Social change as an opportunity for Christian involvement.

The theme of the fourth Transforum conference in Berlin is concerned with the challenge of the current crises (financial, economic, values and ethics, public opinion, decline in birth rates, poverty amongst children and senior citizens, ecology and sustainability.) This conference wants to awaken hope instead of resignation, to discover opportunities instead of being fixated on problems, to activate the joy that comes from faith instead of moaning about things that have gone wrong.

Gemeinsam für Berlin together with its partners from other cities is organising this conference with inspiring lectures, helpful analysis, encouraging reports from projects, interactive workshops and informative seminars.

In the plenary sessions we want to discuss the missionary challenges in our cities by looking at the relevance of our own lifestyles and those of our churches. We want to discover where signs of the Kingdom of God are becoming visible in the diverse cultures and Christian projects of our cities. There will be a whole series of reports on projects and practice from German cities, from the USA und of course from Berlin, both in the plenary sessions and the workshops. A range of seminars will shed light on theological content, but also report on new methodology. The workshops are intended to teach interactively with participants working together on tasks and models or sharing experiences. Some of these are marked “external”, i.e. they will take place in the city itself.

We cordially invite leaders and coworkers from Christian churches and organisations to take an active part in this conference. We will not only learn from experienced speakers; working together with and meeting people from different cities is an important element of the conference. A Theologian’s Day will take place the day before. There is a special prospectus available for this on request. There will also be a special conference stream recommended for those with responsibilities in the economy and society. Information on this will be available from January.

Looking forward to an exciting conference! Greetings in the name of Gemeinsam für Berlin

Axel Nehlsen, Director