to visit the congregation. Revs

Waldemar Kostizen, Dietmar Sandeck,

Wolfgang Wiedemann, and Dirk Römmer

in that order served as the pastors there,

and it was during Rev. Römmer’s tenure

that the church received its current

name in 1992. Rev. Peter Ausserwinkler

served as pastor until June 30, 2008,

before surrendering his office to Rev.

Dirk Wnendt from Upper Bavaria. The

parish held a special church service to

celebrate the past and to express hope

for the future.

Report East Asia, Australia, Pacific, and North America

Tokyo: A church is renovated, a parsonage rebuiltA new earthquake safety law for wooden

structures has been in effect in Japan

since 2007, requiring Tokyo’s Kreuz-

kirche, which was built in Tokyo’s

Gotanda district in 1958, to either be

rebuilt or completely remodeled to meet

safety standards. As the small German

church is a rare hybrid of Japanese and

European architecture, the decision was

made to change the building as little as

possible. Only new supporting beams,

a new wooden floor, and four new

radi ators were added to the church.

Martin Luther Church

in Sydney

47

Farewell to Rev. Frederick TrostRev. Frederick Trost, who played a

major role in bringing about the part-

nership between the United Church of

Christ in the USA (UCC) and Germany’s

United churches, has resigned after 31

years as the chair of the Working Group

that is responsible for relations bet-

ween American churches and the Union

of Evangelical Churches in the EKD

(UEK). Trost, who served as an Ameri-

can exchange vicar in Baden back in

1959, developed strong ties to German

theology and worked intensively as its

advocate in America. He played a key

role in the 1980 agreement between the

UCC and the then Evangelical Church

of the Union (EKU) that established full

church communion between the two.

This agreement was taken over by the

UEK, which now consists of all United

and Reformed member churches of the

EKD. The German partnership group,

the UCC Forum, bade farewell to Frede-

rick Trost at an October 10, 2007 mee-

ting in Hanover. He was to receive an

honorary doctorate from the Wuppertal

Church University in November 2008.

DELKINA, which receives support

from the EKD, strives to maintain and

promote German-language ministry in

North America. Numerous individuals

also belong to DELKINA, including young

Protestant theologians who could not

find a pastor’s position in Germany and

therefore emigrated to North America.

While some of them now work in Ger-

man-speaking congregations, others

serve in English-speaking parishes in

Canada and the United States.

Katharina Möller, who moved from

Brandenburg to Canada with her hus-

band Burkhard Möller, a pipe organ

buil der, is now the first female pastor

of St. George’s Lutheran Church in

Toronto. She succeeded Dr Holger Rog-

gelin, origi nally of the North Elbian

Church, who now serves at Zion Luther-

an in Baltimore.

Report East Asia, Australia, Pacific, and North America

North AmericaNew leadership at DELKINARev. Katharina Möller was elected the

new president of the German Evange-

lical Lutheran Conference in North

America (DELKINA) at its 10th General

Assembly, which took place from

October 18-22, 2007 in San Francisco.

DELKINA emerged in 1989 from the

German Interest Conference of the Evan-

gelical Lutheran Church in America.

The association comprises around 50

Lutheran congregations in Canada

and the United States that continue to

hold regular German-language church

services.

(From left to right)

the Lutheran Bishop

of San Francisco,

Rev. Katharina Möller,

and Rev. Dr Holger

Roggelin

Frederick Trost (right)

with Rev.

Max Koranyi,

chair of the

UCC Forum

48

On Bishop Martin Schindehütte’s first

trip to Latin America from April 7 to 21,

2008, he visited EKD partner churches

and congregations with contractual ties

to the EKD in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay,

Brazil, and Mexico. Five countries in

14 days, of course, only gives a chance

get a quick overview, but still there was

enough time to appreciate the signifi-

cance and value of the contribution of

the Protestant minorities in the Latin

American family of churches.

In Chile, the Evangelical Lutheran

Church in Chile (IELCH) arranged a

visit with President Michelle Bachelet

at the Moneda, the presidential palace.

A self-proclaimed agnostic, President

Bachelet praised the church’s efforts

in the field of human rights and on

social issues, and inquired with interest

about the ethical positions of the Pro-

testant churches and their ecumenical

Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Training for Ministry Abroad

OKR Branko Nikolitsch

Tel.: 0+49 / 511 / 27 96 -228

E-Mail: branko.nikolitsch@ekd.de

connections. The former IELCH provost,

Rev. Helmut Frenz, who had originally

been sent to Chile by the EKD and who

had been expelled from Chile for inter-

vening in favor of those persecuted

under General Pinochet’s military dic-

tatorship, has now returned to live in

the country. Among other honors, Frenz

received the first professorship for

human rights at the Universidad de los

Lagos in Santiago. He invited Bishop

Schindehütte to open the semester with

a lecture on “Freedom and responsibi-

lity – human rights as a Christian obli-

gation.”

Report Central and South America, the Caribbean, training for ministry abroad

Bishop Schindehütte

with President

Bachelet of Chile.

49

Evangelicals who preach a dangerous

theology of prosperity.

The visit also focused on getting to

know the efforts of churches in the areas

of diakonia and development policy.

The EKD member churches, with the

help of German church institutions

(Brot für die Welt, Protestant Develop-

ment Service, Gustav-Adolf-Werk, and

Kindernothilfe), maintain projects in

the poor neighborhoods of Latin

America‘s megacities and in rural areas.

The remarkable ability of the victims of

poverty to speak about their faith, their

strong will to build a community, and

their growing self-awareness proved

that mission, communion and develop-

mental aid can go hand-in-hand.

The region’s Protestant universities

are in a class of their own. They include

the Instituto Superior Evangélico de

Teología (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires,

Argentina, and the Escola Superior de

Teologia (EST) in São Leopoldo, Brazil,

run by the Evangelical Church of Luthe-

ran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), the

largest EKD partner church in Latin

America. Equipped with magnificent

libraries, both universities teach con-

textual theology steeped in the know-

ledge of Protestant traditions. German

students are most strongly encouraged

to spend a semester abroad in one of

these state-recognized and renowned

universities, in order to broaden their

ecumenical horizons! The partner chur-

ches there have for a long time been

able to train future theologians. These

educational opportunities, which also

receive funding from the EKD and its

institutions, have reduced the need to

send pastors from Germany to Latin

America. The EKD does, however, con-

tinue to be interested in providing staff

Besides visiting the EKD’s partners,

one of the highlights of the trip were

meetings with Pentecostal Christians.

During a gathering organized at the

Unión Evangélica de Chile, representa-

tives of a variety of denominations

showed amazing interest in their com-

mon Protestant roots, and requested

assistance in gaining a better under-

standing of Luther’s theology. The dis-

cussion with the Pentecostal church

leaders in Buenos Aires was equally

open and ecumenical. Even the Roman

Catholic Archbishop of Buenos Aires and

chairman of the Argentinean Bishops’

Conference, Cardinal Bergoglio, at a

meeting arranged by the Evangelical

Church of the River Plate (IERP), diffe-

rentiated with great insight and without

polemics between charismatic Evange-

licals with whom one could speak and

even cooperate, and anti-ecumenical

Report Central and South America, the Caribbean, training for ministry abroad

Visiting a refuse

collection cooperative

near São Leopoldo:

(from right to left)

Bishop Schindehütte,

Rev. Sílvio Schneider,

and the head of the

cooperative.

50

The German-Speaking Protestant

Congregation in Mexico, founded in the

late 19th century, serves both the central

congregation in Mexico City and 11 pre-

aching stations around the country, thus

forming the largest individual Protes tant

parish. Some 600 families are members

out of a community of around 15,000

German citizens. The pastors sent by

the EKD, who are assigned a local pastor

to assist them, are entrusted with nume-

rous tasks. Due to dwindling financial

resources, the organization of the parish

ministry to be reconsidered continually.

The program during the Mexico

visit included a tour of the Volkswagen

plant in Puebla, which employs a large

number of Germans who live there with

their families on a temporary basis. The

plant management – and other represen-

tatives of German institutions there –

underscored the importance of the con-

gregation with its spiritual and cultural

assets.

The journey brought home just how

important a place Latin America has in

the EKD’s network of foreign activities –

not just a thread, but an essential com-

ponent of the overall fabric.

to partner churches, not least as a means

of joining them in preaching in German

and providing pastoral care, particularly

in larger cities where temporary German

residents gather with German expatri-

ates. Consequently, the Sunday Jubilate

service in Buenos Aires’ Martínez Con-

gregation, where the only EKD pastor in

Argentina is active, was the right time

and place for Church President Rev.

Federico Schäfer and Bishop Schinde-

hütte to formally sign a new partnership

agreement between the IERP and the

EKD.

The EKD has also sent a pastor to

provide German-language support in

São Paulo, Brazil, a city in which many

German-speakers work on a temporary

basis. The EKD pastor works together

with Brazilian colleagues in the Santo

Amaro Congregation there, which is part

of the IECLB.

Report Central and South America, the Caribbean, training for ministry abroad

Church President

Schäfer and Bishop

Schindehütte sign an

agreement in the

Martínez Church.

51Report Islam and world religions

“Do you know who I am?”In late October 2007, Germany’s Chri-

stian churches and Muslim and Jewish

organizations hosted a conference in

Frankfurt on the “Future of Cooperation

among the Major Religions in Germany.”

The conference underscored that it was

a paramount aim of the religious com-

munities to live together in peace and

foster good neighborly relations. It was

agreed that the interreligious initiative

“Do you know who I am?” that ended

in mid-2007 should be continued. The

initiative was originally launched in

2004 by the Council of Christian Chur-

ches in Germany (ACK), the Central

Coun cil of Jews in Germany, DITIB, and

the Central Council of Muslims in

Islam and World Religions

OKR Dr. Martin Affolderbach

Tel.: +49 / 511 / 27 96 -238

E-Mail: martin.affolderbach@ekd.de

Germany. There was well-founded hope

that the project would receive the fun-

ding it requires so that the cooperative

project in the years to come can be

continued and focus on new issues.

Cooperation with Muslims in EuropeThe European Union has declared 2008

the European Year of Intercultural Dia-

logue. The Committee for Relations with

Muslims in Europe, set up by the Con-

ference of European Churches and the

Euro pean Bishops’ Conference, planned

a Christian-Muslim conference at the

European level for October 2008.

Around 45 Muslims and Christians from

16 European countries attended the

Above: Muslim and

Christian delegates

meet in Esztergom,

Hungary

Below: Group picture

in front of Lambeth

Palace in London,

June 2, 2008

52

Religious coexistence An annual “Day of Religions in Germany”

has been organized for the past several

years. The event was hosted by the City

of Augsburg in 2007 and Regensburg

in 2008. Other cities have also shown

interest in hosting the event in the

meeting to discuss the topic “Being a

citizen of Europe and a person of faith.”

In April 2008, the committee met with

several Muslim representatives in Esz-

tergom, Hungary to prepare the confe-

rence, which is to be the first step in

an effort to move toward better Chris-

tian-Muslim cooperation in Europe.

Following the open letter written in

October 2007 by 138 Muslim represen-

tatives to numerous Christian churches

in which a common basis for Christians

and Muslims was developed, the Arch-

bishop of Canterbury announced a con-

ference in London in early June 2008

to discuss the adoption of this initiative

and draw up a road plan for further

Chris tian-Muslim cooperation.

Numerous church representatives from

predominantly Muslim regions, such as

the Middle East and parts of Southeast

Asia and Africa attended the meeting.

Participants recommended the

strengthening of cooperation especially

between Europeans and their counter-

parts in the Middle East.

Report Islam and world religions

Above:

Group photo ECRL,

Berlin, March 2008

Below:

Rabbi Goldschmidt,

Moscow, and

Rev. Horsfjord,

general secretary of

the ECRL, Oslo

53

Religions at the G8 SummitIn June 2007, the EKD Council Chair

invited leaders of world religions from

the G8 countries and Africa to a confe-

rence in Cologne to adopt a declaration

to the heads of government at the G8

summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

A similar meeting with leaders of world

religions took place in July 2008 in

Sapporo, Japan. There, Bishop Huber

emphasized the willingness of religious

groups to take collective responsibility

for the creation of a future in justice and

solidarity. The final declaration of the

meeting underscored the positions and

demands of the representatives with

regard to climate change and environ-

mental issue, the Millennium Develop-

ment Goals, nuclear disarmament,

and conflict resolution.

Report Islam and world religions

future, which is organized by the “Round

Table of Religions in Germany,” made

up of representatives from various reli-

gious communities in Germany.

On the European level, the European

Council of Religious Leaders (ECRL),

which forms part of the network Religi-

ons for Peace, also constitutes a platform

for cooperation. In March 2008, in coop-

eration with the EKD, the group held

their annual meeting in Berlin. The

agenda included examining the special

situation of the Germany’s Jewish com-

munity and supporting interreligious

coexistence and reconciliation initiati-

ves in the Balkans. Attendees were invi-

ted to attend the next meeting to take

place in 2009 in France.

Bishop Huber

speaking with Leonid

Kishkovsky of

Religions for Peace

(middle) and Charles

Reed of the Church of

England (right)

54

Pastors abroad commissioned or sent by the EKD (As of August 2008)

Map Europe

55Map world

56

Publishing credits

Published by theChurch Office of the Evangelical Church

in Germany (EKD)

Department for Ecumenical Relations

and Ministries Abroad

Hanover 2008

Editors:

Kirsten Finck

Paul Oppenheim

Hannelore Wartchow

Executive Directors:

Martin Schindehütte

Udo Hahn

Herrenhäuser Straße 12

30419 Hannover

Telephone: +49 / 511 / 27 96 - 0

www.ekd.de

DesignAnne-Ulrike Thursch Gestaltungskonzepte

www.thursch-gestaltung.de

Printed in Univers and Filosofia

Printed byWanderer Werbedruck GmbH

Georgstraße 7

31848 Bad Münder

Telefon: +49 /50 42 /93 31 33

www.wanderer-druck.de

ISSN 1867-4143

Photography [bitte Seitennr. überprüfen!]

Affolderbach, Martin: p. 51/1, p. 52/1, p. 53/1

Bartel, Burkhard: p. 5/1, p.6/2, p. 7/1, p. 11/1,

p. 14/1, p. 17/1, p.18/1, p. 45/1

Chile: p. 48/1

Chin-Sue, Claire: p. 51/1

ECLR, Oslo: p. 52/1

EKD: p. 39/1, p. 40/1

Fleckenstein, Margit: p. 35/1, p. 36/1

Gütter, Ruth: p. 43/2

Heitland, Wilfried: p. 32

Kaiser, Matthias: p. 33/1, p. 34/2

Koenig, Hartmut: p.46/1

Meyer, Helga: p. 26/1

Nieper, Jens: p. 20/1, p. 21/1, p. 22/1,

p. 41/1, p. 42/1

Nikolitsch, Branko: p. 49/1, 50/1

Noll, Rüdiger: s. 28/1

Oppenheim, Paul: p. 9/1, p. 19/1, p. 24/1,

p. 25/2, p. 27/1, p. 32/1, p. 47/2

Tunkel, Dieter: p. 37/1, p. 38/1

Portraits: Iris Klöpper

www.kloepper-fotodesign.de

Europe and World Map by

Helmut Walch, Grafikdesign

ISSN 1867-4143