Our History in images
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If you want to travel fast, travel alone. But if you want to travel far, travel together. – Saying of East African Massai
Shortly after the falling down of the “Berlin Wall“ in Germany and the „Iron Curtain“ in Eastern Europe, several Christian initiatives took up the challenge of shaping Europe’s new future.
1994, after a “Round Table“ with several of these initiatives in Prague/Czech Rep., they decided to create an umbrella, which should function as framework for cooperative action. It was called “Hope for Europe”.
Under this umbrella and within this frame, networks began to take shape over the following years, stimulated by annual “Round Tables“.
Today “Hope for Europe” has around 20 of these networks, like Arts+, Media, Church, Healthcare, Business Cities, Disability, Freedom, Peace and Reconciliation etc. The purpose is to synergise locally, nationally, regionally.
1993 forty women in leadership from eastern and western Europe met in Linz/Austria. They decided
to offer regularly an international and interdenominational women’s conference, to learn from each other and to
encourage one another. Women in Leadership was the first “Hope for Europe” network and was convened by Elisabeth Mittelstaedt, founder and editor of “Lydia”, the christian magazin for women in German speaking countries.
Crikvenica / Croatia – 2007
Goals
⇢⇢ to inspire, encourage and equip women to fulfil the purposes of God for their lives.
⇢⇢ to model how God can use women in a variety of ways.
⇢⇢ to challenge European women leaders to bring the transforming power of the Gospel
to Europe and to every nation within it.
Conferences
“Hope for Europe – Women in Leadership” and HOPE-Conferences
have been held in the following years and places:
1995 – Ustron / Poland with 80 participants and an evangelistic day at the end, 600 Polish women came.
1997 – Budapest / Hungary with an open day at the end, where 3.000 Hungarian ladies appeared.
1999 – Frankfurt / Germany with 120 participants and an evangelistic day for women at the end, 9.000 German women joined it from all over the country.
2002 – HOPE.21, Budapest / Hungary for all “Hope for Europe“-networks together, with 1.000 participants.
2005 – Hradec Kralove / Czech Republic with 60 ladies and Jill Briscoe as speaker.
2007 – Crikvenica / Croatia, the final evangelistic day was held on the ship “LOGOS II” in Rijeka.
2009 – Modra / Slovakia with 90 participants and a prayer-walk in Bratislava.
2011 – Hope.II-Conference, Budapest/Hungary for all networks with 500 participants. The “Women in Leadership”-network held separate meetings during the network-times.
2013 – Strasbourg / France with 220 participants and a “Day for Women” in Mulhouse with 1.500 ladies. “Femmes 2000” was the host of both events.
2015 – Hannover / Germany with 160 ladies from 30 nations and a final “Day for Women” with 500 participants. “Filia – Christian Forum for Women in Germany” was the host of the whole event.
2016 – The 18 „Hope for Europe“-networks with their annual Round Tables – till 2015 chaired by Jeff Fountain (NL) – become networks of the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), to make their expertise known and available in a more extended way.
2017 – Belgrade / Serbia with a women’s meeting on the final day, organized by the “Daughters of the King”-Team, and the 25-years-celebration of “Hope for Europe – Women in Leadership” with the founder Elisabeth Mittelstaedt.
2018 – Tallinn / Estonia EEA – Hope for Europe Conference with two “Women in Leadership” workshops.
2019 – Schladming / Austria, hosted by “Prisca” with 150 participants from 27 nations and a Women’s Day on the final Saturday.
2021 – Online Gathering, because of the pandemic, with 180 participants from 36 nations and a live Women’s Day in Oradea/Romania on the final day with Elke Werner and Hannelore Illgen (D).
2022 – Sarajevo / Bosnia and Herzegovina: EEA – HOPE 22 Experience with the EEA Networks. The “Women in Leadership” team contributed seven workshops.
2023 – Sarajevo / Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 64 participants from 20 nations. On the final Saturday more than 40 Bosnian ladies joined the European participants for a rich program.