BERLIN, GERMANY (May 8, 2007) \u2013 Rampant secularism and a growing influx of immigrants from other cultures and countries represents a significant challenge for church planting efforts and other ministries in Europe, a challenge addressed during a recent conference centered around the theme of \u201cJoining Hands for Mission in Europe.\u201d
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\nOrganized by the International Federation of Free Churches (IFFEC) of which the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a member, the conference was held in Berlin and included 85 participants representing 18 countries. A number of individuals represented the ECC\u2019s Department of World Mission and Church Growth and Evangelism.<\/p>\n
![\"Berlin\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/gR\/lu\/gRluTBxNJclt1yWQGSQdJQ\/Berlin.jpg\")
The focus was the evangelization of Europe in a holistic way, through a renewed commitment to church planting. Participants were encouraged to explore shared ministry initiatives and consider new ways to collaborate, share ideas and resource common ministry. Time also was spent in joint worship, Bible study, prayer, church visits, workshops, and examining case studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe location may characterize in some measure the importance of the theme,\u201d says Andy E. Larsen, a Covenant project missionary with the Mosaics Project who also participated in the meeting. The conference was centered in a youth hostel located about one kilometer from where the Iron Curtain divided East and West Berlin for nearly half a century.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wall symbolically, ideologically and physically divided nations, families and most of the parents of the participants at this conference from each other,\u201d Larsen observes. \u201cIt was once a strong reminder of the depths of human suspicion, depravity and enmity that can develop between people, nations and even colleagues in ministry. The conference was a fresh reminder that in Christ, things can be different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larsen\u2019s sentiments were echoed by another participant, Don Davenport, one of the ECC representatives. \u201cEph 2.15 tells us of the wall of hostility is being broken,\u201d Davenport reflects. \u201cThe conference has begun this process by bringing leaders together to break down the walls of secularism and religious dogma in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Larsen and Davenport, other ECC representatives included Gary Walter, executive minister of the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism, along with another departmental colleague Dave Olson; Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Department of World Mission; and Covenant missionaries Robert Reed, Leonid Regheta, Ken Satterberg, Barb Boca-Swanson, Jerry Reed, and John and Letha Kerl, the new regional coordinators for Covenant missions in Europe.<\/p>\n