04.06.2024

Hosting Seminars, Accompanying Volunteers

In charge of the South-North Volunteers until January 2025: Jana Bredemeier. Photo by: private

“Volunteers’ Services are fascinating to me, and so is international cooperation. That’s why I want to get to know this field of work in the United Evangelical Mission”, Jana Bredemeier says. Since May 2024, she replaces Lisa Bergmann during her parental leave as head of the South-North Volunteer Program at UEM in Wuppertal, Germany.

She originally comes from UEM member church EKvW* in Dortmund, Germany, where she served in youth work and as a local church elder. She studied German and Social Sciences to become a teacher and later worked in a Christian organization that supplied people with Bibles and calendars in different languages.

Part of the work of UEM is to enable young adults to live and work in Germany for one year, within the framework of the Federal Volunteers Service of the German Government. Here, Jana will work in the selection of future volunteers and potential placements, she will support the Volunteers during their stay in Germany and communicate between parties involved:

“For our seminars, we at UEM are working together with other mission societies. That’s why I will be in touch with them, but also with the volunteers’ placements in our member churches”, she explains the work ahead of her. Two volunteers are placed inside UEM mission house: the team House & Ground and the department Communication & Fundraising are both supported by one volunteer each. This way, the international experience of the UEM communion becomes part of its everyday business.

What she likes most about her new job? “Hosting the seminars for our volunteers really gives me joy!” Jana says. Another focus for her is the background work that is necessary for a year full of new experiences and encounters. Because in the end, it’s the volunteers’ experience that counts: “I am really impressed by UEM’s young adults network. For many volunteers, this is like a home base during their service.” It also reminds her of a project in her current studies in Social Work: Her University FH Dortmund is cooperating with several institutions in Southern Africa. There, she gets to know similar contexts, but from a student’s point of view. This further completes her perspective on her work in Wuppertal.

In her free time, Jana pursues her studies in Social Work and spends time with her husband and their two children. She likes to visit concerts and cabaret shows.

We welcome Jana Bredemeier at UEM and wish her God’s blessings for her work with our South-North Volunteers.

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