On the road in the Global South

At a one day training seminar in Hanover, those involved in church partnership work were prepared for their upcoming trips to partners abroad.

A diverse group of people came together in Hanover: some members from Loccum-Stolzenau congregation, who are soon leaving to visiting their partner circuit in SA, the Eastern Cape Circuit of ELCSA; a German pastor who will soon be taking up his new position as pastor of the German speaking congregation in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; members of the Melle-Georgsmarienhütte circuit, who plan a visit to their partner circuits in South Africa: ELCSA Durban/uMngeni/uMvoti circuits; a pastor from Buxtehude in Germany, who is taking part in the ELM short-term exchange program and will visiting a colleague and a congregation of an ELM partner church in Ramotswa/Botswana and, last but not least, three people interested to visit partners in Brazil, who had the chance for an inspiring conversation with Rev Cristina Scherer, an pastor of the ELM partner church IECLB in Brazil and who is serving a 4 year term as an ecumenical exchange pastor in a congregation in Bad Fallingbostel and at ELM functions.

In an intense midmorning session participants learnt about the "Albatros culture" model, honed their skills of intercultural sensitivity and formulated their expectations of intercultural encounters. After a delicious Indian lunch participants split up into country-groups and received information on the country and church they plan to visit. The range of topics was broad and orientated towards the participants' questions. What gifts for your hosts do you take with you? What is the political situation like? Are there "do's and don'ts"? Are the church structures comparable to ours? What are the experiences with flight bookings?

All these and more questions were competently answered by the ELM country experts Ms Gabriele de Bona for Ethiopia, Dr Joe Lüdemann for South Africa and Rev Cristina Scherer for Brazil, so that the feedback at the end of the day was unanimously positive.

"Good to have been here", "Super organisation", "Now we can properly prepare our trip" were just a few of the responses. The morning program with ELM secretary for partnerships Ms  Marlene Altebockwinkel was deemed especially helpful: "Now I know a little about what intercultural sensitivity means" or "I had a real eureka moment when I was confronted with the expectations I had formulated myself in the second step of the morning program."