The CPCE consists of 96 member churches. Many churches have joined together in regional groups in order to strengthen cooperation between the churches and thus enrich the life of the churches.

 

 

Northwest Group

 

The meetings within the framework of the "Leuenberg Northwest Group" go back to an initiative of the late President Peter Beier from the Protestant Church in the Rhineland. The first core of the group was formed in 1990 by the United Evangelical Church in Belgium, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and two Reformed and one Lutheran church from the Netherlands.

 

 Over the years, other churches from Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland and Scotland joined, so that today fifteen churches from six countries belong to the Northwest Group. Further churches have expressed their interest.

 

Since 1991, two-day conferences have been held annually at various locations in Europe, e.g. in Luxembourg, Doorn (NL), Villigst, Borkum, Altenkirchen, Malmédy (B).  The Protestant Church in the Rhineland is responsible for the management. The group of participants is usually made up of the ecumenical advisors of the individual member churches, but can also vary in terms of the subject matter; members of the church leadership are often also present. The group is comprised of around 25 people. 

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The topics of the conferences often take up the content of current CPCE study processes or are determined by the respective topicality for the member churches.  The preparation or follow-up of CPCE General Assemblies has a special place here. In recent years, the CPCE Northwest Group has also focused in particular on the topic of "Church and Democracy" (international conference in Paris in September 2021).

 

Since the Ecumenical Church Congress in Munich in 2010, there has been a written agreement between the CPCE Northwest Group and the CPCE Council. This was extended in 2021.

 

Member churches:

 

Eglise Protestante Unie de Belgique

Protestant Church in the Rhineland

Protestant Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck

Protestant Church of Westphalia

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg

Protestant Methodist Church in Germany

Protestant Reformed Church

Lippe Regional Church

Protestant Church of Luxembourg

Protestant Reformed Church of Luxembourg

Protestantse Kerk in Nederland

Remonstrantse Broederschap (NL)

Methodist Church in Ireland

Church of Scotland

Reformed Synod in Denmark

 

 

South East Europe Group

 

In 1975, Bishop Hanselmann wanted to send a signal that the Leuenberg Church Fellowship was not just a document, but was taking shape as a living fellowship of churches. With the signing of the Agreement by Bavaria, he established a regional group that facilitated exchange between the churches across the Iron Curtain. In addition to important theological discussions, which are recorded in the publications of the Leuenberg Church Fellowship, the meeting of the regional group on neutral ground in Gallneukirchen in Austria was one of the few opportunities for many representatives of the churches in the East to stay in contact with their Western brothers and sisters

 

For a long time, it was mainly bishops and church leaders who came to the Gallneukirchen regional group, but now many young theologians are delegated to this body, who naturally also bring the concerns and situations of their churches to the table. With 28 member churches from Switzerland to Russia and from Poland to Italy and Bulgaria, the Southeast Europe regional group is not only the oldest, but also the largest regional group of the CPCE.

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Member churches:

 

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Romania

Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy

Waldensian Evangelical Church

German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine (member of ELCROS)

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria

Evangelical Church of the PalatinateProtestant Church of the Helvetic Confession in Austria

Protestant Church of Liechtenstein

Protestant Church in Baden

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria

Evangelical Church in Central Germany

Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Russia and Other States ELCROS

Central Conference of the United Methodist Church of Central and Southern Europe, represented by Austria and Serbia

Evangelical Reformed Church

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic

Reformed Christian Church in Serbia

Reformed Church in Transcarpathia

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary

Reformed Church in Hungary

Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia

Reformed Church in Romania

Protestant Church in Switzerland

Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession

Slovakian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Serbia

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia and the Southern Caucasus (ELCG)

 

 

 

Conference of Churches on the Rhine

 

Twelve years before the signing of the Leuenberg Agreement, an alliance of churches had formed along the Rhine that practiced ecumenism within Protestantism. After the Second World War, this alliance, the Conference of Churches on the Rhine (CCR), set itself the task of making its contribution to the newly emerging peaceful Europe. The Rhine, for decades and centuries a line of demarcation, was to become a symbol of solidarity and reconciliation in Europe.

 

The CCR held its first meeting in 1961 on the Liebfrauenberg in Alsace/France. There were initially no plans to continue the meeting. However, the discussions and encounters with the sister churches of the neighboring countries proved to be so stimulating and fruitful that such meetings were also planned for the future. From the very beginning, the cross-border work of the churches on the Rhine was the focus of interest. Among other things, the CCR took the initiative at the end of the 1970s to set up an ecumenical secretariat at the European institutions in Strasbourg, which still exists today in various legal constellations.

 

As all member churches of the CCR are also signatory churches of the Leuenberg Agreement, the idea of integrating the CCR institutionally into the CPCE as a regional group has emerged. At the CCR conference in May 2008, this process was concluded with the signing of an agreement to become a regional group.

 

Member churches:

 

Reformed Church in Aargau

Protestant Church of Baden

Protestant Reformed Church of Basel (Outskirts)

Protestant Reformed Church of Basel City

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Alsace and Lorraine

Protestant Reformed Church in Alsace and Lorraine

Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau

Protestant Church in the Principality of Liechtenstein

Protestant Church of the Helvetic Confession in Austria

Protestant Church of the Palatinate

Protestant Church in the Rhineland

Protestant Reformed Church in Schaffhausen

Protestant Reformed Church of St. Gallen

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg

 

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Conference of Protestant Churches in the Latin countries of Europe CEPPLE

 

 

1950 - Foundation of the World Council of Churches. Solidarity between the churches, concern about the precarious situation of Protestants in Italy and the obstruction of religious freedom for Protestant churches in Spain and Portugal, while the UN was adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CEPPLE was born out of this concern.

 

Over time, the feeling developed that, in their fragility, the so-called minority churches carried a word of the future for others. Gradually, a network of relationships and exchange developed between churches that are confronted with similar challenges in different contexts.

 

In 2014, CEPPLE became the fourth regional group of CPCE at the General Assembly in Malaga. Since then, CEPPLE's activities have been formalized around four key areas: catechetical exchange - theological training - the role of churches in the South in the face of migration - reflection and pooling of resources in the area of the churches' presence in the media.

 

Member churches:

 

United Protestant Church of Belgium

Spanish Protestant Church

United Protestant Church of France

National Union of Evangelical Reformed Protestant Churches of France

Federation of Protestant Baptist Churches in France

Waldensian Church of Italy

Methodist Church of Italy

Evangelical Baptist Christian Union of Italy

Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Portugal

Evangelical Methodist Church in Portugal

Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church of Lusitania

Protestant Reformed Church of the Canton of Waadt

Protestant Reformed Church of the Canton of Fribourg

Protestant Reformed Church of the Canton of Valais

Protestant Reformed Church of the Canton of Graubünden