Impression 4th ECPM Congress – by Jolanda Baks (edited  by ECPM  staff).

At 9.15 h most people have found their way into the congress room. The people who stayed at the hotel as well as people - like myself – coming by train.ECPM Chairman Peter Vosu opens the congress by welcoming every one. He meditates on 2 Chronicles 9:8 where the queen of Sheba says to Salomon:

Praise be to the Lord your God, Who has delighted in you and placed you on His throne as king of rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and His desire to uphold them forever, He had made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.

He also referred to Israel when it wandered in the desert: God gave His rules and laws to form a society. Nowadays those basic truths about justice and righteousness are lost and it is to Christians to find the again. There are many basic principles, but one that is like a scarlet cord through the whole Bible is justice. If justice is lost, may God us give a voice so we be heard.

The  ECPM has welcomed three new members, namely the AUF party from Germany, the CPA party from the United Kingdom (both members) and the Rule of Law Insititute from Bulgaria (associate) and the ECPM flag was handed to them by ECPM chairman Peeter Vosu. After that, Sander Luitwieler started with a lecture on the ‘Treaty of Lisbon’. An interesting lecture on a recent topic. At the end  Mr Luitwieler presented an agenda that is a challenge for ECPM and its members to think about and come with answers.

By now it is eleven a.m. and definitely time for a coffee break. This is the time to meet and chat a bit around with others.
Mr Vanbeckevoort is the kind of speaker that can get people inspired and thinking. With his calm appearance his challenging words even better came across. His lecture was about ‘Worldviews and forgotten foundations of democracy – the Christian answer’.One thing that did not leave my mind is his urgent call to Christian politicians and Christians, that this is the time to cease the opportunities that are out there for all – for Christians too. Vanbeckevoort feels that Christians are not doing this enough or not at all. He gave an example of money for education that the EU has. The largest part of this money goes to non-Christians. Mr Vanbeckevoort also introduced us with learning communities - a concept that is used under academics. At the end of his lecture 7 points were mentioned that Christians can do to get a more active attitude against the militant forces that are working (the lecture will available on this webstie soon).

After being fed with new things, it was time for lunch. Nice food, and a good time to meet and talk.


The afternoon programme started with an update of the work in South East Europe by Leo van Doesburg. It was quite impressive what is happening in this region and all the (different kind of) meetings that are organized together with local people in different countries the reports of all activities will be on the ECPM website soon). Guido van Beusekom gave a short presentation of the ECPM Northeast conference in Finland that was organised together with Finnish Christian Democrats, last April.

The last part of the afternoon was the ECPM Members congress. The forum was launched at the ECPM website. Hopefully this will contribute to more mutual contact and exchange of knowledge.

Looking back, it was very nice being at the congress. To have a short time of fellowship, to be lavished in different areas, learn from each other and then everyone returns to their own country.

Till next year in …