CHHSM Report – April 2013
Council for Health and Human Service Ministries
April 2013 Report for the UEK Forum
On February 22, 2013 three representatives from the Diakonishes Werk der Evangelischen Kirche in Rheinland traveled to Chicago to help CHHSM celebrate its 75th anniversary at our Annual Meeting.
Rev. Prof. Uwe Becker, Chairman of Diakonishes Werk der Evangelischen Kirche in Rheinland.
Rev. Hans W. Fricke-Hein, CEO of the Neukirchener Erziehungsverein, a Diakonal Institution that provides long-term care, child and family services, and care for the developmentally disabled, and Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft, a Christian publishing house.
Rev. Matthias Dargel, CEO of the Theodor Fliedner Stiftung, which provides clinics for developmentally disabled and addicted individuals, as well as long-term care facilities and nursing homes for the elderly.
After a weekend spent touring around metro Chicago and a lively worship service at Kenwood UCC, Revs. Dargel and Fricke-Hein traveled to St. Louis, MO with CHHSM Program Associate Rev. Danielle Bartz to visit 5 of our CHHSM member ministries as well as participating in a round-table discussion with Missouri Mid-South/Illinois South CHHSM group. Rev. Becker remained in Chicago with CHHSM VP Michael Readinger to visit 5 of the CHHSM member ministries in the wider Chicago area. The member ministries were all very pleased to meet with the German delegation and the conversations that were had amongst them were very fruitful and educational.
On Thursday, February 28th Revs. Becker, Fricke-Hein, and Dargel met with Rev. Mary Schaller Blaufuss, executive of the UCC’s Volunteer Ministries. They discussed a deeper collaborative relationship between Diakonishes Werk der Evangelischen Kirche volunteers and CHHSM volunteers.
On Friday, February 29th, the German delegation participated actively in the CHHSM 75th Anniversary Annual Meeting, which culminated for them with their presentation on Saturday morning. They described their three ministries and answered a number of questions about the differences and similarities between nonprofit work in the United States and Germany. It was a shared belief amongst most of the Annual Meeting attendees their presentation was the highlight of the weekend. You can view their presentations at: http://www.chhsm.org/annualmeeting/resources
In conjunction with the delegation from Diakonishes Werk der Evangelischen Kirche in Rheinland, another delegation from Reichenbach, Germany traveled to the CHHSM Annual Meeting with Wisconsin Conference Minister Rev. David Moyer. This delegation brought with them a gift of 22 beautiful banners depicting the life and ministry of Louis Edward Nollau, a missionary from Germany who traveled to the United States. He eventually settled in the St. Louis, MO area and established the Deaconess movement, which is the mother movement of many of the CHHSM organizations. These banners are on display in the Church House Amistad Chapel until mid-April. They will also be displayed in the CHHSM exhibit at General Synod and available for Conferences and ministries throughout the UCC to display at various meetings.