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Church president and EKD migration expert Manfred Rekowski makes appeal in Malta to allow rescue ships to go to sea. He calls on governments and political leaders in Europe to stop breaking international law and criminalising civilian rescuers of persons in distress at sea.
Sometimes the sea rescuers have to make horrible decisions: keep resuscitating someone or keep saving more people from drowning? Sea Watch crew member and physician Barbara Held remembers a night she will never forget. Watch the video where she pledges to fight on for the right to rescue.
EKD’s migration expert Manfred Rekowski warns: the first to die is the law and then the human being
Sharp criticism of the charges against private rescue ships in the Mediterranean has come from Manfred Rekowski, president of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and chair of the advisory commission on Migration and Integration of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
EKD migration expert Manfred Rekowski visits civilian sea rescue team in Malta
“I absolutely want to get to know all sides of Israel,” says secondary-school graduate Paul Bochynek from Cologne. Together with other young adults, he is starting a term of voluntary service this summer in the Israeli peace village Nes Ammim. Spots are still open for other interested youth.
A new study, entitled “Young – Active – Protestant in North Rhine-Westphalia!”, reveals that the Evangelical Church offers a valuable contribution to the vibrancy of the local community through its youth work and confirmation classes.
The situation in Syria is becoming ever more dramatic, especially in Eastern Ghouta, where people are starving and dying and medical care has collapsed. The Rhineland Church declares its solidarity with the victims of the civil war and President Manfred Rekowski has issued a call to prayer for the people of Syria.
The encounter with Muslims, the President’s own summary of the Synod and a look forward towards the Youth Synod in 2019 were the topics dealt with during the closing press conference of the 2018 Regional Synod meeting in Bad Neuenahr.
The Rhineland Church has a commitment to Muslim-Christian dialogue and describes it as a “church task” which Christians need to acknowledge as bound up with their witness to Jesus Christ. This was affirmed by the Regional Synod in its theological position statement “On encounter with Muslims”.
On the occasion of the centenary of the end of the First World War, the Regional Synod has adopted a peace statement. This is to be discussed at all levels of the Rhineland Church, with the aim of becoming a ‘Just Peace Church’. It also includes demands for the removal of nuclear weapons and putting a stop to arms exports.
Ecumenical guests Pastor Suko Tiyarno of the East Java Christian Church and Bishop Dr Alex Gehaz Malasusa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania explain to the Regional Synod how they encourage dialogue between Christians and Muslims in their countries.
President Manfred Rekowski reported to the Regional Synod on the events that had been of greatest importance for the church.
ekir.de / 08.12.2016
