Over the last ten years a number of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox movements, groups and communities have begun to cooperate in Europe in order to build deeper friendships and to present a more unified witness. Under the name of "Together for Europe" (http://www.together4europe.org/en/ ) these movements have organised local and international events, amongst them two conferences in Stuttgart in 2004 and 2007.
This year "Together for Europe" made a political statement by meeting in Brussels together with politicians from the EU. On 12th of May we gathered in the heart of Brussels for that purpose. In parallel there were hundreds of similar gatherings around Europe, all aimed at engaging local and national politicians and expressing to them the desire of Christians to be active in shaping the future of our continent. All these sites were linked by internet and video, and part of the Brussels event was televised to all those locations.
or you can watch the televised part here.
The face2Faith project was to bring together the next generation of Together for Europe. 30 young people from Germany, England, Ireland, Hungary, Italy and Belgium gathered in Leuven on a Wednesday night: movements as varied as YMCA, Focolare, Charismatic Renewal, Offensive Junger Christen and Christus Bruderschaft were represented. During the next 4 days we spent time getting to know each other, praying together, but also exploring questions like "Wat is friendship on Facebook and in the Bible?", "How can we as young Christians impact society through our professional lives?" and "What is the cultural context we find ourselves in?". Ice-breakers, team building games in the forest an football matches alternated with ecumenical prayer services and intense theological discussions over strong Belgian beer :)
And we worked on a stage presentation for the big Brussels event on Saturday.
I really enjoyed being there and I would love to continue being part of this.
Europe needs people to stand up for certain values like family, solidarity, just economy, unity and others.
Some pictures:
This year "Together for Europe" made a political statement by meeting in Brussels together with politicians from the EU. On 12th of May we gathered in the heart of Brussels for that purpose. In parallel there were hundreds of similar gatherings around Europe, all aimed at engaging local and national politicians and expressing to them the desire of Christians to be active in shaping the future of our continent. All these sites were linked by internet and video, and part of the Brussels event was televised to all those locations.
or you can watch the televised part here.
The face2Faith project was to bring together the next generation of Together for Europe. 30 young people from Germany, England, Ireland, Hungary, Italy and Belgium gathered in Leuven on a Wednesday night: movements as varied as YMCA, Focolare, Charismatic Renewal, Offensive Junger Christen and Christus Bruderschaft were represented. During the next 4 days we spent time getting to know each other, praying together, but also exploring questions like "Wat is friendship on Facebook and in the Bible?", "How can we as young Christians impact society through our professional lives?" and "What is the cultural context we find ourselves in?". Ice-breakers, team building games in the forest an football matches alternated with ecumenical prayer services and intense theological discussions over strong Belgian beer :)
And we worked on a stage presentation for the big Brussels event on Saturday.
I really enjoyed being there and I would love to continue being part of this.
Europe needs people to stand up for certain values like family, solidarity, just economy, unity and others.
Some pictures:
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