Herrnhuter Missionshilfe cordially invites you! On June 23, 2025 at 7:00 pm, you will have the opportunity to gain exciting insights into the everyday life and work of local partner projects in Malawi, Tanzania and Zanzibar. The project partners of the local Moravian Church Jonah Sinyangwe and Belinda Gondwe from Malawi and Edgar Teacher from Tanzania will personally report on their experiences, challenges and successes on site. Experience an evening full of moving stories, honest insights and impressive perspectives. This exchange will broaden your view of the projects in these regions and open up new perspectives. The event will take place in Bad Boll, Badwasen 6. Come along and be inspired by the reports from the project partners!

Atsikana Walani Technical College in Malawi will soon have a small school library that combines traditional books with digital learning media. The aim is to give young women access to modern education - including in professions that require technical know-how. While digital schooling has become a matter of course in many countries, it is still out of reach for many girls in rural regions of Malawi. However, digital education in particular opens up new opportunities: it enables individualized learning, promotes digital skills and creates prospects for training and careers. In cooperation with the handball players of FrischAuf Frauen Göppingen and the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium Göppingen, Herrnhuter Missionshilfe is collecting well-preserved or new tablets with chargers and up-to-date software (to the call for donations here). The devices are used locally as a digital school library - a low-threshold access to knowledge that specifically promotes girls. Donations can be sent in until the end of June or handed in directly in Bad Boll: Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, Project “Walani”, attn. Markus Kuhn, Badwasen 6, 73087 Bad Boll. Every tablet counts - for education, participation and a better future.

In continuation of the previous, extraordinarily fruitful cooperation between the Rehabilitation Center of the worldwide Moravian Church on the Star Mountain near Ramallah (Palestine/West Bank) and the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children , a coordination meeting was held on May 19, 2025 with representatives from both institutions. The meeting focused on the opening of a special classroom for children with autism on the Star Mountain. This project is being realized with financial and technical support from the Princess Basma Foundation. The aim of the project is to develop very special educational services for children with autism. The management team of the Star Mountain Rehabilitation Center thanked the Princess Basma Foundation and appreciated their commitment to working together in the service of people with disabilities. Some pictures here.

The following message from Tin Aung of the Moravian Church in Myanmar was sent to the Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America on May 28, 2026: "On behalf of the congregations affected by the earthquake in March 2025, we would like to express our sincere thanks for your generous support during this difficult time. Your money has fundamentally improved life in the congregations. Thanks to your compassion and generosity, we were able to provide 500 families with essentials such as rice, eggs, cooking oil and noodles, as well as cash for some families. These goods provided much comfort to those families who are struggling in the aftermath of this disaster. Our people still need help to rebuild their family homes and congregations. We greatly appreciate your humanitarian efforts and your commitment to those in need." Eleven pictures from the aid distribution here.

After Joachim Kreusel, Bishop of the Moravian Church from Ockbrook/GB, had asked in Uganda how things were going with the Moravian Church there, he received the following reply: "Dear Brother Bishop! Thank you very much for your inquiry about the Moravian Church in Uganda. Below is a description of our ministry. With over 500 members, the Moravian Church in Uganda is growing. Despite several challenges, the church is faithful to its mission. Our congregations are located in the central region in the districts of Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga and Buvuma. There are currently ten congregations with four ordained pastors. Only one congregation has a permanent church building. The remaining congregations fellowship in temporary buildings, rented classrooms, private homes and under trees. The biggest challenge is the lack of land for most congregations. But we hope that God will provide for us. Please convey my greetings to your congregations and pray for our ministry. Peace be with you! Rev. Julius Mubiru, Chairman of the Board of the Moravian Church in Uganda, P.O. Box 993, Mukono, Uganda, phone: +256779068517.

There is a short report with three pictures on Facebook from the mission festival of the Moravian Church in Christiansfeld near Kolding, Denmark, on Sunday, May 25, 2025. See here. The report says: "More than 100 participants accepted the invitation and experienced a day in which African rhythms mingled with dry report numbers. It became particularly cheerful when Kidd Mkandawire, a guest from Malawi, encouraged those present to dance, celebrating a successful year for the Herrnhut Mission in Denmark. The dance thanked the many donors and prayers who dared to take on the common task of bringing the gospel to all people across borders. Last year, for example, the Moravian Church's mission in Denmark was active in Burundi, Tanzania, Eastern Congo, Albania and the Palestinian West Bank. Edouard Nsengiyumva from Burundi was another guest from East Africa who grew up in a refugee camp and is now responsible for 27,000 church members in 132 congregations."

Last year, the Moravian Church's Saron's children's home in the Surinamese capital of Paramaribo had requested 31 new mattresses for the beds of the boarding school children, as the majority of the old mattresses had long since become outdated and were barely usable. Now, with the help of the Zeister Missionsgesellschaft, the Dutch sister organization of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, 40 new mattresses have been procured and delivered by the company M.A. Madhar's in Suriname. From Paramaribo we heard: "The mattresses and mattress covers were immediately put to use by the children. The children enthusiastically helped to unload the mattresses and put new ones on their beds. And of course there was also a test bed. With broad smiles, the children discovered that the new mattresses were wonderful to lie on." Some pictures here.

Huize Francis is a retirement home run by the Moravian Church in Suriname. It is located in Nickerie in the north-west of the country and has been providing a comfortable home for elderly people in need of help but not care since 1976. Now the roofs of the facility urgently need to be replaced. The wood of the old roofs is rotten; it has termite damage and already has several holes. All of this threatens the safety and security of the residents. The Zeister Zedingsgenootschap, the Dutch sister organization of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, is supporting the roof renovation of Huize Francis with a substantial amount so that the elderly do not have to worry in the future. The initiative to found the facility came from Pastor Rudy. F. Polanen. The facility currently has 22 places. A video of the facility here.

Four weeks before the annual Keti-Koti celebrations in Suriname on July 1, which commemorate the overcoming of slavery in 1863 and are the biggest event in the country, people's anticipation is growing. On the Facebook pages of the Moravian Church Youth Center in Paramaribo, it says: "Come to our Keti-Koti celebration with lots of culture (including a koto show and karaoke), music, delicious food after a cooking competition, an indoor soccer tournament and hours of socializing on 1 July 2025 from 10 am to 4 pm on our premises in Johannes Raillard Street. Please share this invitation video." See here. The traditional theme of the day is: Freedom - Faith - Community. After the slaves in Suriname gained their freedom in 1863, they flocked to the wooden Great City Church of the Moravian Church in Paramaribo for a long jubilant service.

The School Foundation of the Moravian Church in Suriname commemorated the 120th anniversary of the founding of what is now the Julius Theodor Wenzel School in Paramaribo. On Facebook it said: "The school was founded on May 25, 1905 as Annieschool and was only intended for British-Indian and Javanese children. About 60 children attended. The first girl to be admitted was called Annie. That is why the school was named after her. On November 25, 1963, the school was renamed the J. Th. Wenzel School. Julius Theodor Wenzel, the son of a Herrnhut missionary, studied Indian languages and religion in Berlin, among other places. He returned to Suriname in 1901 and worked for the Moravian Church throughout the country. This missionary did groundbreaking work among the thousands of Indian contract workers who worked on the plantations in Suriname." He founded the anti-government organization Ikhtiyar aur Hakh (Freedom and Justice), a kind of trade union for the exploited contract workers and their families. He died in 1921.

The Moravian Church in Burundi announced on Facebook on May 23, 2025: The president of our church, Edward Augustino Nsengiyumva, and the person responsible for women's and children's ministry, Chantal Bakamiriza, are flying to Denmark today where they will attend a church meeting. The church leadership asks for prayers for the travelers and for the church they represent. See here. On May 22, 2025, the leadership of the Moravian Church in Burundi visited the congregation in Bujumbura under the leadership of Pastor Manace Irutingabo. Together they visited the building site for a church in Kirekura. The church leadership announced that the construction preparations were well advanced and had reached an interesting stage. The official start of construction is planned for July 27, 2025. Prior to this, there will be a house-to-house evangelization in the surrounding villages on 26 July 2025. More here.

The Heavenly Days are a kind of regional ecumenical church congress in Denmark. They last took place from May 29 to June 1, 2025 (over Ascension Day) with lectures, concerts, exhibition stands and church services in Silkeborg, Jutland. The motto was: Lift up your gaze! The Moravian Church in Denmark and its missionary organization also took part in the Heavenly Days in the Global Church Tent. View of the information stand here. On Facebook it said: "Meet the Citizen Church at the Heavenly Days. Get something good for your taste buds. Take part in the raffle for a beautiful Herrnhut Advent star. Find out more about our work in East Africa, the West Bank and Albania. We look forward to good conversations about life and faith. Find out what kind of church the Moravian Church is. See you around?" Young people also presented the volunteer program, which enables six-month assignments in Tanzania (Rukwa Province).

Children from grades 1 to 4 who study at the Christian David School near Barkava in Latvia (Madona County), some of whom also live there, took part in the Latvian Nature and Environment Foundation 's Create Your Wetland Biotope campaign. They set off on May 19, 2025 for a day of research in the beautiful, natural school environment. There they stayed on the banks of the narrow Kuja River, measured an old tree, found the scratch marks of bear paws on the bark of another tree at quite a height and collected the footprints of various forest animals. Pictures here. Back at home in the school building, the pupils set about building a few small terrariums as mini-ecosystems and then bringing them to life. One pupil said: "That was the best lesson of my life. We all felt like we were working in a museum!

Lui Remmelg, the leader of the Moravian Church in Pühalepa on the second largest Estonian island of Hiiumaa, is responsible for a faith course that will take place on May 27, 2025 from 5 p.m. in the parish hall of the Moravian Church in Tallinn (Endla 68). The announcement for the course states: "In the course you will learn what it means to live as a Christian, how God leads us through his Word and Spirit and how he equips you. You will learn simple ways to share your faith and ways you can support someone else in their faith growth. The course will give practical advice on how to read the Bible, stand firm in your faith and grow spiritually." The course also familiarizes participants with the I am like the disciple Andrew movement and helps them to reach people in their own environment more consciously with the Good News. (It was the disciple Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus.) An invitation poster here.

The Moravian Institute, a Herrnhut boarding school at the foot of the Himalayas near the Indian city of Dehradun , reports two special activities via Facebook. Recently, an inter-class competition was held in which the lower class competed against the class immediately above (5 against 6; 7 against 8; etc.). The aim of the competition was to create the most meaningful information poster possible on a given topic. Pictures here. Classes 6, 8, 10 and 11 won the competition. A little later, representatives of the Purkal Youth Development Society visited the school. They offered a STEAM workshop (known in this country as a MINT workshop: Mathematics, Informatics, Science and Technology). Years 7 and 8 focused on the construction of road bridges: Year 9 looked at AI and robotics issues. The web app “Tinkercad” (e.g. for 3D design and programming) was used. Pictures here.

After the 5th Unity Women's Consultation, which was supposed to take place in North Carolina (USA) from June 1 to 6, 2025, had to be canceled at short notice due to visa problems for the participants, a new location and a new date have now been found. On May 26, 2025, the Facebook page of the Unity Women's Desk posted: "Good news! We are grateful to our Tanzanian sisters Rachel and Fatima for taking the long bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Arusha to meet the local team preparing the rescheduled 5th Unity Women's Consultation. The consultation will now take place from February 1-6, 2026 in Arusha, Tanzania." The planned theme of the consultation is expected to remain the same: With Hearts and Hands and Voices: Advocating for Girls and Women in and through the Moravian Church. Three photos from Arusha here.

The Sunday Gleaner newspaper reported on the difficult situation of many Moravian Churches in Jamaica a few weeks ago. See in English here (further down in the article). Not all congregations offer regular services anymore. In contrast to the Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church is considered a boring church in the country. Many young people stay away. There is also a lack of money for repairs to the churches. Barrington Daley, the president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica, admitted that the rural congregations were shrinking, but remained hopeful for the future. According to the church constitution, congregations with fewer than 30 members are only considered communities and not full congregations. There are currently twelve such communities - five in Westmoreland, three in Manchester, two in St. Elizabeth, one in St. Ann and another in Clarendon. Like any organization, the Moravian Church goes through a life cycle: sometimes it goes up, sometimes down. He believes that the Moravian Church is currently in a downturn, the church president told the Sunday Gleaner.

The Shristi Academy of the Moravian Church in Kathmadu-Baneshwor, Nepal, uses the new teaching format Model United Nations Konferenzen (MUN). This involves simulation games in which the participants take on the role of delegates to the United Nations. Children and young people debate global political issues in simulated committees such as the Security Council or the General Assembly. They negotiate compromises and pass resolutions. Young people from the 8th, 9th and 10th grades recently took part in a MUN program at Deerwalk University in Kathmandu. Ten pictures here. Three young people won a prize in a MUN simulation game: Soren (best position paper), Arnab and Aajin (great diplomatic skills). A photo of the award ceremony for Soren here. The Academy wrote on Facebook: “We are proud to see some of our people shine as future leaders, congratulations!”

As the South African magazine City Press reported, the Moravian Church of Elim (near the southern tip of Africa) was able to undergo a rejuvenation last year in its 200th year of existence with the help of Lottoland (417,000 Rand = 21,000 Euro). Elim is described as a place "rich in grace, humanity and warmth. God has answered our prayers, that is how the people of Elim felt about the change that has taken place in the old mission station over the past month." First, the interior of the church was renovated; even a 94-year-old parishioner helped. Then the roof of the parish hall was repaired; the gutters and façade boards were also renewed. P&B Kalkwerke in Bredasdorp donated the necessary lime paint for the church and parish hall. It was even possible to renovate the sanitary facilities in the church. And new trees were planted in the Bible garden. More in English here.

After helping to discover the Northwest Passage between 1850 and 1854, Johann August Miertsching, a missionary from Herrnhut with Sorbian roots, became world-famous as a polar explorer and was much in demand as an interlocutor, even with the King of Saxony and the British Admiralty. Because the management of the Moravian Church was concerned about the missionary's salvation (“in view of his inner state of heart, honors could be dangerous for him”), they did not want to allow him to report on his dramatic experiences during two polar winters in Christiansfeld in southern Jutland. But when the Christiansfeld people in Herrnhut followed up and transferred the travel money for Johann August Miertsching to a missionary festival in advance, he was apparently allowed to travel to North Schleswig/South Jutland after all. The Christiansfeld diary notes that he was in the congregation from June 10 to 14, 1855 for reports. The two Labrador mission experts Mechthild and Wolfgang Opel researched the circumstances of this trip in their blog here.

• The Mission Museum of the Moravian Church in Genadendal took part in International Museum Day on May 18, 2025 under the motto “ The future of museums in rapidly changing communities”. Short video here. 
• The museum, in collaboration with the Moravian Knowledge Network, invited people to an online transcription workshop on May 20, 2025. The museum hopes that as many people as possible will be able to read and transcribe old manuscripts, which will lead to many new insights. Pictures here.
• Three secondary schools from the Overberg region of South Africa held a rhetoric competition, a School Speech Competition, at the Mission Museum on May 23, 2025. The competition was won by eleventh grader Hannah Lebogang Adriaanse from the KOA Academy. She gave her winning speech on the topic: “You will open a museum about yourself”. A poster here. The winning video here.

The Moravian Church Mission Museum in Genadendal, South Africa, presented a special treasure discovered in 1975 during the recent UNESCO Museum Week: the oldest known board game in southern Africa. The remarkable game, entitled Journey from Genadendal to Cape Town, took players on a three-day adventure on an ox-wagon and showed them the route to Cape Town through 43 hand-illustrated squares full of surprises, detours and witty rhymes such as: “Kuilsrivier trink ik bier, vooruit vier!” (In Kuilsriver I drink beer, move forward four!). But the story does not end with the discovery of the game in South Africa between copperplate engravings and woodcuts: the museum curator came across a second, slightly younger version of this game in Moravian Church, painted, not printed, showing a railroad and the third church of the Moravian Church in Genadendal, built in 1893. More about this here.

At a Moravian Church morning on May 31, 2025 in the domed hall of the Latvian National Library, Gundars Ceipe, the leader of the Moravian Church in Latvia, presented the newly revised 4th edition of his book Dieva tautas dzimšana. Latvieši (The birth of the people of God. Latvia). Pictures here. With this book, the theologian and historian invites the reader to look at the history of the Latvian people with different eyes, paying particular attention to the processes of the formation of the Latvians as a cultural nation. The starting point is the first half of the 18th century, when the Latvians in Livonia joined the revivalist movement initiated by the Moravians and founded the first independent Latvian organizations in this context. The author compares the developments in Latvia with similar developments in other European countries. The book is available in bookstores here.