Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8468 Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 R O G E R M I E L K E Stewarding Mercy The Role of Churches in the Refugee Crisis As a senior official of the Evangelical Church of Germany, the country’s national Protestant church, Dr. Roger Mielke is a leading spokesman for a Christian approach to public policy. We asked him how German churches are responding to the massive changes sweeping their country. H ow should Christian churches respond to the unique and urgent challenge of the refugee crisis? What is the special responsibility of the body of Christ – including the major churches, religious orders and communities, and indi- vidual Christians – one year after the opening of Germany’s borders, which resulted in the influx of more than a million refugees and migrants? And what does the New Testament have to say about what the church’s political witness should be and how it can be lived out? Where We’re At Today Before tackling these questions, it would be good to review the events of the past year from a political perspective, and explain the role churches have played so far. Though the refugee crisis in Europe may seem to have burst out of the blue, already in Middle Eastern r­efugees at the train station in Passau, Germany (January 2016).