"Pray for the Unity Synod!" This was the message on the Facebook pages of the Unity Province of the West Indies East on 7 September 2023. On display then was a good one-minute sequence of images, accompanied by music, of the first days of the 44th Unity Synod in Cape Town. See here. At the beginning of the evening session of Synod on Friday 8 September 2023, the delegates from Tanzania sang a song from their homeland for the other Synod members, and many Synod members joined in. A three-minute video of the joint singing here. Bishop Augustine Joemath from South Africa is one of the Synod clergy. There is a photo showing him at a devotion here. Two Synod members from Jamaica greet here. Some Synod members took some time during the breaks to get to know the multicultural metropolis of Cape Town. The Unity Womens Desk reports on a hard-working Synod struggling to allocate funds. See here.

The Facebook pages of the Unity Womens Desk, headquartered in Winston-Salem/NC, read on 11 September 2023: "The Unity Synod 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, is history. Synod members affirmed the importance and past successes of the Unity Women's Desk (UWD). They voted to continue administrative support for the UWD at the current level - US$15,000. They further voted to appoint three new advisory board members so that our African and Spanish-speaking sisters, as well as our younger sisters, are better represented in the UWD." The presentation of another song by the East Africa Synodals can be relived here. Some pictures from the conference room on the last day of deliberations of the Synod here. An important sentence from a morning devotion during the Synod: "Unity does not have to be created, it has to be protected". Before going home, many synod members visit various congregations and projects of the Moravian Church in South Africa, including in the Eastern Cape.

Many beautiful pictures of the visit of women representing the Unity Womens Desk at the just concluded 44th Unity Synod in Cape Town to the depressed Eastern Cape can be found on the organisation's Facebook pages. See here. The women sat in a car for 13 hours to also visit the remote congregations of the Unity Province of South Africa in Matatiele, Goshen and Shiloh and greet the women or women's groups there (MWASA = Moravian Women's Association in South Africa). The pictures illustrate the enthusiasm with which the representatives of the Unity Womens Desk were received in the Eastern Cape. From 1867 onwards, there were two Unity provinces in South Africa (Western Cape with administration in Cape Town and Eastern Cape with administration in Matatiele). After the end of apartheid, the Afrikaans-speaking and Xhosa-speaking provinces were united in 1998.

On its Facebook pages, the Unity Youth Committee looks at the 44th Unity Synod in Cape Town, which ended on 10 September 2023. In addition to a series of 15 pictures (see here), there is a text by Jiřina Kaletová (CZ), the leader of the committee and herself a participant in the Synod. She writes: "We faced the challenge at the Synod of Unity to preserve our unity in diversity. This is not easy, but we need to work towards it and make our unity visible so that the world knows that we are one and believe in our heavenly raised Chief Elder, Jesus Christ. The fellowship of people from the four regions of the worldwide Moravian Church with their many languages and cultures last week made visible the beauty of the Body of Christ and why we need to protect the Body of Christ and preserve our unity (see the devotions on Acts 4 and John 17)."

Brødremenighedens Danske Mission BDM, the sister organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe in Christiansfeld, Denmark, has published a lengthy article by freelance journalist Svend Løbner, who met special needs teacher Khaleda Ziada during his recent trip to Palestine and observed her work. The journalist reports that the experience in dealing with children and young people with disabilities gained at the worldwide Moravian Church's Rehabilitaion Center Star Mountain (near Ramallah) is now being used in the special needs work at 30 schools in Palestine. At these 30 schools, individual children and young people with disabilities are being successfully taught in an inclusive way. The article shows how well the potential of children and young people with disabilities can be utilised when they are specifically supported and taught inclusively by professionals. Download the entire article in German translation hier.

After a three-year break due to Corona, the Evangelischen Zinzendorfschulen Herrnhut held their traditional charity run for education again on 28 April 2023 from 12:30 to 13:30. After disseminating information about the project purpose already in the previous month, the children and young people were able to start in dry conditions in the second attempt - the first date had to be cancelled due to heavy rain. And they set a new record for donations on a lap in the south of Herrnhut. Within one hour, they completed so many laps that their sponsors, who had been won in advance, had to put almost 20,000 euros on the table. The best class raised more than 3,700 euros, the best pupil 640 euros. Half of the money will go to the Star Mountain Rehabilitations Center in Palestine; the rest of the money will be used to equip the new school gymnasium in Herrnhut. More about the run including 15 pictures here.

The Evangelische Mission in Solidarität EMS, an association of churches and mission organisations worldwide based in Stuttgart, which also includes Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, is advertising an interesting position. We are looking for a person for a leading position in the area of communication and fundraising. Together with a team, internal and external communication is to be structured and organised. Details here.

The mission festival of the Moravian Church in the Netherlands took place in Zeist on Saturday, 16 September 2023, in glorious summer weather. People from all parts of the country came to the church hall and the Sisters' Square in front of it to sing and pray together, to give thanks and to celebrate, to exchange ideas and to enjoy delicious food and drinks, mostly made according to Surinamese recipes. The main substantive contribution of the day of celebration came from Audrey Tjin Asjoe-Millerson, the director of the Moravian Church's Soender Singh Girls' Boarding School in Paramaribo, Suriname. A short video gives an insight into boarding school life. See here. Some pictures of the mission festival here. A video from the opening service here. The net proceeds of 8,500 euros from the mission festival were also earmarked for this traditional institution, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. The girls' thanksgiving in video here.

In the museum Das Herrnhuter Haus in Zeist/Netherlands, a new exhibition has recently opened and will continue until the beginning of 2024: "Suriname after 1873. Half a century in five accents". See here. In front of a large projection screen with old postcards or cityscapes from Suriname or Paramaribo in the period from 1893 to 1920, objects typical of the cultures of the individual ethnic groups in Suriname can be viewed: Thus one sees Hindu, Chinese and Javanese contract workers on various plantations: working after the abolition of slavery as well as from the ten years of forced labour afterwards. The diversity of the population is depicted in each case by a painting or work of art by the artists Baag, Bosari, Bunsee, Creton, Heilbron, Vervuurt and Wong Loi Sing (father and son). By means of a touch screen, photos and film fragments are made visible that remind us of this special time. The exhibition is accompanied by a series of lectures on the exhibition theme.

From 6 to 9 September 2023, Suriname celebrated the Avondvierdaagse (AVD), an event that in some ways resembles the Caribbean Carnival. The AVD is a cultural show celebrated with parades and lots of music. See here. They have an annually changing motto for which individual groups can show their creativity. However, the AVD is traditionally also an event where health is remembered (motto of the Ministry of Health for 2023: Know your body values! Measurement makes sense!). About 5,000 people paraded through Paramaribo dancing for four evenings. Most participants run in groups; however, there are also many individual runners. The public is always enthusiastic. This time, Medische Zending Primary Health Care Suriname (Medical Mission in Suriname) was also present at the parades with a small group. Photos here. In the end, the group took 3rd place in the presentation category companies/organisations.

The work of UNICEF Latin America & Caribbean and US-AID focuses on the small, marginalised communities in the tropical interior of Suriname. Both organisations focus their work on general hygiene as well as specific health programmes. Most recently, staff from the two organisations, in coordination with the Suriname Medical Mission, distributed hygiene kits to children in Drietabbetje, a very remote village in the middle of the Tapanahony River. (Sipaliwini district). See here. Drietabbetje is the centre of the Ndyuka (also Aukan) people. The primary school there sees itself not only as a school that wants to educate for a healthy lifestyle, but also explicitly as a green school, as a sign at the entrance reveals. Suriname recently became one of the signatories of the "UN-Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action A pledge by champion governments to uphold priorities identified by children and youth across the world".

The School Foundation of the Moravian Church in Suriname has announced details of the Moravian Teacher's Days on 20/21 September 2023 and published a programme booklet. Download in Dutch here. The theme of this year's Teachers' Days, the first after a three-year Corona break, is: Mastering challenges with the power of God. The venue is the Graf von Zinzendorf School in the capital Paramaribo. Among others, the following work units will be offered: Creative Mathematics; Multilingualism in a Safe Learning Environment; What Does Puberty Actually Mean? The power in the teacher; Internet in the classroom; Conflict resolution; What do children need to know about money and economics? Am I competent enough for the challenges of the 21st century? Staying healthy and fit throughout life.

After 30 years, the leadership of the Moravian Church in Western Tanzania was once again in need of a new ministry car. The Board of World Mission BWM of the Moravian Church in North America supported this new acquisition; the British Mission Board BMB and the Brødremenighedens Danske Mission BDM also helped with money. The church leadership in Tanzania thanked the donors and wrote: "This car will enable the leaders in our province to reach all our congregations, which span eight regions and almost 1,600 miles, more efficiently than before, where the old car had very high maintenance costs. The car will also be used for mission work in neighbouring countries." The Moravian Church in Western Tanzania is growing rapidly, especially in the Tabora region. New churches and administration buildings as well as Sunday school buildings had to be built.

An original match report from Rungwe: "Hundreds of people came to the football field of 'Rungwe Boys High School' on Thursday 14 September 2023 to watch the match between the 'Strong Boys' from the Moravian Church Sports Club against the bicycle and motorbike taxi drivers from the 'Boda boda Rungwe Sports Club'. In the match which was dominated by the elegance of the Moravian Church team for the entire 90 minutes of play, the bicycle and motorbike taxi drivers lost 3-1. With this result, the Moravian Church team, which was brilliantly coached by their coach Musa Mwakijolo, advanced to the finals of the tournament played here at the 'Rungwe Mission'. The team is now considered a real bugbear for other teams because of its many victories. Its style of play is now already being copied and it is attracting spectators." A short video of the game in Rungwe here.

The Board of World Mission BWM of the Moravian Church in North America provides information on a number of patient stories from the Clinica Evangelica Morava in Ahuas in Honduran Mosquitia on its Facebook pages with the help of clickable tiles. See here. At the beginning of the post it says by way of explanation: "The doctors at the clinic have been visiting their inpatients early every morning for many years; currently following the daily staff devotions, which end around 7:30 am. The doctors are accompanied on their rounds by the head nurse, the nurse on duty and the anaesthetist. Other staff (e.g. the laboratory technicians) take part in the ward rounds if there are patients in the clinic they are helping. Family members accompany the patients and they also stay overnight in their rooms to help with daily washing and dressing and with food administration. During rounds, the family members often also give the attending doctors important additional information."

Estamos Unidos Moravian Ministry is one of the newest ministries of the Board of World Mission BWM of the Moravian Church in North America. Founded exactly five years ago in Winston-Salem/NC by the Rev. Angelica Regalado Cieza and also based there, the ministry cares for migrants mainly from Latin America. On 16 September 2023, the ministry will celebrate its founding anniversary. The offers of the Estamos Unidos Moravian Ministry (roughly: We are all One Ministry) are very diverse: fellowship in singing and playing, biblical instruction; instrumental lessons; tutoring for school and especially English lessons; maternity, marriage and family counselling, joint excursions. The leader of BWM, Justin Rabbach, sent a video greeting from South Africa to mark the fifth anniversary of the service. See here.

On its Facebook pages, Moravian School Binnakandi in the far eastern Indian state of Assam commemorates the recent farewell of a long-time teacher, named Ma'am Tempi, after a total of 40 years of service in the teaching profession. Pictures of the farewell celebration are here. The school was founded as a kind of branch of the Morainian Institute in Rajpur (near Dehradun), 1,800 kilometres away, by the now departed Reverend Kagauchung Rongmei Naga, to whom the school and the congregation dedicated a memorial stone on 8 January 2023 for his great services to the Moravian Church in Binnakandi. The school has also published some pictures of a small sports event, the so-called Peace Marathon, which was only one kilometre long, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the young athletes. See here. School sport plays a much greater role in India - in good British tradition - than in Germany.

Recently, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Pierre Trudeau and his son Hadrian visited the former Moravian mission station of Nain (founded in 1771) for the first time, as reported by the Aboriginal People's Television Network on National News. See here. "Since 2015, I have invited the prime minister to my homeland," said Natan Obed, chief representative of 60,000 Inuit in Canada, in his welcoming speech, calling the presidential visit very significant. They talked about weapons, fishing and hunting, about the health of the Inuit, but also about reconciliation between white Canadians, whose ancestors trampled on the rights of the indigenous people for centuries, and today's Inuit. A video of the presidential visit, which was also attended by Johannes Lampe, President of the Autonomous Iniut Region of Nunatsiavut. The implementation of the "United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" was also on the 14-point list of issues.

Recently, the people in the small village of Akiachak on the Kuskokwim River in the US state of Alaska finally have a water connection and thus also water toilets. Until now, they were among the 3,000 households in Alaska whose sanitary facilities still looked the same as they did 300 years ago. This was reported in a richly illustrated article in the Associated Press on 8 September 2023. The long article can be read here in English. Headline: "An Alaskan Yup'ik village now has water connections. Residents are thrilled to no longer have to use toilet buckets". Akiachak has also had a Moravian Church for almost 150 years. Carl Ekamrak, the head of the Council of Elders of the Akiachak Moravian Church, is happy that living conditions in his village are now much better. No one has to do their business in their home behind a curtain into a smelly five-gallon bucket anymore.

On the websites of the Moravian Church in North America, the document Moravian Guiding Principles of Biblical Interpretation is published for a wider audience. See here. This hitherto little-known document recalls the particular way of interpreting Scripture in the Old and Renewed Moravian Church and the Ground of the Unity incorporated in the Church Order. It wants to "serve as a guide for clergy, laity and organisations". The document emphasises that from the earliest days of its history, the Moravian Church has held the Word of God in the highest esteem. Nevertheless, it has always made clear that the written word does not point to itself, but to the Word made flesh, that is, to Jesus Christ, which relativises the meaning of individual passages of Scripture. The hymn (Book of Worship No. 509,1) rightly says: "The word of God which ne'er shall cease, proclaims free pardon, grace and peace, salvation shows in Christ alone, the perfect will of God makes known.

The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa published an article by Devandre Boonzaaier and Alethea C. de Villiers in November 2019 entitled: The Moravian heritage of community musicking. The extract is available online here. The paper first deals with the Moravian Church and its hymnology in general. Then it traces the origins of the individual Moravian hymnals and examines their use in South Africa. Thirdly, the history of the Moravian hymnals in South Africa is recounted (beginning in Genadendal, then spreading throughout the country), including their significance for South African composers and musicians. And the two authors also provide short biographies of selected South African composers of the Moravian Church, emphasising their connection with Moravian hymnology over a long period of time.

"Enslaved in the name of God - and profit" is the title of a longer article by Jörn Schumacher in the Christian media magazine PRO (issue 4-2023). See here. The article focuses in particular on the involvement of the churches in the Netherlands and Great Britain in the system of slavery. What is probably new for many is the reference to the former existence of special slave Bibles. Only three copies still exist in the world. These Bibles represent a terrible perversion of the Gospel, with all the verses relating to freedom (not least the Exodus story and Galatians 3:28: Here is neither slave nor free, you are all one in Christ; the story of Joseph obediently living as a slave in Egypt, on the other hand, is in the slave Bibles) removed from them. The Bibles were printed in London in 1807 by the Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves to educate Christian slaves not to seek freedom and to work more diligently. The great slave revolt in Haiti, which led to the country's independence in 1804, was not long ago.

The UN emphasises: "Huge efforts are needed to achieve gender equality by 2030 with regard to the 17 goals for sustainable global development". The so-called Gender Snapshot 2023 - a kind of interim assessment - shows that the world is still far away from real gender justice. "At the current rate of development, more than 340 million women and girls risk living in abject poverty by 2030, and an alarming four per cent could face extreme food insecurity by that year." On Goal 1: No poverty: the report predicts that by 2030, eight per cent of the world's female population (approximately 342 million women and girls) will live on less than US$2.15 per day. Goal 3: Good health and well-being: While overall maternal mortality declined globally from 2000 to 2020, progress has stagnated since 2015. Info on all 17 goals in English here.