United Evangelical Mission

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The United Evangelical Mission (UEM) is an international mission community of 38 member churches of different traditions in Africa, Asia and Germany as well as the von Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. The cooperation of the members should be based on equality, so that the partnership encompasses all directions: north-south, south-north and also south-south. On this basis, the work of the UEM includes the exchange of personnel and the granting of financial aid with the aim of strengthening the partners' programs, sharing responsibility and experience, and providing help in emergency and conflict situations.

VEM logo

history

The United Evangelical Mission in Wuppertal

The UEM emerged from the Rhenish Mission , which came into being in 1828 through the merger of the evangelical mission associations from Elberfeld , Barmen and Cologne . In 1971 the Bethel Mission, founded in 1886, and the Rhenish Mission merged to form the UEM, and in 1979 the Zaire Mission was added. The UEM was significantly shaped by Peter Sandner (1927–2017), who headed it from 1974 to 1990 as director.

Since 1996 the UEM has been an international church community with equal members from Africa, Asia and Germany.

organization

Members

The following churches are members of the UEM:

Africa

Botswana

Democratic Republic of Congo

Cameroon

Namibia

Rwanda

South Africa

Tanzania

Asia

China

Indonesia

Philippines

Sri Lanka

Germany

structure

Since the establishment of the international UEM as a community of Protestant churches from Africa, Asia and Germany (including the von Bodelschwingh foundations) in 1996, financial resources, supervision and responsibility have been shared among the 39 members with solidarity and equality. The cooperation with the Old Reformed Church in Germany and the umbrella organization of the Protestant churches in Indonesia (PGI) is regulated in an association agreement. The legislative period lasts six years and the General Assembly of the UEM meets every three years alternately in one of the three UEM regions of Africa, Asia and Germany. Here the delegates from all three regions jointly decide on the use of the budget, although the largest donations still come from Germany. The fact that in the course of economic globalization some UEM members from the south have achieved increasing financial power is taken into account with the “United Action” campaign. This is a fundraising campaign with which numerous African and Asian donor churches finance certain projects across regions, for example for children in need. The trilateral integration between the members in all three regions is characteristic of the work of the UEM. The exchange of employees and young volunteers takes place not only in north-south, but also in south-north and south-south directions. The council, which has equal representation from all three regions, exercises the supervisory function and makes decisions of organizational importance. The chairman of the supervisory board or moderator of the UEM has been the Indonesian theologian Willem Simarmata since 2016. The post of moderator is alternately filled by a representative from Africa, Asia and Germany by the General Assembly. The executive board, which is also composed of international members, manages the operative business. The employees in the VEM regional offices in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Medan (Indonesia) and Wuppertal are responsible for implementing the programs in the regions. The regions Africa, Asia and Germany manage themselves via a regional board and hold regular regional assemblies.

In 2008, the UEM adopted a guiding principle based on the five pillars:

  1. Advocacy
  2. Diakonia
  3. Evangelism
  4. Partnerships as well
  5. Training & empowerment is based.

Numerous and diverse programs and projects are planned, coordinated and implemented in all three regions. Relationships with other mission organizations such as the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity and the North German Mission , but also with partners in the field of development cooperation such as Bread for the World, are maintained and expanded throughout Germany. The UEM is a member of the umbrella organization of the Evangelical Mission in Germany (EMW). At the international level, the UEM cooperates with ecumenical organizations such as the World Council of Churches (WCC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Forum Human Rights , West Papua Network as well as with international mission agencies such as Cevaa and the Council of World Mission (CWM). The UEM is a full member of the ACT Alliance and a board member of the Klima-Kollekte .

The office is in Wuppertal . The general secretary of the UEM has been the theologian Volker Martin Dally, former director of the Evangelical Lutheran Missionswerk Leipzig, since February 1, 2016. Deputy General Secretaries are Timo Pauler (Management) and Jochen Motte (Head of Department - Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation). Other members of the board are Dyah Krismawati (Head of Department Asia), John Wesley Kabango (Head of Department Africa), Angelika Veddeler (Head of Department Germany), Andar Parlindelan (Head of Training & Empowerment) and Claudia Währisch-Oblau (Head of Evangelism).

Mission understanding

The UEM has pursued a holistic understanding of missions since its inception. That means, in addition to preaching the Gospel, she wants to improve the educational, diaconal and medical conditions of the people and stand up for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.

Archive and Museum Foundation

In Wuppertal, the history and tradition of the evangelical mission societies involved are documented and maintained by the VEM in the archive and in the museum foundation in the mission houses on Rudolfstrasse. The cultural assets of the missionaries collected by the missionaries are accessible to the public in the " Museum auf der Hardt " in Wuppertal. The foundation awards a study (500 €) and a research prize (1000 €) for academic theses in intercultural research.

VEM Foundation

In 2004, a foundation was set up with € 200,000 to promote the work of the UEM. This has grown to around 5 million euros through endowments, gifts, inheritances and legacies. Only the interest income generated through ethical investment may be used.

literature

  • Wolfgang Apelt: Brief history of the United Evangelical Mission / Short history of the United Evangelical Mission (= Mission and Presence. Vol. 3). Köppe, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-89645-753-0

Web links

Commons : United Evangelical Mission  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d VEM: [1] , last dated February 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ Klaus Koch: Wuppertal nicknames: Strolling on the Holy Mountain. Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from January 29, 2010 (accessed: February 22, 2016)
  3. ^ Missionary Kurt Bonk. Abstract for reference file 7NL 033 in the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland (accessed: February 22, 2016)
  4. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Peter Sandner , accessed on March 19, 2019.
  5. ↑ UEM: Member Churches ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , seen October 28, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vemission.org
  6. ↑ EKD: Menschenrechte aktuell, Info-Dienst December 2003  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , seen October 28, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ekd.de