16.02.2023

Interreligious Response to a broken World

Bishop Dr. Abednego Keshomshahara, Moderator of the UEM, Photo: UEM

The participants of the 50th JCM Conference in Bukoba, Photo: UEM

This week, Jewish, Christians and Muslims will meet for interfaith dialogue, this time in the African region, in Bukoba, Tanzania. It is hosted by the ELCT, a member church of the United Evangelical Mission. Participants will gather from Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa to share their views on this year's JCM theme, "Have We Failed God? Religious Response to a Broken World."

Bishop Dr. Abednego Keshomshahara of the ELCT-NWD and Moderator of the UEM  officially opened the JCM conference. In his speech, he insisted to all participants that, "we real need to understand our responsibility that God gave us to live in this World. We are all created by the image of God but now we turn and hurt each other. We have witnessed a lot of injustice and evil actions to our fellow human beings. Humanity and love should start with an individual person and then spread to each other." He pleaded that, peace and love should be our focus despite of our religious, race or ethnicity.

The first JCM conference was held in Indonesia in January to great acclaim. The United Evangelical Mission supports interfaith dialogue in which space is given for respectful and open exchange and for better understanding and coexistence among all three religions.

*JCM Conference: "JCM explores problems that all three religions are confronted with. As we reflect on those issues, we are able to determine our similarities and accept each others differences.." This is how the organization, founded in the 1960s and supported by the United Evangelical Mission since its inception, describes itself. More information about JCM: https://www.jcmconference.org/

*ELCT-NWD = North-Western Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, a member church of the UEM