19.07.2024

Three Intensive Months

Teachers and Students of the ISP Program in UEM's Mission House in Wuppertal. Photo by: UEM

"It was an intensive and demanding time, but I'm taking so much with me!" says Hardiyan Triasmoroadi from Indonesia. He is one of the nine participants in the International Study Programme 2024 (ISP), which ended on 4 July with an evaluation and a farewell dinner. Organised by the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) and the Protestant University Wuppertal (KiHo), the programme brought together nine theology students for three months at the KiHo. They come from Rwanda, the DR Congo, Tanzania, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Germany. Under the theme "War and Peace as an Ecumenical Challenge for the Churches", the group took part in English-language courses with sub-themes such as "Preaching Peace" or "Our Peace with God". In the area of intercultural theology, the students analysed the role of the churches in conflicts such as China-Taiwan, Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza and Rwanda-DR Congo.

The group lived together with other students from the KiHo in the student residence on the Holy Mountain. Excursions were an important part of the programme: to the One Spirit Camp on the Himmelsfels in Spangenberg, to various church communities such as the Weigle-Haus in Essen, the charismatic New Life Church in Düsseldorf or the Greek Orthodox community in Wuppertal and to the Wuppertal Synagogue.

The group also met every week for a reflection session, where the students' concerns were shared. Open questions from the courses were discussed there, as were possible excursions for the group. It was particularly important to the group that all participants presented their home churches, parishes and specific church work in detail. "That was particularly enriching," said Enoch Ng from Hong Kong. "The diversity of church work worldwide is truly amazing." The students learned about the work of a chaplain in an institution for disabled children in Tanzania, as well as the problems of a small rural community in a predominantly Muslim area in Aceh, Indonesia. They heard about creative projects in Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as about the commitment of Filipino Christians to the rights of landless workers.

The International Study Programme 2024 was offered for the third time. The KiHo and the UEM hope that the programme will take place again in 2026.