The international synod of Mission 21 was once again held as an online meeting from July 3-4, 2025. The 40 or so delegates from four continents unanimously re-elected Michal Maurer to the board after a four-year term of office and thanked the work of Claudia Hoffmann and Roland Plattner, who stepped down from the board after several years of dedicated service. In terms of content, the Synod addressed the topic of decolonization, which is increasingly shaping the work of Mission 21.
The annual international synod of Mission 21 took place online for the third time. Over the course of two afternoons, the 40 or so delegates from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America defined the guidelines for Mission 21's future work as an international learning community and in international cooperation.
The theme of the synod was decolonization, as Mission 21 has set itself the goal of aligning its own global activities even more closely with cooperation at eye level. The historian and theologian Karla Koll, who teaches as a professor at the University of UBL in Costa Rica, gave an input presentation on the topic from a Latin American perspective. She highlighted the complexity of the topic and identified the challenges for a work such as Mission 21, which is a successor to missionary organizations and actively engages with a past intertwined with colonialism.
The delegates and guests engaged with the presentation in breakout rooms and discussed the aspects of the continued existence of colonialist history and the various tasks and obstacles that a work like Mission 21 faces on the way to consciously decolonized work.
Re-election and resignations
Michal Maurer has been a member of the Board for four years, which made a re-election necessary. The young pastor agreed to continue working on the Board and was re-elected unanimously and without abstentions. With this Synod, Claudia Hoffmann and Roland Plattner are stepping down from the Board after seven and three years of dedicated service respectively. Theologian Claudia Hoffmann was particularly committed to the advancement of women and gender equality. Roland Plattner, a lawyer, contributed to the Board with his legal expertise and strategic knowledge. The work of the retiring members was warmly thanked.
The resignation of the two committed members from the Board also means a change of leadership in the "Advisory Board Gender Justice", Mission 21's advisory body on the topic of gender justice. Claudia Hoffmann chaired this specialist body, while Roland Plattner served as Vice President. Board member Michal Maurer will now chair the Advisory Board; the new Vice President is Anders Stokholm, Vice President of the Board of Mission 21.
The delegates then approved all statutory business, in particular the framework budget for 2026, thereby creating the conditions for Mission 21 to continue its work reliably and continuously in the coming year.
The Assembly finally decided to hold the 2026 Synod online again and approved the proposed date of June 25-26, 2026.
