Rev. Dr. Eva-Sibylle Vogel-Mfato, CEC Interchurch Service

In October 1994, Orthodox and Protestant participants, coming from 26 European countries and representing diaconal commitment from a broad variety of working areas, met in Bratislava for the first pan European consultation on diakonia. This event had been organized by the Conference of European Churches in cooperation with the World Council of Churches, the European Federation for Diaconia and Eurodiaconia. The conference report "Towards a vision of diaconia in Europe" became widely known as the Bratislava declaraion. It found a considerable echo in churches and diaconal organisatins as it could give constructive impulses to develop diaconal work both on local and on national ecumencial levels respectively.

Seven years have passed since Bratislava and a lot has happened since then. Many churches have taken up the challenges from Bratislava. The new political situation after the breakdown of the iron curtain gave them back a freedom they had not known for 50 or even 70 years. Churches profited from this new situation and underwent a deep process of reorientation concerning their place and their Christian responsibility in society and in the broader European context. It has been a time of real resurrection of diaconia for many of them, and it was accompanied by enthusiasm and dedication. For some, it was like a new discovery of what it meant to be church.

Another development has been that newly built up diaconal projects and institutions started to come together at so called Round Tables - on national or regional levels. The Round Tables functioned as an instrument to share experiences, to develop appropriate visions and strategies and to build up cooperation. And beyond that, some Round Tables have a revolutionary ecumenical character: bringing together different churches who have not had much contact with each other before. At these tables, prejudices can be overcome and new relations can be built up in mutual understanding and friendship.

The upbuilding of diaconal work in many places would not have been possible without the dedication of women. In many diaconal areas, it is the women who support and carry out the practical work. They combine their service with a spirituality which has community and relationing at its heart. For many of them, diaconia has not only given them and their families their daily bread but, even more, it has helped them to discover their inner resources and strengths and to do their service with growing self-confidence.

It was already at Bratislava that the actors stated: communication and networking on the pan European level has to continue and has to be deepened - to continually "promote reflection, spiritual dialogue, the sharing of experiences, deepen analysis, coordinate resources and action" and develop together a "strategy for diaconia in Europe" to meet the rapidly growing and changing needs of our time.

The idea to create this Forum has come out of such impulses. And 7 years after Bratislava, it is time to rethink its vision. Since then, Europe has changed again on all levels: the political, the economic and the social levels. Unexpected developments have brought along new challenges.

The preparation for this Forum began with a letter to those diaconal organizations who had participated at Bratislava. We wanted to have as broad a preparatory process as possible, including as many actors on as many different levels as possible. So we asked them to share with us from their own working level. What did they presently experience as the most important challenges of diaconia in Europe? What did they think we must include on the agenda of the planned European Diaconal Forum?

I will try to summarize the responses according to the issues that were addressed.

1. The overall economic and social development in Europe

The first enthusiastic optimism after the breakdown of the wall and of communist dictatorships, has been followed by an overall disillusionment. The radical economic decline has proved to be not only transitional. It will be a long term issue. And it effects all walks of life: the basic needs of employment, food, health care, education and cultural learning. A great percentage of the population in Eastern Europe lives at or below the poverty line, and there is no hope for fast solutions. The abolition of the socialist systems has left a vacuum in relation to communitarian values and social reliability. Many people have lost their identity and the sense of life. And most of them do not even have the time or the forces to face this inner disaster. Their main cncern is simply: how do I get the daily bread for my family today?

We have been faced with a tremendous uprise of criminality and have witnessed with great pain growing ethnocentric nationalism, violence and wars in the midst of our continent. Millions of people have become uprooted and live as refugees either within national borders or spread across Europe. Women have been especially vulnerable as victims of trafficking into forced prostitution numbering half a million each year.

Also in the West, we are facing a growing gap between rich and poor and the danger of social exclusion. Here, too, ethnocentrism and xenophobia are growing and taking on violent forms. And in the midst of affluent societies, the loss of spiritual, ethical and moral orientation challenge us to respond.

2. The European Union as a new political counterpart

Our countries are growing together politically. Many Central European countries are waiting to become members of the European Union in the near future. This political development also goes along with new challenges for the churches and their diaconal efforts. For example, it was mentioned that:

The churches have a prophetic calling to commit themselves to the fight against poverty and to the formulation of overall social standards in Europe. We are called to contribute to the construction of conditions which make possible human life in the fullness of God's Shalom. And we are called to cooperate with secular and political entities in the implementation of important resolutions from the European governing bodies.

The churches have a common responsibility for humanitarian and human rights issues.

As the ecumenical people of God they have to strengthen their engagement for cultural openness and work together in solidarity for a society which is welcoming and sustaining to refugees. Further, they can make their ecumenical experience fruitful by supporting within their societies the dialogue and the cooperation with people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. They are called to be messengers of peace and reconciliation and to support initiatives that work for democracy. And often enough, as we learn from diaconal partners, the tensions and problems of society are a reallity within our church institutions, too. And it is the special responsibility of the Christian communion to face the sufferings and preconceits we bear within ourselves, to share them and be reconciled.

3. Different outlooks on diaconia in the framework of the churches

We face different streams representing the church histories and church traditions within Europe. And we find various responses of churches to the social challenges of their environment. On the conceptual level, two visions of diaconia seem to stand against each other: the institutional diaconia against a parish based diaconia, professionalism against voluntarism or neighborhood thinking. But are those really opposites? Should they not be seen as complementing elements, or as two equally valid responses in different situations? In the East, there may be a need for more professionalism; in the West, it may be important to rediscover neighborhood notions and grass root responsibility.

It seems that everywhere in Europe, the church no longer lives in an unquestionably Christian context. Diaconia has to learn to engage in dialogue and to cooperate with secular humanitarian organizations.

It is not a new insight that the diaconal service of the church is part of its mission to the world. And within the overall framework of the churches, diaconia can do its work with self confidence because it has something to witness and to give to the world that the world does not have by itself.