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20.07.2020

Corona: Church employees in Germany donate 250,000 euros

Great solidarity among UEM member churches, here with the Evangelical Church in Kalimantan (GKE)

Church employees and their families receive food packages

(Photos: GKE)

250,000 euros from donations and promises of donations by employees of the Churches of Westphalia and the Rhineland will go to partner churches in Asia and Africa. The money is used to support colleagues who no longer have a regular income as a result of the Corona pandemic.

Solidarity within the international communion of churches has proved its worth

The "Care and Share" campaign of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia and the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland has led to a high level of willingness to donate among their staff. The United Evangelical Mission (UEM) can therefore now provide emergency aid totalling 250,000 euros. "This exceeds our hopes by far," says the Westphalian member of the church board Rev. Dr. Ulrich Möller. "With their energetic solidarity, our colleagues are showing In the Corona pandemic, the solidarity within our communion of churches is proving its worth across all borders and distances. We are very grateful for this."

Because of the curfew, many people in Africa and Asia can no longer cultivate their fields. This leads to supply bottlenecks for basic foodstuffs and to a shortage economy with enormous price increases.

32 member churches of the UEM communion in Africa and Asia receive immediate financial support, which is urgently needed. Many salaries can no longer be paid in the partner churches because sources of income such as collections, membership fees and school fees have dried up.

Thanks to this emergency aid, for example, around 386 needy church employees of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Rwanda can now be supplied with rice, beans, sugar, oil, maize flour and hygiene products, including active and retired pastors, widows and widowers and administrative staff. And the staff of the Evangelical Church of Mentawai in Indonesia, who have not been able to receive a salary since May, are also grateful that their food supply is secured at short notice.

Social security in case of illness and unemployment not as good as ours

The employees in the affected churches are exposed to a double burden: they worry about the people they work for and are themselves in need with their families. "In fact, member churches are keen to pay the salaries of their staff themselves, just as we are. But because social security in the event of illness and unemployment is not as good as it is here, people are in need time and again, and especially now," says Rev. Barbara Rudolph, a board member of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland.

Online concert as a thank you to donors

All donors can watch a Corona benefit concert of the South African Libertas Choir from Stellenbosch on the internet: As a thank you and a sign of solidarity during the crisis, they will receive the online access code for this concert, which is otherwise subject to a fee.

Donation account of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM):
IBAN: DE45 3506 0190 0009 0909 08 BIC: GENODED1DKD Keyword: "Care and Share"

Spendenkonto

IBAN: DE45 3506 0190 0009 0909 08

SWIFT/BIC: GENODED1DKD

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0202-89004-195

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