Workshop: Ecclesial Hospitality for Ukrainian refugees
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies and Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) organize a workshop on Ecclesial Hospitality for Ukrainian refugees, in Warsaw 21-22 October. The purpose of the workshop is in overall to make European churches come together in the formulation of how the churches have met the challenges raised by the war in Ukraine. The war created a large-scale refugee crisis, which the churches have met throughout Europe in a very different form, but with an overwhelming broad response and hospitality. This is a unique situation that this workshop seeks to follow up on and use as a point of departure for a debate about, what the churches can learn from this experience and how they should deal with it in long term. The purpose is therefore three-fold, which will correspond to three sections of the workshop.
First and foremost, the workshop will provide an outlook on already carried out initiatives and positions of the European Churches towards Ukrainian refugees. This provides at glance an early overview on how the churches have provided hospitality and sanctuary for the Ukrainian refugees. This will be communicated, as a report to the Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe, in order to share knowledge and experience about early responses by churches to the refugee crisis.
Secondly, the workshop will focus on theological, pastoral, and practical care for refugees in ecclesial settings in order to advance and shape new peaceful solutions to ecumenical meetings across denominational borders. The workshop will discuss the limits and forms of ecclesial hospitality in church settings.
Finally, the workshop will be a platform for discussions concerning long-term commitment to the Ukrainian refugees and possible coordination of joint initiatives. The war is not ending, and therefore, it is important to inquire how the refugee pattern will change. A more dynamic pattern is already perceived, since a certain number of refugees are already returning to their homes in Ukraine for shorter period of time. This new dynamic calls for new ways to support the refugee and promote peace. This will be the purpose of the last section of the workshop.
Organizing committee:
Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME)
Lund University, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies