City of Hope

“I long for a world where people respect each other, live together peacefully, are curious about one another, and take joy in one another,” said Church President Dr Adelheid Ruck-Schröder, Head of the EKvW*, a member church of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM). She spoke last weekend at the opening of the SPIRIT Festival Congress 2025.

Life in the Spirit

For three days, a total of 2,000 people met at various locations in Bochum. The festival congress, organized among others by UEM, which took part with a stand and a workshop, brought together concerts, workshops, and encounters, showing that the church is a lively and diverse space: Theologian Prof Dr Thorsten Dietz and pastor and missiologist Dr Leita Ngoy were among the speakers.

Ngoy is a former UEM scholarship holder and regularly gives seminars and lectures at events of UEM. Speaking at the festival congress, she said: “People were in connection for three days, in encounter with the Holy Spirit. When we encounter the Holy Spirit, we do not remain the same, there is always transformation.”

Music Moves

The UEM community could be experienced musically in the workshop “Music Moves”: Together with Vicar Daniel Njikeu from the International Protestant Community in Wuppertal, programme officer Jörg Spitzer invited participants to discover gospels and spirituals from different countries.

For Spitzer, music also has a spiritual dimension, just like the entire festival congress: “A weekend of building a city out of beats, prayers, and enthusiasm. The city we are looking for begins right here – in the midst of us.”

City of Hope: A hope that carries on. In her speech, Ruck-Schröder called on participants to take part in spiritual transformation. Every single person, said the Westphalian Church President, “can contribute to dialogue and understanding. That is my hope. Start today!”

*EKvW = Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen (Evangelical Church in Westphalia, Germany)