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A company of young girls, Karlsruhe, Germany

Karlsruhe, the city that will host the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Germany, Photo: WCC

Participants received an overview of documents that will be accepted and voted on at the assembly. In breakout sessions, participants found out more about individual topics and exchanged ideas.

Dietmar Arends, Landessuperintendent of Lippische Landeskirche and delegate of the Protestant Church of Germany for the assembly, spoke of both challenges and opportunities.

"The assembly is a chance to get the global perspective and live together as a common family of God. Our togetherness is a sign of peace in this world,” he said. The arduous struggle for the unity of the church is an enduring mission and sign of peace.”

Dr Verena Hammes, general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany, one of the inviting and organizing institutions, expressed excitement on behalf of churches in Germany.

It is our aim to inform as many people in Germany and in the neighbouring countries about the possibilities of having the ecumenical world so close,” she said. Presumably we will never have the chance in our lifetime to host an assembly in Germany again so we should make the best out of it – telling our ecumenical story in Germany and listening to and learning from the experiences worldwide."

WCC communications officer Valter Hugo Muniz gave a presentation on WCCs social media work. Muniz was part of a team that received a Geneva Engage Award for effective and inspiring social media outreach and engagement.

Before explaining the technical aspects of my work, I must highlight that as a member of the WCC communications team, I am asked to ensure that communications from the WCC must be inclusive and have participation and hope at their core,” said Muniz. Our task is to ignite hope for a better world where human dignity prevails.”

Muniz then outlined the WCCs presence on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, plus Twitter and LinkedIn.

We do basically three things: We share, create and follow up,” explained Muniz. We share everything the different WCC areas of work are doing daily.”

The WCC also creates specific social media campaigns to highlight some pieces of work that are meant to be visible on the social media channels. Even with a small team and a just renewed way to work, we have reached significant numbers on our different channels,” he said.

 

11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches