Building relationships with people affected by inequality and finding solutions for transformative change in society is at the core of the European Diaconal Process. A recent webinar highlighted lessons learned.
Members of the LWF European Diaconal Process working group, when they visited the Dévai Fogadó community center in Budapest. Photo: ELCH
Diaconal practitioners highlight best practices of new learning program
(LWI) – After several years of studying best practices and challenges from churches’ work for transformation in society, diaconal practitioners in Europe have developed a learning program aimed at creating more open, welcoming, and safe spaces for people seen as “the other” and “different.” The modules in the program will be launched later this year.
At their 10 April meeting in Budapest, Hungary, representatives of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) European Diaconal Process working group discussed the four key topics of the learning program, namely: Experiencing, Seeking Conviviality, Reflection on Practice, and Working for Change. These concepts help churches to pay attention to personal biases and structures in society, while emphasizing biblical teachings as guidelines for creating inclusive societies.
Conviviality--the art and practice of living together in community-- is the central theme of the process involving LWF’s member churches in the region since 2010. The new learning program is an invitation to deepen understanding and enact positive change, noted Rev. Tony Addy, Head of Education at the International Academy for Diaconia and Social Action - Central and Eastern Europe (interdiac), LWF’s partner organization in the process.
“What does it mean for me to change? What does it mean for us to change? It has something to do with the church, and with the society of which we are a part,” said Addy.
Welcoming refugees
Meeting in Budapest, the working group members visited the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary (ELCH) Dévai Fogadó community center. Run by the local congregation with support from volunteers since 2023, the center provides around 5,000 Ukrainian refugees with different services including counseling, language courses, educational programs, cash assistance, children’s camps, and spiritual support.
The Dévai Fogadó community center provides Ukrainian refugees with services including children’s camps and art therapy. Photo: ELCH
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
Budapest Lutheran pastor and Dévai Fogadó director Rev. Marta Bolba (third from left) during a past activity at the center. Photo: ELCH
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.
