Martina Wasserloos
President of WCRC-European Region

A happy reunion of the gathered communion in Europe
After two years of Corona-distancing, the European Area Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches met in Thessaloniki on 4-6 May 2023. More than thirty delegates and guests discussed current issues affecting the organisation and its nearly forty member churches, including the ongoing constitutional amendment, responses to the humanitarian and political situation caused by the war in Ukraine, and the document entitled About true worship in the Church in the distress of the present – Seven Theses, prepared by the theological working group of WCRC Europe.
Confessing Christ and living out communion in times of Crisis – the war in Ukraine
In the last year, the European Area and its Steering Committee have been paying particular attention to the war in Ukraine and the Reformed community's advocacy and support for Transcarpathia.

The recent events in Moria camp on the island of Lesbos in Greece highlight longstanding shortcomings of EU migration and asylum policy, inconsistent with the EU’s own core values and with fundamental ethical or faith principles. Churches and international church-based organizations reaffirm their commitment to a compassionate response to people on the move. We call for adequate support both for people on the move and for their host communities. We appeal for an EU Pact on asylum and migration that respects relevant commitments under international law, the Global Compacts on Refugees and for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the EU’s core values of respect for human dignity and rights, and of effective solidarity among EU members.

Die jüngsten Ereignisse im Flüchtlingslager Moria auf der Insel Lesbos in Griechenland werfen auch ein Licht auf die seit langem bestehenden Defizite der EU-Migrations- und Asylpolitik, die im Widerspruch zu den Grundwerten der Europäischen Union sowie den Grundprinzipien von Ethik und Glauben stehen. Kirchen und internationale kirchliche Organisationen bekräftigen einmal mehr ihre Verpflichtung zu einer teilnahmsvollen und barmherzigen Reaktion gegenüber Menschen auf der Flucht. Wir fordern eine angemessene Unterstützung sowohl für Menschen auf der Flucht als auch für die aufnehmenden Gemeinden. Wir verlangen ein EU-Abkommen über Asyl und Migration, bei dem die entsprechenden Verpflichtungen gemäß internationalem Recht, dem UN-Flüchtlingspakt und dem globalen Pakt für eine sichere, geordnete und reguläre Migration und die Grundwerte der EU, nämlich die Achtung von Menschenwürde und Menschenrechten, sowie die tatsächliche Solidarität unter den EU-Mitgliedern Beachtung finden.

In the beginning of March, before we all new about the total grip Covid-19 would get on the world, the steering committee paid a solidarity visit to our church in Egypt, the Synod of the Nile (SON). We grieved at the time that our Italian committee member could not join the trip, made some sincere considerations if we could stick to our plan to travel, but took off and had some very awarding and enlightening days with our sisters and brothers in Cairo.

It was a question of time when the first case occurs. The authorities in Vial on Chios encouraged protection seekers to wear masks. But didn’t distribute any. Even more: in Vial barely any staff member of any authority was wearing masks or any other type of protection.

Some days ago, it was the day: it was reported that a woman is tested positive.

Today it was confirmed that an employee of the European Asylum Support Office - EASO is positive on the virus. After the person was on vacation. The answer of the authorities is: to lock the camp and to close the services inside until at least 25 August. Close the camp?
Effectively this means, letting the virus spread inside. Among extremely vulnerable persons, that have no option to socially distance or to even wash their hands on a regular basis. They sleep in tents on the bare ground. And now they are terrified of getting seriously ill and suffer or die. And they are terrified for a good reason. ItNew is the foreseeable catastrophe. And shows more than a simple failure. It shows the sheer indifference for the lives of human beings.

The smallest churches in Europe are particularly affected. Some of them are unable to continue financing their social work, others cannot even pay salaries for their pastors, or rent fees for the facilities they use. Some churches literally depend on money box donations during sermons; consequently, the suspension of church services by law created a very difficult situation for them. Some of these churches cannot acquire crisis subsidies from public funds as compensation, the political structures of Europe have abandoned them.

The Horizon Center is an educational and training center for young refugees, offering a 6-9 month program where participants attend regular classes and workshops to introduce them to some basic and intermediate skills. Design and ideation classes, computer classes and electronics, workshops of carpentry, tailoring, 3D printing and video classes are some of the courses Horizon Center is offering to refugee youth. All the workshops are delivered in partnership with MIT D-Lab and they are based on Creative Capacity Building methodology, where students build their creativity as well as their problem solving capacity. In parallel, psychosocial support and language classes (Greek and English) are basic elements of the project. The Center does not offer individual, one-off classes but instead, all participants are expected to enroll and commit to the full program.

In Germany, about 60% of the population are church members. 21.5 million are members of one of the Protestant Churches, 23.3 million are Roman Catholics. In addition to that, people are members of the Orthodox Church or of other evangelical denominations. This means, therefore, that 40% of the population do not identify with any church but are either members of other religions or are not religious.

The fight against the spread of the Coronavirus requires measures which have great affects on our daily life. The public life of many European countries is standing still. Experts want us to avoid our social contacts and we are all affected by the consequences of the Coronavirus.
As the Steering Committee of WCRC Europe, we call you to pray for those who are suffering from the situation especially the sick persons and their families. Let us also pray for those whose health puts them at higher risk and for those who are facing major changes in their lives.