Wethen, 16 August 2022
Church and Peace is excited to engage in conversation and theological reflection, fellowship and prayer, as well as discernment and action when the global ecumenical family meets in Europe from 31 August until 8 September 2022 in Karlsruhe for the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Our member, the Evangelical Church of Baden, is one of the host churches of the highest governing body of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Different programme streams invite delegates, participants and guests to meet and experience the most diverse Christian gathering of its size in the world and the themes at the heart of the ecumenical family. Church and Peace members and friends are involved in several events of the Ecumenical Encounter Place Peace and Justice, which is publicly accessible to everyone (without registration):
- 2 Sept, 3-6pm: Migration, Situation at the borders of Europe with a focus on Lesbos (with Jakob Fehr, German Mennonite Peace Committee/ Aegean Migrant Solidarity among others)
- 5 Sept, 4-6pm: Resource Scarcity and Green Economy: Right Sharing of Resources and the WCC (with Kees Nieuwerth, Church and Peace vice president, and delegates and WCC Central Committee members from Africa, Latin America and Europe)
- 5 Sept, 7-8:15pm: Peace theology and politics of nonviolence in times of war: utopia or necessity? (with Ana Raffai, RAND and Antje Heider-Rottwilm, Church and Peace president)
- 6 Sept, 2-4pm: Rethinking security in Europe and Africa (with Kees Nieuwerth, Ralf Becker (Rethinking Security coordinator in Germany), Marie-Noëlle Koyara (representative of the Central African Republic‘s National Council of Active Nonviolence).
- 6 Sept, 4-6pm: Conscientious Objection (with Zaira Zafarana, International Fellowship of Reconciliation among others)
Find further information about the all Ecumenical Encounter Places with a variety of events focusing on different themes – Peace and Justice; Fight against Racism; Environment and Creation; Women, Men, Family and Gender Diversity; Just Economy; Ecclesiology, Mission and Unity of the Church; Interreligious Dialogue; Youth; Music – at: https://www.karlsruhe2022.de/begegnungsprogramm
The Brunnen, a workshop program for registered delegates and participants, also features a workshop by Ana Raffai and Antje Heider-Rottwilm discussing Patriarchy and violence against women as a challenge for theology, liturgy, structure and life of churches and faith communities on Monday 5 September 5-6.15 pm.
“War is contrary to the will of God” was the statement issued by the WCC founding Assembly in 1948 in Amsterdam, which gave impetus to the furthering of peace church witness in Europe in the years to follow. To prayerfully affirm the permanence of this message, a group of Christians will carry a banner 480 kilometres by foot to Karlsruhe ahead of the Assembly.
In 2022, the question of war, peace, justice and the role of churches is once again topical on the agenda. Delegates, observers and guest of traditional and new peace churches are looking forward to reflecting on past and shaping future programme work of the WCC and reminding the global church about the call to peace and nonviolence.
From Europe these include Church and Peace members and friends: Kees Nieuwerth, delegate Council of Churches in the Netherlands, Quaker; Antje Heider-Rottwilm, observer Church and Peace, Protestant; Davorka Lovrekovic, observer Friends World Committee for Consultation – EMES/Quaker; Gordon Matthews, Pax Christi Paderborn, Quaker; Prof. Dr. Fernando Enns, delegate Mennonites Germany; Dr. Iris Speckmann, delegate Mennonites Netherlands; Marijke van Duin, advisor Mennonites Netherlands; N.N, Secretary of Community Peacemaker Teams Netherlands; Rachel Muirs; WCC Faith and Order Commission/Britain YM/Quakers; Ann Riggs – WCC Assembly Planning committee/Quakers; Lydia Funck, Church and Peace General Secretary, Mennonite; Karen Hinrichs, Peace Institute of the Protestant University for Applied Sciences Freiburg; Doris Hege, Mennonite Germany; Christian Renoux, observer International Fellowship of Reconciliation; Daniel Geiser-Oppliger, Täuferisches Forum für Frieden und Gerechtigkeit (TFFG)/ press.
Also publicly accessible is the ecumenical grass roots programme “Our Common House Casa Común” with events during the Assembly.
