As part of an online talk on the topic of "What's next in the Holy Land?" Ranya Karam, the director of the Star Mountain Rehabilitation Center SMRC on the outskirts of Ramallah (Palestine), will have her say on 14 May 2024 at 7 pm. As an expert in social services and projects, she comes from a family with long roots in Jerusalem and has 35 years of practical experience in the region. She has been the director of the organisation since 2018. The aim of her work is to raise public awareness of the rights of people with disabilities and to integrate marginalised people into all areas of life. In recent years, services have been added for other target groups such as children and young people from refugee camps, who are taught to take responsibility for the community/society. The series of talks is an event organised by the oikos Institute of the Protestant Church of Westphalia in cooperation with the Protestant Academy in Villigst. Click here to register for the event.

The project Promoting inclusive communities through good communal interaction at the Star Mountain Rehabilitation Center near Ramallah (Palestine/West Bank) is now entering a new phase. From 29 April to 2 May 2024, the centre's management team offered some women from neighbouring local authorities further training to become rehabilitation workers for the first time. Some Pictures here. The four-day training programme for the women focused on acquiring skills in relation to the rights of people with disabilities, i.e. dealing with various legal provisions and municipal guidelines as well as the concrete implementation of inclusion measures. The training is intended to benefit municipal employees in Betunya, Beit Loqya, Naalin, Kharbatha Mesbah, Dir Abu Mashal and Qabia. The project is further supported by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Freedom Day is celebrated in the Republic of South Africa every year on 27 April with cultural, sporting and fun events. These take place to commemorate the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. The elections marked the end of apartheid. The Moravian Congregation Genadendal once again organised a Freedom Day Walk at 7 a.m. on this day. In a short report, it is said that there was an "incredibly good atmosphere" and that "powerful steps were taken" together: "A phenomenal success! Thank you to everyone who participated with passion and perseverance. Let's continue to spread the message of unity and freedom in the future!" The runners were given a little refreshment at the Mission Museum. Invitation poster here. Pictures of the Freedom Day Walk 2024 here.

Together with the wife of the local Moravian Church bishop, doctors, pastors and social workers are travelling through the villages in the Western Province of the Moravian Church in Tanzania. They speak to young and old about health issues: Hygiene, HIV and cancer prevention, family planning, child care. In the village of Mahagwe - about 90 minutes by car from Sikonge - more than 100 people came together, most of them women. The health teams, headed by Frola Yona, the wife of Bishop Ezekiel Yona, are sent out from the Moravian Mission Hospital in Sikonge, which has just been reorganised. Each health talk begins with singing and some dancing by the local Moravian Church women's group. Frola Yona usually begins her sermon like this: "You are welcome wherever you pray: in a mosque, a temple, a church, under a tree or by a river. God wants you to be well." Then Wilson Nkumba, Secretary General of the hospital, talks about women's and children's rights, and the head physician Dr Peter Songoro warns men in particular against violence. And then, in a room at the back, the doctor Dr Paulo Sipemba is already working as a doctor; he examines men, women and children free of charge. More text in Danish and more pictures here.

Just over a year ago - on 20 April 2023 - the Blessings Flow project, a joint project of the Moravian Church in North America and in Honduras (Unity Province and Mission Province) to improve the supply of drinking water to the indigenous population, was launched with a fact-finding visit to La Mosquitia in Honduras. Initially, clean water was made available to the people in Tumtum Tara. Four more congregations have since been included in this project, meaning that around 1,000 families now have access to clean water and medication to treat gastrointestinal diseases. In all five congregations, the number of illnesses transmitted by contaminated water has fallen significantly and there are fewer missed school and work days. The Moravian Church in North America has contributed 150,000 dollars to this project within a year. A 200-second film gives an overview of the progress and success of the project. See here.

The Unity Province of the West Indies East newsletter for March 2024 begins with an editorial on Agriculture and the Kingdom of God. See here. The newsletter then includes three articles on sustainable management and the need to combine Christian witness with ecological action. A key sentence in the lead article by Nigel Daniel, Superintendent of the Tobago Conference, reads: "Today, the church is called not only to proclaim the promise of heaven, but also to actively work to improve the reality of life!" Based on this, the Moravian Church will be taking part in the Tobago Mango Festival for the second time in 2024 with its own contributions and fundraising (19 June 2024; see the article by Belinda Manswell-Daniel, page 6+7). In another, multi-page article, the church leadership writes: "We have recognised that we as a church have the potential to play a significant role in promoting smart agriculture and sustainable agricultural production. That is why we are starting a hydroponic farming system here and there and providing training accordingly."

The new school year at the International Kindergarten & Shristi Academy of the Moravian Church in Kathmandu-Baneshwor, Nepal, began on Monday, 22 April 2024. The Facebook post read: "Welcome to the first day of classes! We are happy to start a new exciting academic year and welcome all children, from preschoolers to grade 9. May the school year be full of good learning experiences and opportunities." The school now also has a band. Here, the children and young people show off their skills in a three-minute video clip. Here, liaison teacher Krishna Raj talks about the history and profile of the school and explains his pedagogical approach. The school says: "In spring 2024, we will be teaching Year 9 for the first time. We will add a class every year until we are complete and teach all twelve grades.

Who was Anton Ulrich? The life of a slave from St Thomas. Paul Peucker and Christina Petterson, Bethleherm/PA, are offering a lecture on this topic on 30 May 2024 online. Registration here. The African Anton Ulrich is considered the initiator of the Moravian mission. After a meeting between him and Count Zinzendorf in Copenhagen in 1731, the former travelled to Herrnhut with his master's permission and reported first-hand to the congregation about the situation of the enslaved on the then Danish plantation island. The following year, Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann travelled by ship from Herrnhut to Eckernförde and began to proselytise. As well-known as Anton Ulrich's name may be, little is known about his life. This lecture attempts to uncover details about his fate, based on archival documents from Denmark, Germany and the USA, most of which are still unknown.

Michael and Cecilia Tesh have been working for the Moravian Church in Kenya for a long time. They wrote at the end of April 2024: "Greetings from Kenya! We are doing well. We are now sending an employee to train as a preacher. We have also made contact with other preachers in Kenya. Two brothers and I spent most of last year visiting all the Moravian Churches in Kenya. In the meantime, we also received the state licence certificate for the Moravian Church in Kenya. And we set up a committee to assist us in the management of all the congregations in Kenya. There are now four congregations in the town of Kutui and a fifth near our school and social project ray of hope. In 2024, we will continue to do what we can to help the congregations grow. We are asking for financial support to buy a new church roof for one congregation.

The first Sunday in May is the annual day of prayer in the Moravian Churches in North America for the Moravian Church in Sierra Leone, which has officially been a mission province of the worldwide Moravian Church for eight years. The work there began in the late 1990s after ten years of civil war. Refugees returned to their homeland and realised that many church buildings and structures had been destroyed. A Christian couple living in the USA - Mohamed and Safiatu Braïma - then developed the vision of returning to their homeland and doing missionary work there. Their ministry began with the construction of a mission house, a library, a church building and later a secondary school in the town of Luawa Yiehun in the Ngiehun district. The work of the Moravian Church has been flourishing for 25 years with support from the USA and is now taking place in several locations. There are currently 600 children enrolled at the prestigious Moravian Secondary School in Luawa Yiehun. Specific prayer requests from Sierre Leone here.

On 22 April 2024, Roberta Hoey and Jane Carter, both representatives of the Britisch Mission Board of the Moravian Church, and Jørgen Bøytler, the Unity Board Administrator, travelled to Nepal and northern India (Ladakh) for 10 days. The aim of their visit is to enter into dialogue with the church bodies and congregations in both areas in order to consider how best to support the Moravian Church in the South Asia Mission Province. The talks will also involve meeting with the Provincial Board, which will be newly elected by a synod in January 2024, to determine its structure and tasks during the intersynodal period. The travellers write: "Please remember the new boards, the congregations and the church leadership in your prayers. Pray that our witness and ministry in the UK will continue to bless our brothers and sisters in India and Nepal and throughout the Moravian Church."

It is rare for a Moravian Congregation to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of its children's choirs in a special way. The Iglesia Morava Monte Moriah in Bilwi, Nicaragua, did so recently. On Saturday evening, 27 April 2024, they had invited people to their wooden church to celebrate the eighth birthday of the local children's choir - a boys' and a girls' choir - and to present both choirs and individual choral groups to the congregation. The invitation said: "Come and praise God with the voices of the girls and boys of our Moravian Church. We await you at 6 pm in our church in the San Luis neighbourhood. For our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ says in his blessed and precious word: Let the children come to me and do not keep them away, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14)." Some pictures here. The Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is one of the few regions in the world where the Moravian Church is a genuine "people's church".

This year's mission festival of the Moravian Church in Denmark on 5 May 2024 in Christiansfeld was a hive of activity. Arngeir Langås, General Secretary of Brødremenighedens Danske Mission (BDM), described his organisation as an organisation that continues to send out. "The gospel spreads like ripples in the water after a stone has been thrown," he said. Marianne Christiansen, Bishop of the Lutheran diocese of Haderslev, emphasised this in her sermon at the service. Jørgen Bøytler, Chairman of the BDM, highlighted four fields of action for mission: life change, wholeness, confronting the colonial era and gender justice. Six missionaries and 16 young volunteers from Denmark are currently working abroad for the BDM, in addition to Tanzanian Mathias Kiligito in Burundi. The work of the Moravian Church is also progressing in many ways in Rwanda and the D. R. Congo. Pastor Dena Fortuzi was a guest from Albania and expressed her thanks for the great support. More here and here (video clip).

After a long break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Moravian Church in Suriname was once again able to offer a workshop for volunteers in the congregations who want to get involved in public relations. Six sisters and one brother took part in another creative writing workshop for the church newsletter over eight weekends. This took place at the Moravian Church Theological Seminary in Paramaribo. At the end of the workshop, the participants were able to present their work at the seminar and share the results of the workshop with a number of people. The articles and poems appeared in print in the publications Masker and Bun Tori. The church leadership had issued a certificate for the workshop participants. She said: "Congratulations to everyone and keep writing!"

Part of the Moravian heritage in Tobago (Unity Province of the West Indies East) are the clay ovens, also known as Dirty Ovens. Baking in a clay oven is a tradition in the Moriah Moravian Church. Previously, the church's own oven was only used to bake bread rolls for the annual love feast on Palm Sunday and then remained unused for the rest of the year. Now the idea was born to use the oven all year round for baking, and not just for socially disadvantaged people. Bread, rolls, cakes and biscuits are baked and sold on Mount Moriah every Saturday. If required, the goods are also delivered to customers. Occasionally, the church bakery even receives orders from customers in Trinidad and abroad. The church leadership thanks its bakery crew not only for their weekly commitment, but also for the recent repair of the oven. The monthly newsletter of the Unity Province of the West Indies East (March 2024) reports on how exactly the oven is operated.

The project of the Montgomery Moravian Church in Bethel, Tobago, called Heavenly Hives Apiary operates under the slogan "Only blessed bees work here". It was the brainchild of the late John Lawrence and was launched on 20 April 2021 before being expanded several times. The team around the Heavenly Beehives has also grown over time. Initially, the team acquired five bee colonies, soon followed by ten. And the team continued to train in beekeeping and honey production. The sale of the extracted honey (in bottles and in secondary products) has already made a lot of money available to the community coffers. A legally compliant honey house is now under construction next to the church kitchen. The bee group takes every opportunity to inform the Bible school and Sunday school participants and the congregation as a whole about the amazing world of bees using PowerPoint and video presentations. More here.

The young pastor Kevin St. Hill from the Spring Gardens Moravian Church in St. John's (Antigua), Sister Sylvia Larke from South Africa and Brother Jørgen Bøytler represented the worldwide Moravian Church at the Global Christian Forum / Fourth Gathering in Accra (Ghana), which took place from 15 to 20 April 2024 under the theme "That the world may know". Prior to this, the young delegates were invited to a one-day preliminary meeting. The meeting, jointly organised by the Vatican, the WCC, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Pentacostical World Fellowship, brought together 250 Christian leaders from 60 countries to discuss issues of Christian faith and church life. At the end, the delegates adopted a message to the world. See in English here. Photos here. Summary of the Forum in German here. Moderator Lydia Neshangwe, South Africa, said: "Denominational diversity is a blessing, not a curse. Cultural diversity is a blessing, not a curse." The Global Christian Forum is currently the broadest Christian dialogue platform in the world.

On Sunday, 28 April 2024, at 2.30 pm, the Moravian Church Leicester (UK) had invited people to a very special service. A preparatory group led by Br Martin Smith had given this service the title Talent Service. The service took place both in person and online. With this new service format, the preparation group wanted to appeal in particular to all those who felt they could contribute something to the external organisation and inner (spiritual) filling of the service. The invitation stated: "If you don't just want to listen and be a passive participant in the service, but would like to contribute something of your own, please let us know in advance or spontaneously: it could be a song, a report, a testimony of faith, a dance, a poem, a prayer or even a prayer request or social concern."

• Recently, the Moravian Institutein Rajpur near Dehradun, North India, once again hosted an alumni reunion, which was attended by more than 40 people. Many photos here and here. At this meeting, a new media classroom donated by the guests was handed over and the current students had rehearsed a cultural programme for the guests. After the lunch break, the alumni played football, basketball and cricket together - just like in the old days, but in a more informal way.
• A workshop for teachers was then held on 12 April 2024, offered by Simeon Kamei and Gaihiamlung Gengmei. See here. The workshop focussed on the use of the New Media Room, the new laptops, Google Workspace and other internet resources in the classroom. This was the first of several workshops currently being offered to equip teachers with the skills to use new technologies effectively in the classroom.  Some promotional images for the popular school here.

It was a great event when around 110 students and teachers from the Cad4All Institute of Applied Architecture in Cape Town arrived at the Genadendal Moravian Church on 25 April 2024 to get to know this historic Moravian settlement and also to visit the Mission Museum. There were stimulating discussions on both sides. Perhaps these will lead to innovations and exciting joint projects. 25 pictures of the visit here. One visitor told the following story: "I was there in 1978/79 when the South African historian Dr Isaac Balie gave an eloquent lecture to a group of architecture students from the University of Cape Town. As we left the small house where the museum objects were housed, a student wanted to know from Dr Isaac Balie what had happened to the indigenous Khoi Khoi. 'Did they all die?' she asked, concerned. Dr Isaac Balie pointed to himself and replied: 'Oh no, there's one standing here'."

Two extraordinary biographies, even for the Moravian Church, have recently gone on display in the Principality of Liechtenstein. A salon exhibition commemorates the missionary couple Christian and Rebecca Protten, widowed Freundlich, who in the 18th century - as people of African descent! - travelled back and forth between three continents (Africa, Europe, America/Caribbean). On the one hand, the extremely impressive biographies are testimonies to independence and self-confidence. On the other hand, they also provide exemplary insights into spiritual abuse, colonial structures and a racist world view that existed in the Moravian Church at the time. The exhibition in Vaduz at the Liechtenstein National Museum can be seen until 18 August 2024. Further information here. The exhibition catalogue and the new edition Die Schriften Christian Prottens (1715-1769) are available in bookshops. See here.