In a church service on Friday, 30.09.2022, the new moderator as well as the 13 new members of the internationally staffed Council were welcomed. The church St. Viktor in the center of Schwerte, Germany, offered the delegates and guests of the UEM a solemn setting for the introduction of the Council. Together they confessed to their willingness to serve the United Evangelical Mission. The previous members of the Council were bid farewell - with words of thanks for their great commitment from Volker Martin Dally, General Secretary of the UEM, and the applause of the UEM community. The service was the official closing of the General Assembly 2022 in Villigst, Germany. A heartfelt thank you also went from all delegates to the host, the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.

"Building Inclusive Communities - How Can Churches Fight against Discrimination, Exclusion and Violence?" was the topic of the study day on September, 27th, 2022 in the framework of the General Assembly. In discussions and workshops, the delegates of the UEM exchanged views on the question: "How do we encounter discrimination and exclusion in our churches and what can we do individually and especially together in the UEM to prevent discrimination, exclusion and violence?"

One focus of the study day was the publication of the results of the essay competition. Launched in 2021 to mark the 25th anniversary of the internationalization of the UEM, this invited young people in all regions of Africa, Asia and Germany to reflect on the current challenges facing the churches. Most of the submitted essays address different forms of violence and living together in a multi-religious context, but reconciliation, poverty and drug addiction are also seen as church challenges. During the book launch, three authors were recognized for their outstanding essays. Norita Novalina Sembiring from Indonesia with her essay on supporting victims of natural disasters, Georges Nkuwa Milosi from the Democratic Republic of Congo with his essay on "witch children" in Kinshasa and the silence of the church, and Katarina Lange from Germany with her essay on the situation of single parents as a challenge for mission and diakonia were awarded 1,500 euros, 1,000 euros and 500 euros.. The selection of the winning authors was made by an international jury consisting of Professor Dr. Claudia Jahnel, Professor Dr. Dennis Solon and Dr. Jean Mutombo. With the exception of Georges Milosi, who was prevented from attending due to a stay in the USA, Norita Sembiring and Katarina Lange received their awards in person yesterday at the General Assembly of the UEM and presented their results in short statements. 

The collection of essays can be downloaded free of charge here.

Within the framework of the UEM General Assembly, the International Partnership Award was officially awarded for the third time after 2016 and 2018 on the evening of 27.09.2022. Partnerships that promote equal exchange among the members of the UEM in a particularly innovative way were eligible to apply for the UEM prize. This time, the partnership projects submitted were under the motto "Joy of Partnership" and, according to the entry criteria, had to involve "all five senses".

The first prize was awarded to the project: "Mime Arts For Life", Otjiwarongo. 

The intercultural mime project is jointly initiated by the Otjiwarongo church district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) and the Wesel church district of the Evangelical Church in Rhineland (EKiR). The project convinced the jury thanks to its creativity and innovative form of communication. Bishop Sageus Keib and Wolfgang Neuhausen accepted the 2,000 euro prize on behalf of all those involved in this partnership project. Wolfgang Neuhausen then showed the participants of the GA in a performance, in which everyone in the hall in Villigst enthusiastically participated, how much pantomomy contributes to translating messages into simple actions and thus emotionally touches and invites people to participate.

The second prize went to the project: "The trilateral partnership between Java, Kigeme and Lennep".

The trilateral partnership between the Christian Church of Northern Central Java (GKJTU) in Indonesia, the Kigeme Diocese of the Anglican Church in Rwanda (EAR) and the Remscheid church district of Lennep of the Evangelical Church in Rhineland (EKiR) uses this project to promote climate protection and sustainability in Africa, Asia and Germany in equal measure and takes into account the needs for environmental protection with a view to future generations. This prize was endowed with 1,000 euros.

34 women meet in Villigst today, to start our women's pre assembly, prior to the General Assembly starting on Sunday.

They discussed women's rights in both the UEM and the member churches and exchanged experiences from their different contexts. The pre assembly also heared a report of Dr. Jochen Motte as a member of the Management Team.

Pre-Assemblies are a crucial part of our journey together as the UEM. Because only when those who are affected by oppression and exclusion can come together to unite their voices, can our world become more just and peaceful. As Christians, we speak of a life of abundance. This is where we are headed together, and this means to speak up for women's rights.