Read a United Church News story about this trip

We celebrate and strengthen our 
German-American partnership

During the first two weeks of September a team of seven persons from the Ohio Conference and seven persons from the Indiana Kentucky Conference will meet in Germany to develop goals for the relationship between the three entities into the future.

The three partners will jointly adopt a proposed mission statement that focuses on our future: Our mission is to build upon our common heritage to learn from one another what it means to be Christian faced with the challenges in our respective countries and in today’s world.

Over the past 10 years there have been many visits back and forth between the German Church and the United Church of Christ here in Ohio. Ohio pastors have served for a year in a Westphalian congregation, and German pastors and students have served in our Ohio churches. Every summer a delegation of 3-4 persons from Westphalia spends the summer at Pilgrim Hills and Templed Hills, sharing the story of their culture and church with campers at our summer events. Numerous Ohio congregations have established a partnership relationship with a Westphalia congregation, including group visits back and forth.

A number of Ohio churches can trace the heritage of their congregation from persons who migrated to this area from Germany in the 19^th century to establish communities and churches.

The UCC/EKU Joint Forum will include a full discussion and celebration of the past ten years and a setting forth of future considerations to continue to build our full communion with one another. In addition to the weekend forum, the delegation will visit in German congregations for a week to share ideas about present and future plans among our people.

I believe these church-to-church partnerships foster a stronger understanding of ministry of the church of Jesus Christ around the world. I encourage congregations interested in developing a church-to-church partnership to contact me so that I may make your wishes known to our German friends.

The Ohio Conference representatives on the trip to Germany will be: the Rev. Leslie Carole Taylor, Columbus, Moderator of the Ohio Conference; Rev. Laurie Hafner, Cleveland, Past Chairperson of the Committee for 2000 and host of German students at Pilgrim UCC; and Ms. Nancy Cope, Salem, longtime Chairperson of the Ohio Conference Church Development Committee. Also traveling will be the Rev. Alfred (Sam) Schroeder, Defiance, longtime member of the Ohio UCC/EKU Working Group and host of German students at St. John UCC in Defiance; and the Rev. John Long, member of the Ohio UCC/EKU Working Group and pastor of the Oak Creek UCC. Oak Creek has had a long-term church-to-church partnership with a German congregation; many group visits have been exchanged between the congregations. The Rev. Mark Steiner, Wooster, member of the UCC/EKU Working Group, active in both the Indiana Kentucky Conference and the Ohio Conference Working Groups; and the Rev. Ralph Quellhorst, Ohio Conference Minister, will also be part of the group. Rev. Quellhorst set up the first relationship between the German church and the Indiana Kentucky Conference 10 years ago.

I invite your prayers for this special celebration and discussions for our future work in Kirchengemeinschaft with the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.