Insights for church members into the global church

70 years of lector and lay preacher service in the regional church of Hanover

On 23rd and 24th August 2024, the lector and preacher service celebrated its 70th birthday at the Stephansstift Centre for Adult Education in Hanover. Under the heading "70 years of further training for volunteers in preaching", numerous speakers from the various areas of work of the regional church in Hanover were also invited.

Indra Grasekamp (ELM secretary for global spirituality) and Bradn Buerkle (ELM secretary for theological education and training) from the ELM took part. They really enjoyed organising a workshop and presenting their work on Friday evening. "There were great encounters with people who organise services in our church on a voluntary basis and are keen to learn new things," says Indra Grasekamp.

Both the presentation on Friday evening and the workshops on Saturday gave both speakers the opportunity to talk to volunteers about the global church. "It was an enriching experience," summarises Bradn Buerkle, who could not help but compare his experiences with lay preachers in Russia with those he had during the workshop weekend. "Despite their very different circumstances, these volunteers in both places are a wonderful example of a committed and motivated ministry. It is a joy to be able to contribute to their training and to help them feel connected to the global church," said Bradn Buerkle after the event.

"Butterflies in worship" was the name of the workshop, in which Indra Grasekamp and Bradn Buerkle tried out a creative prayer practice from Brazil with the participants and presented the use of icons in worship. During the creative prayer practice, in which origami butterflies were folded, the participants engaged in lively discussions about where in the service they could use this form of prayer: during the Kyrie, after a psalm or as an intercession. And the question of what happens to the butterflies was also answered predominantly with the idea of creating a mobile. "This way, this diversity is also visible to others and shows our global solidarity," said one participant.

With a brief introduction to the understanding of Orthodox icons, Bradn Buerkle presented a method of how images of icons could play a role in church services. Here, too, the participants were interested and many discovered the icons as something previously little known that they could possibly work with in their context. "Sometimes the disturbing, the strange, is exactly the right thing for a church service," remarked one participant.

The response was not only positive in terms of the number of participants, but the ideas on how to incorporate the idea of a global church into one's own worship service were also received with enthusiasm.

During the closing service, the participants showed their solidarity with volunteers in other contexts by supporting a programme to "train qualified church workers" in the ELM partner church in Malawi. A total of over 490 euros - seven euros for each of the 70 years - was raised. The ELM would like to say a big thank you, also on behalf of its partners. If you would still like to get involved: Click here for the donation form.
Thanks also go to Dr Vera Pabst and her team, who organised a successful workshop weekend and thus created the opportunity to talk to each other.