24.02.2020

Jews, Christians & Muslims

The 47th Conference of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue (JCM) took place from 17 to 23 February in Vallendar, Germany. The theme of this year's conference was "Religious Response to Trauma and Terror". The conference brought together some 80 participants, including Jews, Christians and Muslims from England, the Netherlands, Israel, Palestine, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Germany. The United Evangelical Mission prepared the conference together with the Bendorfer Forum, the Pastoral College, the Evangelische Akademie Villigst Institut für Kirche und Gemeinde, the DML Bonn, the Leo Beck College, the JCM team and numerous contributors.

Several actors from the fields of diakonia, interreligious dialogue and advocacy of UEM members took part in the conference. This year, Bishop Labuntog of the United Christ of Church in the Philippines (UCCP) gave the keynote address from a Christian perspective. In it he shared his personal experiences on the current conference theme, based on his 32 years of service as pastor and general secretary of the UCCP church.

The aim of the annual conference is to bring believers together to learn from each other, to encourage each other and to understand the positions and perspectives of people of other faiths, fellow human beings from other cultures and countries. The conference traditionally ends with services from the different faith communities, with the Muslim Jumaa prayers as a prelude, followed by the Shabbat reception on Friday evening and the Shabbat prayer on Saturday, as well as the Christian Sunday service.

Lusungu Mbilinyi (Education Coordinator Region Germany)