St Ansgar-Haus in Hamburg is a lovely, modern conference centre.  The staff members are all very friendly, the rooms are spacious and comfortable and the food is very good.  So as our participants gathered there on Friday 11th September they all seemed very pleased with the venue.  Our conference planning group, Bishop Paul Ferguson, Mrs Kirsten Scott, the Rev Lagle Heinla, Bishop David Hamid and the Rev Kai Funkschmidt had prepared the programme and our five days together ran very smoothly indeed.

FRIDAY

Opening worship took place in the chapel, a pleasant if somewhat austere space which you can see for yourself when you read Bishop Jana Jeruma-Grinberga’s address.  She is our Lutheran President and she set the scene very well. Click here to read what she had to say.

Session One Immediately followed our worship.  It took place in a very spacious and well equipped room and was entitled ‘The Nordkirche – Bridging the Gap between East and West’.  It was to have been led by the Rev Dr Sebastian Dittmers.  However, he had been taken ill but had sent his text to Kai Funkschmidt, who presented it for him.  You can read it by clicking here

Session Two took place after dinner and focused on ‘Hamburg – a Border Town in Danish-German (Church) History’.  It was given by Prof Dr Frank Hatje.  You can read his text if you click here

After that the more adventurous among our number discovered the bar in the basement of the building which became a popular meeting place at the end of each day!

SATURDAY

Morning Devotion took place in the Roman Catholic Cathedral.  We were welcomed by the Dean who made us feel very much at home.  We were free to use the cathedral for all our worship, Lutheran and Anglican in style. Our Anglican President, Bishop David Hamid was the preacher and you can read his sermon by clicking here

Session Three introduced us to ‘The Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Germany’ and the Rev Thomas Joseph helped us to look at issues of immigration and emigration. An account of his presentation by our Secretary can be found by clicking here

Session Four, after coffee break, should have been an introduction to the African Centre in Hamburg by its Pastor, the Rev Prince Assai Okeke.  However, there were two conferences on Church themes taking place in Hamburg our speaker thought we were the other one!  However, he came to meet us later in the conference and gave us his text which you can read by clicking here

Session Five followed an excellent lunch and the Rev Dr Stephanie Reuther led a session on ‘Meissen and Augsburg Agreements – Towards Full Anglican-Lutheran Communion’.  We hope to post her presentation here as soon as possible.

Session Six focused on ‘The Lutheran World Fedration’s Work on Migration’.  The Bishop of the Nordkirche, the Rt Rev Kristina Kuehnbaum-Schmidt, gave a presentation which can be found here 

After Dinner we were all free to enjoy  the ‘Nacht der Kirchen’ when many churches in Hamburg were open for concerts, recitals, discussions and so on.  They went on late into the night.

SUNDAY

After breakfast we all went to the ­Lutheran Mass at Sankt Michaelis Church.  It was a lovely and lively service, beautifully sung by the choir, and it included an adult Baptism.  The preacher was Pastorin Julia Atze, and you can find her sermon if you click here

When the service was over we met the Dean, Pastor Alexander Roeder, who explained a little of the history and the current work in this very lively parish. Afterwards we were free to explore Hamburg as we liked, or to relax in a local restaurant.

Session Seven was about Ignatian Spirituality and Ms Vania Kent focused on the need to listen to people very attentively and gave us a practical exercise.  We hope to have an account of her presentation shortly.

MONDAY

A Service of the Word began the day in the Cathedral and the Ven Leslie Nathaniel preached.  To find his sermon click here

Session Eight was an account of ‘Ecumenism in Germany’ by the Rev Chris Easthill.  His presentation will be posted here shortly.

After lunch we enjoyed an Excursion to “Luthergarten” and “Regerhof” a Refugee Project where we were warmly welcomed, heard accounts of the work done there and explored the enormous community garden.  Ms Atlin Shuetter provided summary of her description of the project which you can find here

The Conference Dinner took place at the Oekumenisches Hafenforum, a project run by the Hamburg Churches. Our Guest of Honour was the Rev Michael Stahl who told us a little bit about the project and you and read about it here

TUESDAY

Session Nine came after breakfast and Dr Claudia Jetter made a presentation on ‘Men,Women and Faith on Shifting Ground – Rethinking Church Ebgagement in the Digital Age’ and a summary of her presentation by our Secretary can be found by clicking here.

The Closing Eucharist was held in the Roman Catholic Cathedral when the President was the Ven Christine Allsopp.  We wondered if this was the first time a woman had presided at a Eucharist there.  The preacher was the Rev Fredrik Ulseth and you can read his sermon if you click here

Our conference ended after lunch.  It had been enjoyable and informative, we had enjoyed worshipping and socialising together, and it was wonderful to greet old friends and make new ones. Our thanks, once again, to Bishop Paul, Kirsten Scott, Kai Funkschmidt, Bishop David and Lagle Heinla for arranging it all.