Thirty-two ecumenical officers and representatives of the member churches of the Conference of European Churches from across Europe recently met in Brussels, where they explored the role of the churches and public theology — and how CEC’s programs can strengthen that role in the future. The CEC is a partner organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Thirty-two ecumenical officers and representatives of the member churches of the Conference of European Churches from across Europe met last month in Brussels, Belgium, where they explored the role of the churches and public theology — and how CEC’s programs can strengthen that role in the future. The CEC is a partner organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
“For more than three centuries, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union has tried to erase the uniqueness of Ukrainian people,” Archbishop Yevstratiy of Chernihiv and Nizhyn from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said Friday during a World Council of Churches plenary session. “But we are successfully fighting for our freedom, for our independent future.”
Upon the invitation of Pope Francis, Christians around the world are invited to pray the Lord’s Prayer on Wednesday at noon Rome Time, noon local time — or any other time meaningful to them.
“When I left there, I was ashamed — and I consider myself a convinced European — to be a member of this European Union,“ said Martin Dutzmann, the authorized representative of the Protestant Churches in Germany (EKD) at the German government and the EU after returning from his recent visit to the overcrowded and chaotic refugee camp Moria on Lesvos Island. And, he adds, “the EU has kept the situation in the camps on the Greek islands at bay for years.”
When I was a child in East Germany in the 1950s, oranges were hard to get. This was still the case when we had our own young children in the 1970s and 1980s. But in all those years one of the special things about Christmas was that we were able to buy oranges! We labeled them “Christmas quota oranges” and they came from Cuba. We rather loved them for their juicy sweetness even though they had a leathery surface and chewy flesh inside. And we learned later those oranges were originally a variety not meant for eating, but for juice production.
Global challenges can only be faced together, grounded in faith and prayer. That’s just one of the conclusions from the second World Mission global partner consultation in Berlin.
