German churches plan to send a search-and-rescue ship to the Mediterranean
It is our duty to help people whose lives are in danger, regardless of the reason why they have ended up in this situation. This is the firm conviction of Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the LWF member Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. “Misery has no nationality,” says the bishop, who is also the chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
Joining other organizations in a broad public coalition, the EKD plans to send a ship to rescue refugees crossing the Mediterranean. In Bedford-Strohm’s view, the fact that refugees continue to drown is an unacceptable fact. He says: “Our church and its diaconal institutions consider the saving of refugees’ lives to be a categorical priority. Christian love for the neighbor requires us not to abandon those who flee war and misery in their own countries, and not to let them suffer along the way.”
Bedford-Strohm announced that an association has been established that will raise funds to acquire and equip a ship for the needs of non-governmental search-and-rescue teams. This idea had been discussed ever since the German Protestant Church Assembly (Kirchentag), which took place in June in Dortmund.
By collecting donations to put a ship into service, we want to give a clear signal of support for non-governmental search-and-rescue operations. Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria
At a panel discussion titled “Together for open ports in Europe”, participants of the Kirchentag adopted a resolution urging the EKD and its member churches to take the initiative in actively supporting the efforts of non-governmental groups to rescue those in distress at sea. “By collecting donations to put a ship into service, we want to give a clear signal of support for non-governmental search-and-rescue operations,” Bedford-Strohm recently reiterated. He added that the EKD Council has expressed strong support for the idea, deciding on 6 December to establish an association to carry out the project. Since then the plans have developed: once the ship is financed and equipped, it will be made available to the Sea Watchsearch-and-rescue organization.
Diaconal work is international
The bishop says that helping people in mortal danger in the Mediterranean is one element of the church’s diaconal work strategy. The strategy begins with addressing the causes of forced migration, for example through the LWF program “Symbols of Hope”, which is supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. “In our international church communion, we identify people who want to leave for Europe and try to help them in their own communities [so that leaving is no longer necessary],” says Bedford-Strohm. “Symbols of Hope” is intended to draw attention to “opportunities in their own countries that can encourage people to stay,” he says. Nevertheless, if they still try to cross the Mediterranean and get into distress in their small boats, they must not be left to the mercy of fate. “That is why civilian ships are carrying out search-and-rescue operations.”
Preparation and appeals for help
Bedford-Strohm expressed the wish that the EKD rescue ship be made ready to set sail as quickly as possible. He hopes that it will be ready next spring. Until then, the association set up for this purpose still has to raise about one million euros, find a suitable ship and bring it to the Mediterranean.
“Compassion and responsibility cannot be set against one another,” said Bedford-Strohm, responding to criticism that Germany’s Protestant churches act according to an “ethics of conviction” rather than according to responsibility. He emphasized that in this situation the church is “a party involved in diaconal work” and is not trying to influence politics.
Ever since its founding in the period after the Second World War, the LWF has a long tradition of providing assistance to forcibly displaced persons. Through its diaconal World Service the LWF helps 2.7 million people – through various programs and in cooperation with other organizations, such as UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
At the Twelfth LWF Assembly, which took place in Namibia, the Lutheran World Federation adopted a Resolution on Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Forced Migration. The resolution includes an appeal “to the LWF member churches to continue to advocate for the reception of refugees in their countries and to put pressure on their governments, specifically the USA and European countries, not to build walls but to ‘build bridges’.”
Munich, Germany/ Geneva
4. 11. 2019
Image: IOCC/Apostoli/ACT