Social Concerns
Social Concerns Committee
The committee was founded by the Rector to have a place where social concerns are discussed. We generally meet after church every other month. All are welcome.
Refugee Support
The “Ecumenical Arbeitskreis Asyl” (AK) was founded in 1986 by a group of churches in Giesing and Harlaching who wished to help Refugees coming to Germany. The Church of the Ascension participated from the early days. In those times a strong political presence was needed to overcome prejudice against the refugees.Now our efforts are concentrated upon the “first stop” home in the Baierbrunnerstraße 14, in Obersendling. The tasks of the AK include the moral, social and material support of the refugees and the staff in the home. Whilst the home is administered by the Bavarian state, the professional social workers who aid the refugees through their difficult early days are staff from the Innere Mission in Munich. The home is a transit stop for newly entered refugees who must wait while their cases are being judged. So the population is also transitory, the length of stay being usually about 3 months. Currently there are around 300 refugees accommodated there. The AK currently supports the refugees by the purchase of equipment for the Cafeteria, the provision of MVG tickets for travel to the football training ground of the youth team, and subscriptions for foreign language magazines. It also participates in the organisation of events such as the “Sommerfest” and the “Nikolausfeier”. The AK meets monthly, people who are interested and involved represent their churches and communities. A social worker from the home reports on the latest situation in the house, and members decide upon necessary actions. The members of the AK take the information back to their communities and share it there. At present three English speaking churches and six German speaking churches are represented. Volunteers welcome! For a report on the ongoing activities, click here
English Speaking Prisoners Support Group (ESPSG)
The ESPSG was founded as an ecumenical group to support English speaking refugees in German prisons, by keeping contact with them through mail and support them with an occasional package if they have no relatives. To provide some spiritual nourishment in the group also visits Bavarian prisons on a irregular basis and offers ecumenical services in the English language. If you are interested to take the time to help with services or write to a prisoner please contact us.
Sisters of Charity Soup Kitchen
The Soup Kitchen is run by the Missionaries of Charity, the organization founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Address: Plinganserstr. 22, Tel.: 089-776281. Each Sunday you can bring (non-perishable) food items such as canned goods, rice, pasta, sugar etc. to the church; it will be taken to the Sisters.
Volunteers usually help with food preparation: peeling and chopping of vegetables for the soup. This is done in the mornings between 9:45 – 12:00, except Thursdays when the kitchen is closed. Help is also welcome in the afternoons from 14:00 to help with serving the soup, etc. Sometimes volunteers are asked to help with cleaning jobs or folding of laundry. Volunteers welcome!
The Bible Lands Society
For many years we have supported the work of the Bible Lands Society in the Holy Land by collection stamps and mailing them to them. It is an easy task for anybody who would like to participate in this work. Don’t throw stamps that you receive on your letters away, but cut them out with some good paper around them and drop them on Sunday before or after the service in the box on the Usher’s table. Thank you!
Version of this page: 01/26/2007