CCAP Day at the Mission Academy: Exchange on Climate Justice and Decolonization of ecumenical partnerships
Hamburg, July 2025. On Saturday, July 12, more than 30 participants from the Action Teams and committee members of the Ecumenical centre gathered at the Mission Academy in Hamburg for CCAP Day. The aim of the event was to contextualize the Church Climate Action Partnerships (CCAP) project and to share experiences gathered so far.
Two Challenges of our time: the climate and coloniality
The first part of the day featured presentations by Dr. Christian Wollmann (Director of the Ecumenical Centre), Mimii Brown (Principal of Nyakato Bible College in the ELVD and doctoral scholarship holder at the Mission Academy Hamburg), and Prof. Dr. Dietrich Werner (Pastor of the Nordkirche).
In his keynote, Christian Wollmann emphasized the two foundational pillars of the CCAP project:
“We are taking on two challenges of our time: the climate and coloniality. CCAP links ‘decarbonization’ — that is, our contribution to the preservation of creation—with ‘decolonization’ — the critical reflection on historical power relations in church partnerships.”
The need for a structural transformation
In response, Mimii Brown offered her perspective on CCAP, highlighting the project’s distinctive character:
“From the beginning, this was not a project for one another, but a journey with one another. ELVD and Nordkirche did not come as donors and recipients, but as co-creators of a partnership grounded in faith, dignity, and shared responsibility for God’s creation.”
Hereby she pointed out the Tanzanian context and the need for structural transformation:
“In Tanzania, vulnerability is not just an event, it is a condition. A condition shaped by long histories of extraction, economic imbalance, and climate injustice. […] Are we treating symptoms, or naming the systems that created them?”
Foto: Mimii Brown (Principal of Nyakato Bible College in the ELVD and doctoral scholarship holder at the Mission Academy Hamburg); © Ökumenewerk, Katja Tobias
CCAP action teams: Contribution to resilience in the face of political and financial backlash
To conclude the presentations, Dietrich Werner placed the CCAP project within broader ecotheological debates. The grassroots approach of the Action Teams was highlighted as a contribution to resilience in the face of political and financial backlash in climate protection.
Afterwards, the Action Team presented their projects and open questions explored in greater depth. We thank all participants for their commitment and the engaging discussions.