Czechs at the Kirchentag

The Christian meeting days, which are held every three years by the Central European Protestant Churches, will become a meeting center in Central and Eastern Europe at the 33rd German Evangelical Church in Dresden in 2011. There will be two other churches from the Czech Republic in addition to the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (ECCB): the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and the Silesian Evangelical Church. The ECCB is involved in several activities:

On Friday, 3 June 2011 there will be a German-Czech community worship service in the Dresden Johannes congregation with a special Czech evening. The long-standing community partnership between the Salvator congregation in the Old Town of Prague and Dresden Johannes congregation has old roots: there were people who were persecuted for their Protestant faith in Bohemia in the 17th century who asked for asylum in Dresden. Members of both partner congregations will plan and lead worship on the 3rd of June together.

The Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic and its project of community partnerships will be presented at the Market of Opportunities. There will also be a stall called "The Legacy of the Bohemian Reformation". This project brings information about protestant history with tourism information and the “Kurseelsorge” in West Bohemia Bath triangle.

A particular thing at the Dresden Kirchentag is that this will be a meeting place of Central and Eastern Europe, which represents the Christian tradition of meeting days, and topics from the churches will be covered. These events include a panel on the relationship between church and state, where the Moderator of the ECCB Joel Ruml will participate. Two other topics on church partnerships will also be a part of the events. Rev. Ester Čašková from the ECCB community in Prague-Vinohrady will preach at the international worship service "Versöhnung wagen - Herzen bewegen" at the Dresden Old Marketplace.

At the 33rd Evangelical Kirchentag a number of artists from the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren will participate: the musician Tomáš Najbrt will perform more than once, the YMCA choir Jakoubek from Jindřichův Hradec will prepare a sacred music concert, and the brass choir Consonare will play at the Kirchentag. Other performances will include the Moravian Roma dance group Jilestar from Vsetín, the mime duo Vaclav Dostal (Olomouc) and Jana Ungerová (Brno) with a performance of "Time in the afternoon it rained”.