"#I Am" - Rethinking faith, living responsibility together

The intercultural project "#I Am" on the "I am ..." words of Jesus opened up new perspectives on how Christian faith can take shape today.

In the first days of December 2025 the ELM facilitated a meeting in northern Germany of engaged and engaging Christians from a variety of contexts. They were mostly young adults; many of them had theological education, and they were from diverse cultural backgrounds  - born in places like Ghana and Belarus, Botswana and the United States, Brazil and Kyrgyzstan, India and South Africa, Malawi and, of course, Germany. Using the “I am” words of Jesus from John’s Gospel as a focal point for inspiration, they came together for an intensive week of reflecting on their spiritual roots and how they might lead to project work for the betterment of society in their various countries.

Having met regularly online since the project’s launch in April this year, once together in the same space the participants in this project were able to quickly establish the mutual appreciation and trust that is so crucial for the foundation of the type of learning community that empowers participants for contextual ministry.

Intercultural exchange, including intercultural theological exchange, increased the capacity to imagine new ways of living out faith. It also expanded awareness, understanding, and empathy among those in the one, worldwide church of Christ. The group made music together, had field trips together, studied Scripture together, all using creative methods that demonstrated quite clearly that learning can be cognitive, but need not be exclusively so.

# I am is a deliberately open-ended process; the ELM staff facilitators worked in a way that attempted to balance responsible planning with being open to the wisdom of the group, trusting that the Spirit is working even when (perhaps especially when) we meet each other without imposing pre-determined outcomes.

Participants in the event will continue to meet online (already before Christmas and throughout 2026), and they expect their learning community will continue to grow.