Ridgefield church hosts international faith meeting
This past week, pastors and delegates of the American churches in Berlin, Paris, and Vienna flew to the United States for the annual meeting of The American & Foreign Christian Union held for the first time in Ridgefield.
European representatives assembled with U.S. board members who traveled from 12 states to do the work of the ecumenical and global American churches in Europe.
From Oct. 11-14, 41 lay leaders and ministers from around the world put their shoulders to the wheel to support and offer encouragement to these exceptional faith communities.
The First Congregational Church Ridgefield hosted the meetings, and generous volunteers offered hospitality to their international guests in the newly renovated “church by the fountain,” which was gathered as a congregation in 1712.
Ridgefield congregants and volunteers observed how the AFCU and its member congregations possess hard-won wisdom to share in a pluralistic society too often marked by fear, hostility, and a climate of alienation. Delegates attested to the ways that these international congregations are able to bear witness to God’s love for the entire world, because the entire world worships in these churches, and participants ultimately take what they have lived and learned back to every continent.
Imagine worshiping with members from more than 50 countries and twice as many denominations, and then sharing a cup of coffee following services with Sri Lankan evangelicals, Swedish Lutherans, Filipino Catholics, Hong Kong Presbyterians, Brazilian Pentecostals, Ghanaian Anglicans, Greek Orthodox, Nigerian Methodists, and so many more who all call the same church “home.”
These vibrant and diverse European partner churches demonstrate what it means to live their faith in unified and reconciled ways. At a time when many increasingly secular European countries are often said to be post-Christian, strengthening these international and interdenominational faith connections makes a real difference. These spirited houses of prayer for all people serve as beacons of hope for a world that is troubled by rapid globalization and mass migrations.
Eruptions of gun violence, terrorist actions, and political tensions among nations have resulted in distrust of “otherness.” This new wariness is experienced more acutely as events such as the Paris Bataclan terrorist attacks in 2015 have sharply threatened already eroding assumptions of safety. AFCU member church budgets must now include provisions for security that were previously unnecessary.
All Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — call believers to hospitality rather than suspicion. All three faiths share sacred texts that unequivocally require followers to welcome and care for the stranger. I believe these practices of hospitality are expressions of God’s love for all people, and I understand them as essential elements of Christian discipleship.
AFCU member churches live this scriptural vision, as they honor the often divergent beliefs in their midst. Visitors to these unique churches are always astonished to discover joyous worshiping communities with congregants whose faces more greatly resemble the General Assembly of the United Nations than any church they have ever attended.
Discovering how best to honor the particularity of each member’s specific denominational and doctrinal histories, beliefs, and hopes is challenging. Balancing diverse points of view without allowing any of them to override the particular claims of others is even more complex, rendering these communities living laboratories of peacemaking, mercy, and justice. Members of these churches almost always arrive with preconceived points of view, and then gradually learn to embody the humility to disagree agreeably, ultimately affirming that what unites is far more precious than whatever divides.
On Sunday, Oct. 14, AFCU board president Theodore Ziemann addressed The First Congregational Church Ridgefield, expressing gratitude for their warm Connecticut welcome and bringing them greetings from the European churches. The Ridgefield congregation gained a deeper appreciation of their greater connection to the church universal and extended church family.
The hospitality and reconciliation practiced in the global churches of Berlin, Paris, and Vienna demonstrate how diverse fellowships can be harmonious, and serve as unifying exemplars in a world where religion is so often maligned as the cause of power struggles and violence. These unique communities of faith offer uncommon expressions of diplomacy and international understanding for our time, which is very good news indeed.