Dear friends,
Once again people of all ages, from children to the elderly, Christians, Muslims and also Humanists gathered in Nordwalde, Germany for four days of a very special encounter at Pentecost, the 28th annual event of its kind.
About 80 people came together to be with each other, build friendship and community, learn about each other, draw inspiration for their ongoing daily interfaith work and exchange experiences.
The topic this year was “Christians and Muslims worldwide – globalization as a challenge”. The planning team had built a rich program of exchange, stillness, talks from a Christian, Muslim, secular and activist perspective, plenary conversations, creative workshops, cultural parts, presentation of good practices as well services and spiritual elements.
As always, it was a little miracle how participants connected with each other, were enriched, created strong bonds, treated each other with kindness and become still and focused at the same time.
The children had their own program, did fair trade shopping, cooked and worked on handicrafts they could take back home – they also shared the cookies they had made with everybody at the conference.
At the end participants shared their gratitude with words such as joy, connectedness, spirituality, creativity, development and warmth. “Contrary to what we see every day in the news”, expressed one participant in the closing circle, “I have seen here that Coexistence and Friendship between diverse human beings are possible.”
This event was organized by the DMLBonn CC, the Evangelische Akademie Villigst, the Evangelische Jugendbildungsstaette Nordwalde and the Bendorf Forum for Ecumenical Encounter and Interfaith Dialogue.
For more information about partners of this event please check links below:
www.muslimliga.de
http://www.kircheundgesellschaft.de/theologische-und-gesellschaftliche-grund
fragen/evangelische-akademie-villigst/
http://www.jubi-nordwalde.de/
http://www.bendorferforum.de/
