On 16 February 2024, the Star Mountain Rehabilitation Center SMRC of the worldwide Moravian Church in Palestine (West Bank) received visits from delegations from two NGOs: Mercy Corps and Tamkeen (empowerment). The members of the delegations visited the centre, learned about its programmes and services and had discussions with several members of staff. As far as the future is concerned, co-operation and joint projects were initiated. Pictures here. Before and after this, the ten-part project Promoting inclusive communities through good citizenship, funded by the German Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ), was continued. This time, talks were held with municipal representatives from the congregations of Kharbatha al-Misbah and Shuqba, as well as with their associations and civic organisations. Pictures here and here.

On 29 February 2024, the Star Mountain Rehabilitation Center SMRC of the worldwide Moravian Church (Palestine, West Bank) received a delegation from the Palestine Association for Children’s Encouragement of Sports, to explore opportunities for closer cooperation between the two organisations and, if necessary, to formally establish a partnership. For decades, the SMRC has been a leader in Palestine in the use of sport as a education tool. Photo here. The day before, Ranya Karam, the director of Star Mountain, signed a cooperation agreement with official representatives from six municipalities in the area: Liqya, Qabiya, Kharbatha Al-Misbah, Deïr Abu Mish'al, Ni'lin and Shuqba. The agreement is the result of a recently completed project funded by the german Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ), Promoting Inclusion through Good Community Coexistence. As part of this project, employees from Star Mountain made extensive visits to ten communities in January and February 2024, presenting the services offered by the support centre. Some photos here.

The Star Mountain Association (Förderverein Sternberg e.V.) is an association of congregations and individuals from the Westphalian Church together with HMH. The Star Mountain Association was founded in 2022 to put the SMRC outpost in Burqin, which was mainly financed by the Westphalian region, on a legally reliable footing. The association is chaired by Niels Gärtner from HMH and Christian Hohmann, a pastor at the oikos Institute specialising in the Middle East, acts as deputy chairman on the Westphalian side. Due to the increasingly violent clashes between settlers and Palestinians, particularly after 7 October 2023, it was no longer justifiable to continue the outpost in the north. The project was therefore cancelled at the end of 2023. As a new task, the association has set itself the goal of supporting the special school on the SMRC itself. Thank you very much!

Across denominational and national borders, women are committed to ensuring that girls and women all over the world can live in peace, justice and dignity during the World Day of Prayer. The 2024 World Day of Prayer comes from Palestine. It was also celebrated in the Moravian Church in Albania on 1 March 2024 under the motto "...through the bond of peace". Dena Fortuzi, pastor of the church, reports: "On 1 March, we gathered our hearts and voices to pray for peace, love and patience as we celebrated the World Day of Prayer in our churches in Tirana, Burrel and Elbasan. Together in prayer with our Palestinian sisters who organised the service, we had a wonderful and blessed time and enjoyed the Palestinian food. All the services were blessed and as we proclaimed the message of carrying one another in love, we were reminded once again that despite cultural differences, we are one in spirit and all belong to the body of Christ together."

Felix has been in Zanzibar since mid-September 2023 and is completing his voluntary service at the Herrnhuter Academy School in Mwera. In addition to numerous smaller activities, Felix teaches the subject "Computer Applications" for various grades of the secondary school and the vocational training centre for hotel management. He also takes care of the letters from and for the sponsored children, enabling them to get in touch with their sponsor parents from Germany. He really enjoys his work in Zanzibar. He told the Herrnhuter Missionshilfe team: "I am looking forward to being here in the future and continuing to experience life and the people." Herrnhuter Missionshilfe would like to take this opportunity to thank Felix for his commitment and cooperation!

Christians in the Netherlands want to use the 2024 Passiontide to reflect on the devastating effects of the churches' involvement in the system of slavery. Lent, which runs until 29 March 2024, is traditionally a time for self-reflection, contemplation and prayer. Every generation is called upon to rethink and critically evaluate their own lives. This year, the Working Group for the Healing Reappraisal of the Slavery Past in the Netherlands is therefore calling on people to reflect on deep-rooted patterns from the past of slavery and their effects up to the present day during Lent. Four events will also be offered with webinars: 29 February, 7 March, 14 March and 21 March 2024, each from 7.30 to 8.30 pm. For overarching topics and countries (Curaçao; Dutch East Indies) that will be discussed on the four evenings, as well as the location of the event, see here.

A van pick-up and delivery service is now available for people from the Moravian Church in Alaska, who often find it difficult to get from their sometimes remote homes to the meetings in the Bethel/AK regional centre in winter. The church leadership wrote on Facebook: "We have now set up a van ministry. If you call, we will pick you up: for services on Sunday morning (10am for Sunday School, 11am for sermon) and Sunday evening (7pm), youth night on Monday (7pm), women's night on Tuesday (7pm), prayer meeting and Bible study on Wednesday (7pm) and choir practice on Thursday (7pm). Please call the following telephone number: 907-545-9174". During the women's evenings in Bethel/AK, this beautiful, warming scarf was created. See here.

In March 2024, Lebene (25) from Ghana will move to the Herrnhaag community for a year. She is doing voluntary service with us in partnership with the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS). She would like to familiarise herself with church work in Germany and is particularly interested in the responsible use of creation. We are looking forward to a year of encounters, living together, sharing our faith and working together. Who would like to join us on this journey for six or twelve months? We are offering another volunteer position (FSJ or BFD+) for people between the ages of 21 and 77. We offer accommodation, meals and the usual pocket money. The areas of work are varied and are agreed together according to gifts and interests: manual and domestic work in the house, gardening, children's and youth work, helping with guest care, the Herrnhaag café and the various festivities that characterise the Herrnhaag.

Inge Engelbrecht, a member of the Genadendal Music Archive working group, was recently awarded a PhD in Musicology by the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. According to the award assessment, the dissertation is a ground-breaking multimedia project that combines Afrikaans, English and Kaaps and focuses on choral singing in coloured congregations around Stellenbosch. Her work was praised as highly original, readable and innovative. It also offers a narrative of hope and strength. The Mission Museum of the Moravian Church in Genadendal said: "This achievement not only advances research in the field of cultural music, it also enriches our understanding of the importance of Christian choral singing in South African culture and religion." About the dissertation here.

The newsletter of the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem/PA from 29 February 2024 contains a new section for the first time: the presentation of archive users from all over the world by interview. In addition to the transcription of the interviews, short interview excerpts are embedded as audio recordings. The first interview introduces Winelle Kirton-Roberts, a pastor from the Caribbean, who says of herself: "I was born in Barbados and spent most of my time in the Caribbean. I have been working as an ordained Moravian Church minister for almost 30 years, I am married and we have three grown-up daughters. I first visited the archive in 1995 when I was a student at Princeton Theological Seminary. We were studying the topic of women and mission. At some point I came across Edith Kilbuck. When I saw the wealth of material, it inspired me to write my doctoral thesis. The whole interview in English here.

The various local congregations united in the Unity Province of the West Indies East in the Trinidad Conference wrote on Facebook at the end of February 2024: "We have been privileged to serve the people of the entire Unity Province with our Lay Academy for the past two and a half years. Our desire is to work according to the annual theme of our province: Know our identity, return to our purpose, reignite our passion. Would you like to read some testimonials from our lay students? Then please do - here - with background music." Also published was a short information video from the annual meeting of the church leadership with the superintendents of the six conferences (Virgin Islands; Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis; Tobago; Trinidad, Antigua) as well as with the bishops of the Moravian Church from the region, which took place in January 2024 on the island of Antigua. See here.

The Moravian Church in Jamaica had invited to another Provincial Youth Ralley 2024 at the Convenant Moravian Church in Kingston on Wednesday, 14 February 2024, starting at 9.30 am. A video summary of the seven-hour event here. The motto of the event was Join the Resistance!. Of course, there was music and singing of a very diverse nature (predominantly modern-charismatic, but also traditional-African) and from several singers and bands. But there were also sermons and testimonies from young people; there were gospels and songs of praise, games and competitions and prominent guests were welcomed by the church leadership. Several children and young people or youth groups from individual districts were honoured at the end of the event for their special ideas or achievements.

The School Foundation of the Moravian Church in Suriname (Stichting Onderweijs) launched a special building and renovation fund on 15 February 2024 and publicly called for donations to this fund. To present the work of the large foundation, to demonstrate the need for construction measures and to encourage donations, a 15-minute informative and likeable promotional film was made, which has already received over 5,400 clicks on Facebook and in which prominent people from Surinamese society present the educational work of the Moravian Church in an appreciative manner. See here. The Surinamese television channel Sun Web TV1 also reported on the new foundation of the fund in a seven-minute programme. The programme featured two senior employees of the Moravian Church School Foundation, which supports a total of 64 schools in Suriname: Carl Breefeld and Sandra Panka Blijhout. See here.

A new era is about to begin for the Moravian Church's preschool in Nieuw Aurora on the Suriname River, Central Suriname, Sipaliwini District. The old building is only made of wood and is collapsing. Space is soon to be made for a new building so that even more children can attend the pre-school. These children do not learn Dutch from their parents, but only at pre-school. Often only an indigenous language is spoken at home. However, knowledge of Dutch is essential for starting primary school. The children are looking forward to the new language, which opens up a new world for them, and to the new preschool building. The teachers are happy too. The old preschool building was symbolically decommissioned at the end of January 2024 with a clothes and shoe bazaar. Cooking was still done there for a while for those children who needed to be looked after after preschool lessons. Some pictures here. A short video here.

The Board of World Mission BDM, the North American sister organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, celebrates the third Thursday in February every year as a special day of prayer for the work of the Moravian Church in Rajpur, North India. The organisation writes: "We invite you to pray with us for our brothers and sisters in Rajpur." And it reminds: "The Moravian Church runs the Moravian Institute in India, which operates at three locations. Needy children are taken in and receive boarding school care and a high-quality education. Many of the children are orphans and preference is given to girls, who often have no other educational opportunities. Religious affiliation is not taken into account, but the institute is Moravian. The morning school assembly includes a prayer service. The schoolchildren are supported by the Rajpur Foster Child Project of the Moravian Church in Canada. Herrnhuter Missionshilfe also have a sponsorship programme at the Moravian Institute. Specific intercessions are available in English here.

Back in 2019, the Board of World Mission BWM of the Moravian Church in North America passed a resolution to honour individual Moravian Churches in North America in a special way. The honour was to be bestowed on congregations that are committed to mission and social work in an exemplary manner, both locally and globally. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided to give the congregations in question the honourable name of "Herrnhut congregation". The award is therefore also called "Herrnhut Congregational Affirmation for Dedicated Mission and Service". In a special service on 28 January 2024, the Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem/NC was presented with a corresponding certificate. Some pictures here. Between the summer of 1731 and the summer of 1732, Herrnhut was ready for missionary work overseas, initially among Danish plantation slaves on the island of St Thomas in the Caribbean and among Inuit on Greenland.

The Missionary Society of the Moravian Church in the US Southern Province has set up a fund from which young people who are planning a short missionary assignment can receive support. This could be participation in a local mission camp, a mission assignment at national level or an assignment abroad or in the worldwide Moravian Church. Anyone wishing to receive a grant for such an assignment simply needs to complete a Google application form. If an entire team is planning an assignment, each team member must complete a separate form. If a person or team then receives money from the company, a questionnaire must be completed after the mission. Teams are also asked to write an article for a publication or newsletter, make a presentation and attend a fundraising event or mission love feast. Enquiries here.

Pascal Benimana, a Bishop of the Moravian Church from Burundi, and Edward A. Nsengiyumva, Chairman of the Burundi Mission Province, visited the Moravian Congregation led by Pastor Manacé Irutingabo in the scenic Muyinga region. The guests spoke with the councils of elders and encouraged the Christians to continue witnessing to their faith during a kind of community day. Many pictures here. When the theologians had moved on to the members of the congregation in the Kirundo region, Edward A. Nsengiyumva promised the congregation there support with the purchase of a plot of land in the centre of Kirundo and with various projects of the congregation. An agreement to this effect was signed at a meeting in Ngozi on 3 February 2024. Pastor Damascene Rurangwa expressed his thanks for the promised help and promised further commitment from the congregation. Two pictures here.

Every year on a Sunday around 1 March, the so-called Unity Offering, the purpose of which is determined by the bodies of the worldwide Moravian Church, is requested for in all Unity and mission provinces worldwide in memory of the founding of the Old Moravian Church in the spring of 1457 in Kunvald, Bohemia. In 2024, the Unity Offering is intended for the work of the Moravian Church in Germany and the Czech Republic with refugees from Ukraine. To the collection announcement in English here.

Lydia Hans, a trained teacher from the Herrnhut kindergarten, has been working as a volunteer in Brandt-Chimala, around 90 km east of Mbeya, for six months now through the Leipzig Mission's volunteer programme. She supports the deaconesses of the Ushirika wa Upendo (Community of Love) sisterhood in their educational work in a pre-school and primary school. Details about her experiences and adventures since 1 Advent 2023 can be found in another newsletter. See here. In addition to her work at the mission station, she was also at a Tanzanian language school in Morogoro to prepare volunteers from Tanzania for their upcoming one-year assignment in Germany in terms of language and culture. She was able to visit Matema Beach on Lake Malawi with her school class, where the children bathed in a huge, beautifully situated lake for the first time in their lives.

For 25 years, the Zeister Zendingsgenootschap (ZZg), the sister organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe in the Netherlands, has had a special children's programme. Since 2000, information about projects in this programme has been published in a special newsletter with stories about children aged 0 to 18 worldwide. Thanks to large donations, the programme has become a spiritual and practical help for many children in need. Now a new generation of children is growing up. They deserve the same support as their parents' generation. The ZZg children's programme will therefore be continued, but the associated newsletter will be discontinued with the last issue (see here).Unfortunately, the number of ZZg staff is decreasing; savings are therefore necessary. From now on, all supporters of the ZZg children's programme will receive the existing newsletter ZZg News to keep them informed about all children's projects in Suriname, Tanzania, Malawi and other countries.

On 24 February 2024, another meeting of the local Moravian Church with Gundars Ceipe, pastor of the Moravian Church in Latvia, took place in the glass dome room of the Latvian National Library in Riga. Some pictures here. There has been a lot going on at the Christian David School, a private Christian school with links to the European-Continental Province in central Latvia near Barkava. The pictures posted by the school management on Facebook tell of various children's friendships, the celebration of Valentine's Day on 14 February 2014, the visit of young Dutch women to the school, a fun pupils' party, a temporarily open school bazaar and a school café, as well as the tradition of red jumper stroking (?). Some picture here. The group photo under the basketball hoop shows the newly renovated school gym.

In November 2023, a book by Pekka Hämäläinen, University of Oxford, was published with the title: Der indigene Kontinent. Eine andere Geschichte Amerikas. It does away with the conventional view: Shortly after the European settlers arrived in North America, they defeated the Indians, put the few survivors on reservations and destroyed their culture. Films also show the image of cruel or heroic warriors. Other versions of history honour the Indians as peoples who live peacefully in harmony with nature. But these are distorted images of the real life of the indigenous peoples of North America. The author does not speak of warriors, but of soldiers, settlements are towns or villages, chiefs are leaders. In his book there are therefore also nations and empires, all terms that express how large and well-organised the indigenous empires were. A longer review of the book here.