Global Ministries

Palm Sunday Worship in the (Virtual) English Community in Germany

In 2015, the Evangelical Church in Wiesbaden, Germany recognized the opportunity to foster a new worshiping community to offer a diversity of worship practices familiar to Christian immigrants. The English Community Outreach Project was established to form a congregation uniting Protestant traditions in Germany with other cultural Christian traditions in worship. Today, members of the congregation come from Cameroon, Korea, Syria, Indonesia, and other European locations.

As news broke of nine people killed by an alleged far-right extremist gunman on 19 February in Hanau, Germany, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit condemned the violence and extended condolences to family and friends of those who perished.

“Extremism and hate have no place in our world,” said Tveit. “We must continue to act together to stamp out the extremist and racist attitudes that lead to such brutal violence.”

The attack comes amid growing concerns about far-right violence in Germany. “We prayerfully support churches in Germany and across the world in stopping the tide of xenophobia that tears at the fabric of our one human family,” added Tveit.

Thirty years ago, on 9 November 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig had gained a reputation as a gathering point for events signalling the end of an era of communist rule in what was then East Germany.

The Leipzig city and parish church of St Nikolai had been the place where the "Monday demonstrations" took place in 1989, reaching a fever pitch before the Wall fell in a time of optimism at the end of the Cold War.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Barbara Kershner Daniel, former Global Ministries Board member, to partner church, Evangelical Kirchengemeinde Inden-Langerwehe in Germany on July 14, 2019.

Luke 6: 36-42

The way of the world is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The way of the world is: you hurt me, I hurt you even more. One country builds a bomb, another builds a bigger bomb. My fence will be bigger than your fence. My wall will be bigger than your wall and I will make you pay for it. The name of the game in the world is to win. At all costs. Despite the cost. That’s the way of the world. And we know how well that’s working.

A Call for the German Bundestag to Reverse its May 17, 2019 Resolution,
“Resisting the BDS movement decisively – fighting antisemitism”
May 23, 2019

Christians in Palestine are saddened and confused to learn of the German Bundestag’s passage of a resolution condemning the International Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) and making it equal to anti-Semitism. The Palestinian BDS movement embraces the logic of peaceful means of resistance against the ongoing occupation and the Israeli human rights violations and discriminatory measures against our people. It means inviting Israel to the ways of peace, even by instituting some kind of pressure to help the government to open its eyes and see the injustice it is imposing on another people, the Palestinians.

Lectionary Selection: Luke 4:14-21

Prayers for Germany: 

Lord, our brother Jesus was rejected by the people who thought they knew him best – his hometown folk. They couldn’t believe that one of their own could have anything of worth to say to this tiny village. Freedom from poverty, oppression, illness? What nonsense; what audacity. Seventy-four years ago, you called Germany, decimated by the moral atrocity of the Holocaust, back into life. Clear-headed leaders, former enemies, came together to create a democracy with a socially just mandate. Now, though only a fraction of the size of the United States, Germany’s just society is unraveling as increasingly fewer people take over the resources of the land. Fear of and hatred for the stranger is on the rise. The numbers of children and elderly living in poverty increase yearly. We call on you, God, to help this nation restore its mandate of justice for all. Help us to take seriously our responsibility for each other’s welfare, knowing that in you, there are no national borders; that we are all one in your eyes. Help us, as US citizens and witnesses to the same ills in our own land, to be sisters and brothers together in the work of creating a just world for all; help us to be servants in building up the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Amen

              Hope…not Fear!

A statement issued by Bishop Annette Kurschus, Prases of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia and the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ

Sept. 5, 2018

Paolo Naso (FCEI): “Against False Promises, We Are Called to Freedom”

We publish here below, the speech given by Paolo Naso on July 8 from Radio1 Rai for the column "Essere chiesa insieme" of the broadcast Culto Evangelico. Mr. Naso is the coordinator of the Mediterranean Hope - Programme for refugees and migrants by the FCEI. [Dr. Naso is also a member of the Common Global Ministries Board of Directors, representing the Europe region and partners.]

Springtime greetings on this cold and cloudy first of February here in the Rheingau! And yes, we do feel like spring has sprung – at least for our tiny congregation. Little more than 2 months ago, it was still unclear whether we would be allowed to continue into 2018: our 3-year “test phase” was coming to an end and our congregation had been given the task of raising 15,000 Euros to cover the majority of costs for the 2018 operating costs. One might think that such a sum would be easy in the wealthiest country in Europe, but this is a country where church tax has been in place since 1830. If you check the box ‘Protestant,’ or ‘Catholic’ or ‘Jewish’ on your employment form, the equivalent of 8% of your federal tax is taken from your paycheck and given to the national administration of your faith. So, the old phrase, “I gave at the office,” is a reality here. Weekly offerings are generally a bit of small change. Annual pledging is practically unheard of.

By Stephen Brown

A group of German ecumenical activists including former World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Konrad Raiser has criticised the German government for its failure to support the United Nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.