Meeting of the Commissioners for Mission, Ecumenism and Partnership

Regionalbischöfin Sabine Schiermeyer (1.v.l.) traf die Kirchenkreisbeauftragten und ehrenamtlich Engagierten für Mission, Ökumene und Partnerschaft, einen Referenten und den Direktor des Evangelisch-lutherischen Missionswerks in Niedersachsen (ELM) aus

Meeting of the church circuits' contact persons for mission, ecumenism and partnership

Everyone is called upon to become aware of any form of racism and to take action against it, said Dr Emmanuel Kileo in Emden. The director of the Evangelical-Lutheran Missionary Organisation in Lower Saxony had come to the regional office of the East Frisia-Ems diocese for the meeting of the circuits' contact persons for mission, ecumenism and partnership to introduce himself.

Twice a year, Regional Bishop Sabine Schiermeyer, together with the responsible consultant from the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Organisation in Lower Saxony (ELM), invites the church district representatives and volunteers for mission, ecumenism and partnership. Pastor Kurt Herrera, consultant for church development and international ecumenical cooperation with Brazil and Peru, and Director Dr Emmanuel Kileo travelled to East Frisia from the ELM main office in Hermannsburg. Marlene Altebockwinkel, the officer for partnership work, joined the ELM via Zoom.

If missions and colonialism went hand in hand in earlier times, then this was based on racism, Dr Kileo emphasised in his presentation. In his view, the history of missionary work associated with the colonial era is still having an impact in some southern countries. Colonialism stands for inequality and racism and is an ideology that is based on the assumption that people are naturally divided in hierarchical groups. Meanwhile colonialism arose for economic reasons: Some people have access to resources, while others, who are lower in the hierarchy, do not. Kileo wrote his doctoral thesis on hidden racism, including in church partnership work, at the Augustana University of the Bavarian State Church in Neuendettelsau.

Today, missionary organisations in Germany aspire to work with their partners around the world on an equal footing. "This is also what the ecumenical partnership work in the East Frisia-Ems district stands for, which is something special in its diversity," said Regional Bishop Sabine Schiermeyer.

Changed understanding of mission

Dr Emmanuel Kileo (48) has been the new Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Missionary Society in Lower Saxony (ELM) since November 2023. He is the first pastor from an African country and from the global south to head the organisation. In the 175-year history of the missionary organisation in Hermannsburg, Kileo's election is a sign of a changed understanding of mission. The doctor of theology grew up at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He attended a missionary school there, as did his seven siblings. Most recently, he taught at the university in the city of Moshi.

For eight years, from 2007 to 2014, Kileo worked as a pastor in Kaufbeuren in Bavaria and for Mission Eine Welt. Now he leads the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony based in Hermannsburg, which no longer sends fulltime employees abroad, but instead finances positions and projects in the independent partner churches and offers exchange programmes.