Europe: Faith in action for ‘the different neighbor’

The Budapest congregation pastor and Dévai Fogadó director, Rev. Dr. Márta Bolba, described it “as a beautiful” initiative in a society with extreme right-wing narratives and politics, and anti-immigration campaigns.

It is not easy to keep to that position [of welcoming refugees], it is a very difficult balance, but the church is called to be different

Presiding Bishop Dr Tamás Fabiny, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary

ELCH Presiding Bishop Dr Tamás Fabiny referred to the criticism he often faces for the open support to welcome refugees not only from Ukraine but other countries too. “It is not easy to keep to that position, it is a very difficult balance, but the church is called to be different,” he noted. “Everyone who acted kind toward refugees or people on the move was treated as a traitor and threat to the Christian culture,” said Fabiny, who is LWF Vice-President for Central Eastern Europe.

The lens of hope

Rev. Dr Sivin Kit, Director of the LWF Department for Theology, Mission and Justice, commended the work carried out under the regional process including publications that will be part of the new learning program. Linking the resource on People on the Move to the 2023 Assembly resolution on the same topic, he noted: “Migration and movement are not the crisis. The crisis lies in why they [people] had to move in the first place, and how we have responded to it.”

The European Diaconal Process resources, Kit said, invite deeper collective reflection on being neighbors to one another. “When we all engage in this kind of diaconal spirit and work as a lifestyle, we can truly see the world through the lens of hope, believing that we can build a better future together,” he added.

LWF Program Executive for Capacity Building and Leadership Development Rev. Katariina Kiilunen coordinates the European Diaconal Process work. She expressed hope that the learning program “will support LWF member churches in the shared vision of building welcoming and accessible communities where the meaning of neighbor is broadened to embrace and accept others, and to include the dignity of every human being.”

All the resources for the new learning program handbook will be available online. The modules for the different sections will be prepared as downloadable files which can be translated locally into other languages. The program is intended for congregational groups, diaconal workers, volunteers, and people who are studying diakonia or social and pastoral ministry.