175 years ELM: A look at the anniversary year

The ELM celebrates its anniversary: at the mission festival and annual reception in Hermannsburg and at the partner church consultation in South Africa.

The first railways were already running in the Kingdom of Hanover when the pastor Ludwig Harms founded a Christian movement in Hermannsburg in 1849, which is still alive today. Even if some aspects of missionary work of the past is now viewed critically in its references to colonialism, the Christian faith and activities emanating from it have changed the way people think and feel in many countries in Africa, Latin America, Russia and India. Today, there are active communities everywhere that have found their own way of Christian spirituality and often inspire Christians in Germany and Europe to discover and practise new forms of faith. The director of the Haus kirchlicher Dienste of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover is one of them. Last year, Mirko Peisert took part in the "Kirche gibt's auch anderswo" exchange programme coordinated by the Ev.-luth. Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM). There he experienced South African-style Lutheran faith practice. "It can be done differently and it can also be very good differently," he realised after his stay in the South African Cape Church. He gained more trust in the work of God, which is independent of structures.

The book "Vision: Gemeinde weltweit. 150 Jahre Hermannsburger Mission und Ev.-luth. Missionswerk in Lower Saxony "* has already comprehensively documented the first century and a half of mission history emanating from Hermannsburg. But of course the churches with which the ELM is associated and the missionary organisation itself have also developed over the past 25 years.

175 years after the founding of the Hermannsburg Mission, the ELM stands for dialogue at eye level. It promotes and accompanies digital and real encounters between people from 22 Protestant churches in 17 countries on four continents and supports their commitment financially. With programmes for young people as well as church employees, the ELM aims to enable as many people as possible to change their perspective for a year or a few weeks and get to know church life in the Global South and North. With the support of donors, it promotes spiritual and diaconal projects of its partner churches worldwide.

In Lower Saxony, the ELM uses educational programmes such as conferences, workshops and cinema events to raise awareness on the concerns of its global partner churches. ELM events are also held in the Global South, such as the two-week Peace Place 2GO camp with international participants in 2023.

The focus is always on the global Christian or Protestant faith and how it can be put into practice: in commitment to education, sustainability, advocacy, gender, global cultural diversity, global spirituality, church development or theological training.

175 years is an occasion to look back and forward. The ELM would like to do this in various ways this year: On 22 June, the mission festival in Hermannsburg will be dedicated to the anniversary. On this day, the new Director of the ELM, Dr Emmanuel Kileo, and the new Managing Director, Holger Nerlich, will also be introduced during the church service. At the end of August, bishops and leaders from the partner churches will meet for the biennial partner church consultation in South Africa. There, the origins are remembered and the present is celebrated. The annual reception planned for 14 November (the anniversary of Ludwig Harms' death) comes closest in the calendar to the actual founding date of the Hermannsburg Mission, 12 October 1849. Here, too, the anniversary will take centre stage. In addition, people from the partner churches will look back on their journey with the ELM in an issue of the quarterly publication "Mitmachen" and share their thoughts on the anniversary with us in a commemorative publication.

 

*The book can be ordered at a price of 9.80 euros from the bookshop in the Ludwig-Harms-Haus, Harmsstraße 2, 29320 Hermannsburg; Tel. +49 (0)5052 2758; e-mail: buchhandlung@ludwig-harms-haus.de