"Church with Unlimited Hope"

The President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Manfred Rekowski, found some words of hope in the closing worship of the international partnership conference on July 8 in the audimax of the international Evangelical conference centre in Wuppertal. The reason was the declining number of members in Protestant churches in Germany. In his sermon the head of the second largest Protestant church in Germany referred to the Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 66-69: "After his many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve: "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that your are the Holy One of God." Rekowski clarified that, although the numbers speak a very clear language, the words of the eternal life do not depend on numbers. "Especially in times of declining numbers we need hope", stated the church President. "We all belong to a church with unlimited hope", was the message of Rekowski. Unlike in Germany, the UEM member churches in Africa and Asia continue to grow. The holy communion was prepared according to an Indonesian recipe with yellow rice, eggs, meat and spicy ingredients. A good-bye was said to the UEM co-worker David Wafo from Cameroon who had been responsible for the partnership work in the Africa region during the past six years. A special gift (a candle with a church and UEM logo) was given to Ka Keung Chan, the delegate from the Rhenish Church in Hong Kong as the church is celebrating its 170th jubilee this year. The delegates from the UEM member churches in Africa, Asia and Germany came together from July 2 to 8 in Wuppertal in order to develop new forms and programs for international church partnerships. Martina Pauly