ECCB – The Delegation visiting Japan and Korea

In September, Pavel Stolař, a member of the Synodal Council, and Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus, the ecumenical referent of the ECCB, visited Japan and Korea. Being invited by the Presbyterian Church of Korea they at first dropped by in Tokyo, where they visited various churches. The main thing consisted in visiting the Korean Presbyterian Church in Japan, which makes an effort to offer a home to the Korean Christians living there. The delegation participated on a celebration of the thirty years anniversary of cooperation of the Korean Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ in Japan, and reported to the assembly about the efforts of the ECCB and the Protestant Church in Germany to reconcile with one another. The delegation also visited the Lutheran Church in Japan, by whom it was informed of the way in which the Donations of the ECCB after the catastrophe in Fukushima were used.

Then in Korea the delegation of the ECCB visited the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) as well as the head office of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK). The program consisted – besides the participation on the Synod of the PCK – of visiting the churches, one female organization, the Presbyterian University and the theological seminar at the Ewha University. The delegation also visited the School of Reunification right at the border with North Korea. One afternoon of the Synod was dedicated to the theme Reconciliation and Justice, at which point the Czech delegation reported once more about the history of the reconciliation between the Czechs and the Germans. The PCK has been working together with the ECBB for nearly twenty years now. The PCK has a church also in Prague, and the building is shared with a community of the ECBB – in Prague-Kobylisy. Given the many discussions that the delegation underwent, it was obvious how intensive the cooperation is and that it doesn’t only have to do with the upcoming events organized for the 600 years anniversary of the martyr death of Jan Hus, which will take place in the year 2015.

Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus