Twenty-three people from the United Reformed Church (URC) are to join colleagues in Germany to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Starting on 7 November, the party will spend four days in Frankenthal and will be hosted by families from partner churches in the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz (EKP).

On 9 November, the precise anniversary that the wall came down, a special service of celebration will be held where the Revd Nigel Uden, Moderator of the URC General Assembly and his German counterpart, Manfred Sutter, will preside.

The Revd Phillip Brooks, Secretary for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, commented: “The URC and EKP are bound together by a shared covenant, signed in 1957. After the turmoil of two World Wars, the prevailing narrative for the British and the German people had grown to be one of mutual mistrust. The covenant was meant as a sign of peace and reconciliation.

“Sadly, we are once again in a more uncertain period where divisions in Europe seem to be growing.

“The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 was a time of great hope. By referencing a more positive time in European relationships and celebrating with our German partners, we want to highlight how churches can lead the way in once again bringing hope to Europe.”

Follow highlights of the trip on the URC’s Facebook page and Twitter account #fallofthewall.

_{Picture:People gather at an opening in the Berlin Wall in 1989/US Department of Defence
Published 6 November 2019}