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Newsletter March 2022
 

Topic overview:

  • Editorial 
  • News from the Presidium 
  • New staff for the CPCE
  • News from the member churches
  • News from the work processes
  • New publication
  • Dates for your diaries

The shadow of war looms over Europe, threatening suffering and death for many people. As churches, we try to act in a way that instils peace across borders by means of ongoing discussion, seeking to understand one another, and praying. You will find several voices from Ukraine and Russia reflected in a template for prayer. A translation of our ethical statement on reproductive medicine has also just been released in Ukrainian. During meetings in Sweden and the Czech Republic, the CPCE considered how we can get talking to the young generation about faith. And we have another two new members of staff at head office, whom we wish to introduce.

Best wishes
Mario Fischer
General Secretary of the CPCE 
News from the Presidium
Visit to Sweden
 

In February 2022, the Presidium of the CPCE visited the Church of Sweden’s dioceses of Karlstad and Västerås. In the run-up to the next General Assembly in 2024, the Presidium is interested to learn what the churches consider to be the most urgent tasks for the CPCE until 2030. In Sweden, questions regarding the upcoming generation are particularly pressing, primarily with regard to passing on faith and working with children and young people, but also how to recruit pastors.

 
read more 
New staff for the CPCE
Officer for Church Development

Dr. Stefan Cosoroaba (born 1960) is a pastor in the Protestant Church A.C. in Romania, for which he was a church councillor until moving to the head office of the CPCE. He is involved in academic work via his teaching post for subjects in practical theology at the Protestant Theological Institute in Sibiu. His roots in the intercultural region of Transylvania make ecumenical issues existentially meaningful to him.  For instance, as an initiator of the Centre for Protestant Theology in Eastern Europe, he created an extremely important network for Protestant Churches in this Orthodox environment. His role at the CPCE’s head office puts him in charge of various study processes, but also particularly for organising the 2024 General Assembly in his home city of Sibiu.  

Special assistant

On 1 March 2022, theology graduate Kathleen Müller commences a one-year post as a special assistant at the head office of the CPCE. She has been a pastor-in-training in the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Brunswick (Germany) since 2019, working at Riddagshausen Abbey and Bugenhagen Church in Brunswick. She grew up in the Altmark district of Saxony-Anhalt (eastern Germany), one of the least religious regions in Germany. She studied Protestant theology in Leipzig, Halle (Saale), Vienna and Jena. Under the auspices of the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme, she worked with disabled people in the L’Arche Community in Edinburgh (United Kingdom); thus one of her main interests is inclusion from a theological perspective.
News from the member churches
Prayer for peace for Ukraine and Russia
 

War is contrary to the will of God! Hence we invite you to pray for peace, giving a voice to people in the member churches in Russia and Ukraine. We are sharing a template for a service of worship based on a devotional for peace by the Gustav Adolf Agency in
St Nicholas’ Church in Leipzig. It was prepared before Russia's attack on Ukraine.
 
Prayer for peace
Leuenberg Synod in Czechia is preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Agreement
 

The five member churches of the CPCE in the Czech Republic have been meeting regularly as a Leuenberg Synod since 2000. They consider ways of realising and enlivening church communion at local and regional level. They are currently focusing on church youth work, how gender issues can be discussed in the public sphere in the Czech Republic, and how they wish to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Leuenberg Agreement in Czechia.
 
read more 
News from the work processes
Training about the CPCE for new contacts in the member churches
 

“What’s new?” is the question that our newsletter seeks to answer about various aspects of the CPCE. “Who’s new?”, head office asked the member churches in return. Subsequently, eighteen new contacts (e.g. ecumenical officers, officers for foreign affairs, committee members) have completed induction training about the basic principles, structures and life in the Church Communion.
 
Training about the CPCE
New publication


The CPCE’s guide to the ethics of reproductive medicine
– “Before I formed you in the womb...” – has been translated into Ukrainian. The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine organised the translation, which is being published as this newsletter goes out.
Dates for your diaries
Forum for Young Theology
 

The CPCE is co-hosting a conference on “Protestantism between Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism” (in English) in Vienna 11–14 May 2022 together with the Protestant Federation of Hesse and the Centre for Protestant Theology in Eastern Europe. The event will be funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme – covering travel expenses, accommodation, catering and the conference fee.

In order to gain a representative overview of this highly topical subject, the young theologians, pastors and teachers taking part should come from as many European countries as possible. The aim is to generate practical input in a wide range of formats (thesis paper, elements of worship, material for teaching in schools, etc.).
 
For details of the programme and to sign up, click here

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1180 Wien, Tel.: +43 59 1517 00900

E-Mail: sekretariat@leuenberg.eu