Wolfgang Huber
Chairman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
Bio and press contact: see below.

In the name of the Evangelical Churches in Germany, I wish to greet you as Christians and churches in the United States of America in our common commitment for peace and justice. "The Power and Promise of Peace" is the focus for the Ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence for this year, following your proposal. It is indeed an inspiring affirmation of faith.

On this Day of Prayer for Peace, our thoughts and prayers are therefore particularly with all those who are grappling with the destructive force of vicious circles of violence. Today, we want to pray for the many initiatives and projects working to overcome violence in our homes, our communities and in the international relations.

There are currently many crisis areas in the world, where the power of violence appears to be unbroken. Violence has its own logic: calls for a strong-handed response seem to make all the sense, particularly with regard to complex phenomena like terrorism and ethnic violence. We have also become aware of the ambivalent nature of religions, which reveal their potential both for peace-making and for the incitement of hatred and destruction.

But wherever people trust in the spirit of peace in the name of Jesus Christ, they experience that it is a realistic force to be reckoned with, and that possibilities open up. As Christians in Germany, we are encouraged by our recent history, where a non-violent Christian movement contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall 15 years ago. One needs to be open to the promise of peace, in order to experience its potential and power.

The World Day of Prayer for Peace gives us the opportunity to join in prayer with the world-wide Christian community. We ask you in your prayers to particularly remember the churches in Europe as they try to meet the challenge of building a peaceful Europe in a just world-order.

Let us ask God for his guidance and his spirit.

Message delivered on 21 September, 2004, to mark the observance of the International Day of Prayer for Peace.

Biographical summary

Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, teaches how the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real path to peace. Elected to his current position in 2003, he also continues to serve as the bishop of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz where, since 1994, he has striven to unify the eastern and western divisions of the church. He believes reconciliation can take a political form, and that dignity is the best antidote to violence.

Media contact: Silke Fauzi +49-511-2796-267 silke.fauzi@ekd.de


Last edited on September 20, 2004 by Miriam Reidy-Prost / WCC