Study Trip to England

Report by Theology Student Esther Herrmann

How does the Church of England succeed in reaching people who are distant from the church? What concepts are in place to achieve this? And how can different forms of piety and worship styles be united within the Anglican Church? These were some of the many questions we, theology students and church staff members, both full-time and volunteers, explored during the excursion to London from August 31 to September 9, 2024.

The week was filled with a diverse program. We had the opportunity to engage in discussions with John McGinley from the Gregory Center for Church Multiplication and Alison Milbank, a representative of the Save the Parish initiative, on topics such as church development, empowerment, and the importance of parochial structures. Additionally, we visited specific projects in London, such as Messy Church, which aims to reach people of all ages, and Renerate RISE (Reaching the Isolated Elderly), where the focus is on elderly and lonely individuals. During a day trip to Oxford, Jo Allen described her work in rural areas, and in Leicester, we experienced the culturally diverse church life through the introduction of various congregations.

There was also time for joint worship services, sightseeing, and reflecting on our experiences over a beer or cider at the pub, discussing how these ideas could be applied in our own contexts. What impressed me most about all the people we met was their enthusiasm for the Gospel and their volunteer commitment to their projects. I found it incredibly exciting to see how church communities can emerge in different places outside of church buildings and how diverse groups can coexist within one church.

Yearly Meeting of the International Consultation on Ecclesial Futures (ICEF)

ICEF Tagung in Halle am CES / MKG

From June 10 to 14, 2024, the annual consultation of the ICEF (International Consultation on Ecclesial Futures) took place in Halle in cooperation with the CES. The aim of the annual meetings is to exchange research results, promote critical discussion and develop and discuss suggestions for missional, sustainable and context-sensitive church development. The key questions of the ICEF are: What are the specific conditions of our own context? How does the mission of God manifest itself in our environment? Where do we discover traces of the work of the Holy Spirit and how does church life develop in our contexts? What theological questions arise from this and need to be reflected on in more detail? What can we learn from each other? What can be empirically ascertained and how can it be interpreted theologically?

This year the meeting was entitled “Christian Empowerment, Secularity and Church Development”. With researchers and practitioners from four continents, we thought intensively about the reality of secularism, the challenges for community development and the opportunities for Christian empowerment. There was also an intensive exchange with full-time and voluntary employees from the Evangelical Church in Central Germany, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony and a Halle Free Church (Evangelical Congregation).

On June 12, 24, the Consultation invited people to a public day at the MLU’s Faculty of Theology, where they discussed the issues related to the topic with a larger academic and church public. (MKG)