Meeting of Central European Churches of the LWF

Representatives of protestant churches from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Saxony should have considered the topic “Family, Mission, Diakonia” in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. However, the meeting could not take place due to the pandemic, so the Synodal Senior of the Czech Brethren Evangelical Church, Daniel Ženatý, therefore invited representatives of the church leadership to a joint video conference.

The virtual meeting took place on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, and those present discussed the current situation of the pandemic. They shared the Word that helps them in times of crisis and the word that they, as church leaders, need to help. Finally, a call to prayer was received – the full text is given below.

The meeting took place following last year’s meeting of these churches in Warsaw. As small communities in Central Europe, they want to be heard more, work with their past, and strive for reconciliation in a common historical context. “As churches, we are freer than politicians and can lead by example. We can discuss many topics from the perspective of faith. Churches are to speak of peace and their voices are to be heard. This is an important sharing of the role of the church in society.” This statement was agreed at the earlier meeting in Warsaw, where the representatives of the individual communities also agreed on an annual event.

From this year, representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saxony have also been part of this group and we tentatively envisage the connection of representatives of the Austrian Evangelical Church.