“Towards a Christian Citizenship in Europe” was the title of a meeting convened by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) together with the National Council of Churches in Denmark in Nyborg.
Participants from all parts of Europe as well as all major Christian traditions came together to reflect on the responsibility of churches to engage with public life. Participants from Ukraine contributed with testimonies from their church life and brought in the urgency of security concerns and debates on peace and armament.
Many representants of Protestant churches were taking part. CPCE General Secretary Mario Fischer reminded earlier study work on Church-People-State-Nation (Leuenberg Document 7) and Oliver Engelhardt mentioned the ongoing focus of CPCE on “Church and Democracy”.
The gathering brought also several historical reflections: The key note speech by Katharina Kunter reminded the history of CEC, which helped to bridge the iron curtain, and confronted it with political developments, especially the 1975 Helsinki Accords. A historical reminder was also the place of the meeting: in Nyborg Strand hotel, CEC itself was founded in 1959.