{"id":1508,"date":"2019-10-21T09:16:32","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T08:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2025.leuenberg.eu\/2019\/10\/21\/church-communion-in-divisive-times\/"},"modified":"2019-10-21T09:16:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T08:16:32","slug":"church-communion-in-divisive-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/2019\/10\/21\/church-communion-in-divisive-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Church communion in divisive times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now, three things remain: faith, hope and love.
\n<\/em>But the greatest of these is love.
\n<\/em>(1 Corinthians 13:13)<\/em><\/p>\n

Gathering for its Council session in Cambridge, the leading body of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe emphasises how important it is for churches to hold together as borders and divisions are being created between states.<\/p>\n

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ending of the communist regimes of central and eastern Europe, the Council recalls that that the Iron Curtain starkly divided the continent. In 1973, the year that the Protestant churches declared Church Fellowship after centuries of schism, the links between East and West were few and far between.<\/p>\n

Having grown together through almost 50 years of communion, and standing alongside our sisters and brothers in other Christian traditions, we resist the rise of hatred and divisiveness within and between nations and societies. It is the mission of Christ\u2019s Church to spread His Gospel and in His name we strive to live in peace and freedom on this continent. In so doing we witness to the reality that unity in diversity remains possible.<\/p>\n

We lament the emergence of an increasingly divided and divisive political culture, and the use of antagonistic language and policies to deliberately stoke division. The Gospel proclaims that Jesus Christ comes to us full of grace and truth. We call upon all people to seek after truth in public discourse, and to respond with grace to those with whom they disagree.<\/p>\n

The Council of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe proclaims:<\/p>\n

Our faith is in Jesus Christ as the foundation of our church communion. We celebrate worship together across all national, linguistic, cultural and confessional boundaries. In this worship, we also ask God to grant all governing leaders the wisdom to reach decisions that give priority to peace in Europe and justice for all people.<\/p>\n

Christians live in the hope of God\u2019s kingdom. This hope leads us to advocate unity between different people, histories and beliefs here and now, in our countries, churches and communities. It enables us to accept our existing and lasting differences in the knowledge that we are all children of God.<\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s love calls us to act together wherever most urgently required \u2013 in caring for the poorest and most vulnerable in society, in treating refugees humanely and in respecting God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

Faith, hope and love sustain our unity in diversity as a church communion in divisive times.<\/p>\n

The Council of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe<\/em><\/p>\n

Cambridge, October 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Kirchengemeinschaft in Zeiten von Trennungen<\/p>\n

Nun aber bleibt Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, diese drei;
\n<\/em>aber die Liebe ist die gr\u00f6\u00dfte unter ihnen.
\n<\/em>(1. Kor 13, 13)<\/em><\/p>\n

Anl\u00e4sslich seiner Tagung in Cambridge betont das Leitungsgremium der Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Kirchen in Europa, der Rat, wie wichtig der Zusammenhalt der Kirchen in Zeiten von Grenzziehungen und Trennungen zwischen Staaten ist.<\/p>\n

30 Jahre nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer und dem Ende der kommunistischen Regime in Zentral- und Osteuropa erinnert der Rat daran, wie tief der Eiserne Vorhang Europa gespalten hatte. Als im Jahr 1973 die evangelischen Kirchen Europas nach Jahrhunderten der Spaltung einander Kirchengemeinschaft erkl\u00e4rten, gab es kaum Verbindungen zwischen Ost und West.<\/p>\n

Nach nunmehr beinahe 50 Jahren des Zusammenwachsens lehnen wir gemeinsam mit den Schwestern und Br\u00fcdern anderer christlicher Traditionen Hass und Trennungen zwischen und innerhalb von L\u00e4ndern und Gesellschaften ab. Es ist der Auftrag der Kirchen, das Evangelium Jesu Christi weiterzugeben und in seinem Namen f\u00fcr Frieden und Freiheit auf diesem Kontinent einzutreten. So kann Einheit in Vielfalt m\u00f6glich bleiben.<\/p>\n

Wir beklagen eine politische Kultur und feindselige Sprache, die gezielt Spaltungen sch\u00fcrt. Das Evangelium verk\u00fcndet, dass Christus uns in Gnade und Wahrheit entgegenkommt. Wir appellieren an alle Verantwortlichen, in der \u00f6ffentlichen Debatte nach Wahrheit zu streben und jenen mit Gnade zu begegnen, die anderer Meinung sind.<\/p>\n

Der Rat der Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Kirchen in Europa h\u00e4lt fest:<\/p>\n

Unser Glaube wurzelt in Jesus Christus als dem Grund unserer Kirchengemeinschaft. Wir feiern \u00fcber alle nationalen, sprachlichen, kulturellen und konfessionellen Grenzen hinweg miteinander Gottesdienst. In diesen Gottesdiensten bitten wir Gott auch um Weisheit f\u00fcr alle Regierenden, dass sie bei ihren Entscheidungen den Frieden in Europa und die Gerechtigkeit f\u00fcr alle Menschen auf diesem Kontinent im Blick behalten.<\/p>\n

Christinnen und Christen leben in der Hoffnung auf Gottes Reich. Diese Hoffnung leitet uns, in unseren L\u00e4ndern, Kirchen und Gemeinden f\u00fcr ein Miteinander von unterschiedlichen Menschen, Geschichten und \u00dcberzeugungen einzutreten. Diese Hoffnung l\u00e4sst uns bestehende und bleibende Unterschiede in dem Wissen anerkennen, dass wir alle Kinder Gottes sind.<\/p>\n

Die Liebe, mit der uns Christus begegnet, f\u00fchrt uns zum gemeinsamen Handeln, wo es am Dringendsten ben\u00f6tigt wird \u2013 f\u00fcr die \u00c4rmsten und Schw\u00e4chsten in der Gesellschaft, in einem menschenfreundlichen Umgang mit gefl\u00fcchteten Menschen und in einem respektvollen Umgang mit Gottes Sch\u00f6pfung.<\/p>\n

Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe st\u00e4rken unsere Einheit in Vielfalt als Kirchengemeinschaft in Zeiten von Trennungen.<\/p>\n

Der Rat der Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Kirchen in Europa<\/em><\/p>\n

Cambridge, im Oktober 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

La comunione ecclesiale in tempi di divisione (italiano)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Foto: CPCE\/I. Monjencs<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right now, three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) Gathering for its Council session in Cambridge, the leading body of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe emphasises how important it is for churches to hold together as borders and divisions are being created between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,22,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deutsch","category-english","category-featured","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leuenberg.eu\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}