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 16R 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).