Learning, Laughing and Praying

“This conference has thoroughly equipped the participants to be more effective evangelists and church workers”, Rev Jurcelyn Astudillo says. She is the head of the Asia Regional Office of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) and part of the preparation team of the conference.

 

From January 20 to 28, 2025, a total of 20 Evangelism Contact Persons (ECPs) met on the Island of Java, Indonesia. In the ECP Program, the UEM works together with full time employees from its member churches in Asia, Africa and Europe. These women and men are working in the field of Evangelism in one way or another. This can be conferences, worship services, or interfaith dialogue. They form a strong network within the UEM communion. Together, they reflect and discuss their projects with one another and with UEM, particularly during the annual EPC Conferences, like this one in Java.

 

 

 

Learning in exchange

 

Miriam Albrecht, an ECP from German member church EKvW*, was a participant at the conference: “Together, we learned a lot about evangelism in our international exchange. But we also laughed, prayed and sung together a lot.”

 

During this meeting, the ECP engaged with topics like digital church, social divisions in church, and Angels and Demons in the ECP’s working contexts. Whether faith should be more of a private or a public issue, was also discussed: Maybe, Christian faith can be lived in public, if it does not seek to dominate others, but instead seeks to serve everyone in the community? Every morning started with a one and a half hour Bible Sharing, a method used more extensively over the years, after participants found it very helpful.

 

 

 

After the conference, Rev Jurcelyn is very happy with the outcome: “The inputs were really powerful, practical tools, empowering the ECPs to more engage in their tasks. Working in the UEM preparations team was just light, everyone was supporting each other.” At the end of the conference, the ECPs prepared plans for their next steps, once they’ve returned to their home churches.

 

 

 

*EEC = Eglise Evangéliques du Cameroun (Evangelical Church in Cameroon)

 

*GKJTU = Gereja Kristen Jawa Tengah Utara (Christian Church of North Central Java)

 

*GKE = Gereja Kalimantan Evangelis (Evangelical Church of Kalimantan)

 

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