DALLY Volker: Message from the VEM to the Cevaa

Honorable Moderator, honorable President of CEVAA, honorable General Secretary, honorable delegates coming from South and North and East and West, dear sisters and brothers in Christ! 

First of all I thank GOD that he has granted me to be with you these days. And thereafter I thank CEVAA for inviting me to this GA. 

After the years of the pandemic, it feels good to finally meet in person again and to be able to embrace each other. I assume we all experience it that way. And at the same time, we all put ourselves in a difficult situation, because we know that our meetings and air travel also contribute to the increased emission of CO2. 

The theme that CEVAA has chosen for this Assembly illustrates this ambivalence between joy and concern in particular: "Inhabit Creation Differently". 

When we use the word creation today, we as Christians cannot but express our concern for it. For we experience the cry of creation in so many places. Please allow me to express it briefly with personal examples. 

In November 2008, I personally encountered the instant consequences of climate change for the first time in a church service. I had traveled to the United Church of Christ in The Philip-pines (UCCP) from Indonesia to get to know another member church of UEM while I was placed as a missionary in Indonesia. On one of the days there was a church service in the late after-noon in a village on the coast near Cebu. And during the service, water came into the church building. Naive as I was, I thought of water damage somewhere. But it turned out quickly, the entire area in which the church was located was about 3 cm under water. In the discussion of that fact it became clear very quickly that the rise in sea level as a result of climate change was responsible for this. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world most affected by cli-mate change. Our member church, like all the local people, are increasingly suffering from nat-ural disasters as a result of climate change. Typhoons and gigantic rainstorms are shaking the country. The ocean is warming up and the rise of the sea level by about 1 meter threatens not only Cebu, but hundreds of towns and villages. CEVAA also has members in its communion who suffer drastically because of that fact as a result of human exploration of the earth. Estimates have determined that about 15 million people will have to be relocated if something is not done soon. 

Change of location to northern Hesse in Germany where I will live after retirement: On June 22, this year, very heavy hailstorms hit northern Hesse. Hundreds of houses have glass and roof damage, streets are under water. Insurance companies will take care of all that. 

But what insurance cannot regulate is our food security. Within hours, a video clip of a young farmer standing in despair in front of a destroyed soybean field was viewed millions of times. "What we're seeing here is the climate crisis," he says in the video. "This is not something un-foreseen that just happens and that we can't control, ... this is man-made. ...We have to act now. If it continues like this, then there is no stable future. For anyone." 

Around the world, climate change is already causing food insecurity to become increasingly un-stable. Of course, the poorest of the poor suffer first, but eventually it will affect everyone. What can we in our mission communions do about it? 

First, draw attention to the problem. In a joint meeting initiated by the UEM, the UEM, the Evan-gelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), among other partici-pating organizations, called for action with the declaration: "Kairos for Creation: Confessing Hope for the Earth - The Wuppertal Call" in June 2019. "The urgency of the crisis calls us to read the signs of the time, to hear God’s call, to follow the way of Christ, to discern the movement of the Spirit and, in response, to recognize the positive initiatives of churches all around the world. … We recognize the urgency of the years that lie ahead, nevertheless express the courage to hope and are compelled to call the global ecumenical movement towards a comprehensive eco-logical transformation of society…. The urgency of the situation implies that a comprehensive response cannot be delayed. The next decade will be decisive to allow the Earth a time of rest." (https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/kairos-for-creation-confessing-hope-for-the-earth-the-wuppertal-call)

The UEM communion has been supporting the commitment of the members of the UEM in the area of responsibility for creation not only since the topic has been on everyone's lips, but for many years already. With our sisters and brothers in Africa and Asia, we experience the suffer-ing of people and of the whole of creation. In solidarity with those who suffer, member churches from the southern regions then also supported the German members of the UEM when a flood disaster happened in the Ahr Valley in Germany and other regions. 

I am extremely grateful that CEVAA will be addressing the theme of "Inhabit Creation Differ-ently" at this General Assembly. At the same time, I am concerned about where our linguistic discussions will lead to. Genesis 2:15 says that we are “to care for creation”. But that could be done in mere words and prayers. But it takes more. It takes our tireless efforts in all places of the world. It needs words and deeds. It needs prayers and action! 

Our action cannot be postponed. The groaning of all creation, as described by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans (Romans 8:18-22), can be experienced daily. The hope he also de-scribes will only remain if we act, as individuals, as a communions gathered in together in Mis-sion Agencies like CEVAA; CWM and UEM, and as people of all faith worldwide. 

May our GOD bless all your endeavors and lead your assembly to pray and act for inhabiting creation differently. 

DALLY Volker with Michel LOBO and Claudia SCHULZ at the Cevaa General Assembly in Ivory Coast (2023).

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DALLY Volker, Secrétaire général de la VEM (Vereinte Evangelische Mission, qui fait partie des partenaires internationaux et organisation « sœur » de la Cevaa) s'est exprimé lors de la douzième Assemblée générale de la Cevaa en octobre 2023 à Jacqueville (Côte d'Ivoire). Il revient sur le choix du thème de cette AG, "Habiter la création autrement", et partage son expérience et son sentiment sur les évolutions nécessaires à entreprendre dans notre rapport à la Création. L'urgence de la situation actuelle a déjà produit des initiatives, comme celle lancée en 2019 par la VEM avec l'Église évangélique d'Allemagne (EKD) et le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), via la déclaration : "Kairos pour la création : Confesser l'espoir pour la Terre - L'appel de Wuppertal".
Il conclut son message par ces mots : "Il faut des efforts inlassables dans tous les endroits du monde. Il faut des paroles et des actes. Il faut des prières et de l'action ! Notre action ne peut être différée. Le gémissement de toute la Création, tel que décrit par l'apôtre Paul dans sa Lettre aux Romains (Romains 8:18-22), peut être ressenti quotidiennement. L'espoir qu'il décrit également ne subsistera que si nous agissons, en tant qu'individus, en tant que communautés rassemblées au sein d'organisations telles que le Cevaa, le CWM et la VEM, et en tant que personnes de toutes confessions dans le monde entier. 
Que notre Dieu bénisse tous vos efforts et conduise votre assemblée à prier et à agir pour habiter la Création différemment."