United Church of Christ is active at the Kirchentag in Bremen, Germany
United Church of Christ is active at the Kirchentag in Bremen, Germany
(source: Evangelical Church in Germany [EKD] website:
http://www.ekd.de/english/4250-edi_090525_ucc_delegation_bremen.html)
Every two years German Protestants celebrate a festival of faith attended by Christians from all parts of Germany and also by a large number of visitors from other countries. This great festival called the Kirchentag was initiated 60 years ago as a lay movement within the Protestant churches of Germany by Reinhold von Thadden who had been a leading figure in the opposition to Hitler.
This year the five-day event consisting of hundreds of panel discussions, bible studies, lectures, concerts and worship services took place in the city of Bremen May 20 – 24 and was attended by over a hundred thousand participants of all ages.
At the heart of the Kirchentag there is a huge marketplace where over 800 church groups, initiatives, projects and organizations present their activities in a “Market of Opportunities”. Among them, for the first time, was the United Church of Christ from the USA with an exhibition of its God is still speaking campaign, various publications and general information about the denomination’s beliefs and principles.
Another focus of the presentation at the market stall was the partnership between the United Church of Christ and the United and Reformed regional churches (Landeskirchen)in Germany who form the UEK (Union of Evangelical Churches in the EKD). This partnership was formalized in 1980 and brings the United Church of Christ into full communion with the United and Reformed member churches of the EKD. Mutual visits, the exchange of pastors, theological colloquies and joint activities have developed on the basis of this close relationship for which the German term of “Kirchengemeinschaft” (communion of churches) is commonly used.
A delegation of UCC pastors that had come to Bremen at the invitation of the German churches hosted an English language communion service and organized a successful spiritual concert with the UCC’s Vision Choir from Michigan led by music director Dr. Geoff Stanton.