Page 3 - Moravian Messenger May 2019

This conference attended by delegates from across Europe, Finland to Spain, UK to Ukraine, is three days of intense learning and four days of being together.
The accommodation was in a youth hostel run by an Evangelical Christian organisation and the conference was held in a separate building nearby. The whole complex of buildings was quite interesting, and a large amount of social action was carried out from there, including mobile dentists for the homeless, a night shelter, and accommodation for those coming out of prison as well as those with drug or alcohol dependencies under control. The income from the youth hostel and conference centres helps to fund this.
Now you may be thinking 'youth hostel, that's a bit rough for a conference' well this wasn't like the British hostels of the 70s and 80s. I opted, and paid more for, a room on my own. The room had twin beds and a bunk, so at full capacity would sleep four, a shower room and separate toilet. There were four lockers and hanging space, and lots of sockets, if only I could find something similar at a reasonable price for summer camp the campers would be very happy. Everywhere was clean and tidy and spacious.
Anyway, on to the conference. Worship each morning was led by a different region and it was quite interesting to see how different regions put a different spin on the worship all reflecting the theme of the day. The UK worship was on the day the theme was 'Be Adventurous' and a small group put together the worship which includes an activity for bible study, a dance, prayer and 'My Lighthouse' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF BZJGSgyVQ) complete with actions. 88 European adults doing actions is quite something and they seemed to really get
into it. In fact, we had it twice more before we went home.
Following worship each morning we had something billed as 'Bible study/creative activity'. Although these were reasonably good there wasn't enough engagement for me, too much watching, not enough doing, but at least one of them really got me thinking more about a familiar story.
A lecture and discussion came after a coffee break and these were very intense. Thinking out of the box about theological matters and children. The experts all used the theme of the day to stretch and engage us in some serious thinking. Titles like 'PLEASE DO NOT FEED! How to educate children by learning from children', 'Be adventurous with the bible' and 'If you do not become like the children' give you some idea of the breadth of the lectures. Lots to think about. If anyone wants the papers I have electronic copies. At some point I'll read them slowly and hopefully digest some of the content a little more.
There were varying activities in the afternoon and early evenings including three workshop slots. I went to one about talking about death with children. Unfortunately the workshop leader spoke in German but with the aid of an English handout and her slides I got the gist of what the project was about, very interesting setting time each week for children in school to talk about death, and very interesting that it made the parents uncomfortable when the children presented their work to them. I also attended a workshop on conflict, presented by the only UK representative from Northern Ireland who started his work life at Corymeela. An excellent workshop on adapting sessions to be friendlier to children with additional needs was also very good and had some useful hints and tips.
On the Wednesday we were split into five
groups to visit parishes in Berlin. The group I went with visited the Tegel area near the airport. We walked past the prison where Bonhoeffer was incarcerated on the way to the church. The pastor welcomed us, told us something about how the church came to be where it was and then took us on a tour of the parish. It was interesting to see that this church set near lovely family homes was also the church for the nearby large social housing area divided by a main road. The social problems in the area seem to be extensive and the building of an accommodation block for refugees had caused considerable friction. The church had been able to work to increase tolerance in the community, but it is an ongoing issue. The residents of the social housing don't feel the church is for them, but for the middle-class families living by it, a similar problem to many British churches. After this tour and pizza for tea we headed back to the centre of Berlin and our accommodation. One of the group lives and studies in Berlin and offered to do a walking tour which a few of us took up, an excellent way to end the day, finishing up in a wine bar.
We had another tour, by coach, on the Thursday evening which was very funny. The tour guide hardly stopped talking for two hours giving us lots of facts and figures about Berlin, including the nicknames for various buildings, and she is an Angela Merkel fan calling her our Angie!
This is only a brief reflection on the conference, but I hope gives you some sense of it. Talking to people from outside the UK helped me to realise that the problems we have affect the church throughout western Europe. I think it will take me the three years to the next conference to digest the lectures.
Sr Joy Raynor
Provincial Youth and Children's Officer
51
The European Conference on Christian Education