19.01.2022

"Intercultural Church - an (in)possible dream?"

Dr Claudia Währisch-Oblau, head of Evangelism of the UEM and one of the initiators of the pilot project; © Photo: Johannes Schermuly/UEM

"Intercultural church - an (un)possible dream?" - this is the title of a three-month online study course launched by the UEM today with 14 participants* from Protestant churches in Germany, Indonesia, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Norway.

"For years, people from various member churches of the UEM have been pushing us to offer material on the topic of 'intercultural church,'" says Dr Claudia Währisch-Oblau head of Evangelism of the UEM and one of the initiators of the pilot project. That's why an international team has now put together a curriculum with perspectives from South Africa, Tanzania, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Canada and Germany. This curriculum includes migration and Christianity, church and discrimination, as well as ecclesiology and intercultural communication.

The aim of the pilot project is to involve people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, religions and languages in the rather monocultural Protestant churches. At the end, an e-learning programme for multipliers will be developed.