The international conference “Being a church together” started on Thursday in Debrecen; the scientific conference is a highlight of the series of jubilee events announced by the Community of European Protestant Churches (GEKE) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Leuenberg Concordia, the organizers told MTI.
According to the information, the representatives of the European Protestant, Lutheran, and Reformed churches March 9-17, 1973. gathered in the conference center in Leuenberg, Switzerland, to sign the Leuenberg Concordia on the Common Interpretation of the Gospel.
At the international conference – which will be hosted at the Debrecen Reformed Theological University – they will seek answers to questions such as what is the ecclesiastical, theological and socio-public significance of the Leuenberg Convention, what future awaits European Protestants, and where can they play a role in peace, social in the service of justice and the preservation of the environment – they wrote.
The three-day conference will be attended by specialists, university lecturers, pastors and interested church members, doctoral students and graduate students from all regions of Europe, member churches of GEKE and ecumenical sister churches active in the various fields of religious studies, religious studies and humanities.
At the German-language opening of the conference on Thursday evening, Reformed bishop Károly Fekete from Tiszántúl gave a brief historical overview of how Debrecen became one of the most important centers of Protestantism in Hungary, the organizers announced.
Béla Baráth, the rector of the Debrecen Reformed University of Religious Studies, gave a brief overview of the history of the reformed college and the library in addition to the introduction of the institution.
According to the information, László Papp (Fidesz-KDNP), the mayor of Debrecen, spoke about how the settlement became a Reformed city from the beginning of the 1560s, and today, in the spirit of ecumenical thinking, it makes a special contribution to “close religious cooperation and spiritual unity”.
