Background:

Theobalt -short for 'Theology in the Baltic region' - was initiated by the Diocese of Visby in the beginning of the '80's as a series of conferences. The aim was to offer a platform where churches in the Baltic region could meet to discuss the social issues of the time from a theological perspective. The first conference took place in Visby in 1983.

Since then three more conferences have been held - all in Visby, with the latest in 1998 on the theme of "Folk-churches in the Baltic region - their origins, culture and mission in the society of today and tomorrow". About 70 people representing 17 churches (Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran) from the countries around the Baltic Sea took part in that conference.

Theobalt III in 1994 was an environmental conference dealing with the Baltic Sea's state of health. Here, for the first time, the idea arose of making Theobalt something more than just a series of conferences at a church leader-level. The conference became a challenge to a common Christian responsibility for the environment that embodied an awareness of the importance of a continuing and joint Christian contribution to the society of Baltic region in general. This was accentuated even more as a result of Theobalt IV in 1998, when the Diocese of Visby received the conference's mandate to lead the process of creating a network for churches around the Baltic.

Continuing efforts have been carried on with the support of a steering group led by the Bishop in Visby and with representatives from the three church traditions. A definition of Theobalt has been formulated (see below) and several kinds of activities are listed. General conferences every three years are still a main feature and will be complemented as time goes on by smaller seminars, a home page, educational activities, youth projects as well as a programme of exchanges and contacts. A basic principle is that Theobalt's aim (see below) will also have the firm support of individuals at a local level.

The original aim of offering a platform for discussions on the social issues of the time is still of current interest. Thus Theobalt V is being arranged for June 2001 with a theme that will shed light upon the churches' role when the European Union is expanded in the Baltic region.

Definition of the network:

Theobalt has been defined as follows:

A network among churches around the Baltic Sea
- to further mutual understanding and strengthen relations among the three main Christian traditions
- to develop the contribution of churches to the life and culture of the nations and to the protection of the environment
- and to promote Christian values, reconciliation, democracy and peace

Note: Whatever is done within the frame of the network should have a Baltic dimension.

The following details indicate which churches are eligible to participate in the network at present: Churches within the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions that are connected with national culture, thus making a definite contribution to the national identity, as well as churches of more or less minority status but which indisputably belong to one or other of the above-named church traditions.

2. Starting-points

Overall goal:
Theobalt is firmly established as a network among the churches in the Baltic region.

Aim:
To contribute to increasing knowledge, understanding and closeness among churches, individuals and countries in the Baltic region as well as safeguarding the environment, society, peace and basic Christian values.

Time period:
2001 - 2004

3. Project parts

1. Dialogues/Meetings between people:

Conferences:
In order to maintain a continuous dialogue within the network, larger conferences will be organised every three years. This offers an opportunity to jointly discuss a social issue of immediate interest and together find ways to proceed. The Theobalt V conference, described in a special document, will be held in June 2001. A similar conference will be held in 2004. The theme will be chosen according to what is important at that time.

Smaller seminars will provide the opportunity to study specific issues at depth. One seminar per year is estimated in the plan. In 2002, an issue concerning the expansion of the European Union will follow Theobalt V. In 2003 there are preliminary plans for an environmental seminar as a follow-up of the environmental conference to be held in the Baltic region in 2002 on the initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople.

Contacts with other networks are given continual attention. During 2001 a contact will be established with BIEN (Baltic Intercultural and Ecumenical Network) and the Cooperative Council for Christian churches in the Barents region. BIEN is a network of congregations around the Baltic directed towards youth. It is still being organised and will gather for its next meeting in Riga in August 2001. "Religion, Science and Environment" are regular recurring seminars led by the ecumenical patriarch. Prior to their environmental symposium in 2002 (see above), they have made contact with Theobalt. There have also been sporadic contacts with the mid-European networks, Rheinkirchen and Donaukirchen that can possibly be further developed in the future.

Exchange programme:
Personal meetings between people are a way of life in Christian belief and tradition. Meeting one another means a chance to get to know each another, share thoughts and feelings, deepen contacts and create mutual understanding as well as gain an understanding and respect for the other's culture and individuality. Therefore an exchange programme at the local level is important. Twin congregations can be established across church and national boundaries and church personnel given the chance of visiting each other individually or as a group. The general guidelines for an exchange programme will be drawn up in 2001. Work will progress during the following year and an international youth camp is being planned for 2002 in cooperation with a church in the Baltic States.

2. Education

University:
In order to strengthen fellowship between the churches and their personnel, an opportunity has been created for deeper study of the life, history and purpose of ecclesiastical traditions in the societies of the Baltic region. In this aspect the Diocese of Visby can cooperate with the University College on Gotland in setting up summer courses, possibly integrated in an interdisciplinary perspective. Applications will be accepted from the entire Baltic region. Churches, in particular, are encouraged to send participants. A selective system for grants/scholarships will be available for those requiring economic support for their studies. To start with the intention is to have a course every other year starting in 2002. The feasibility of doing research on church-society relations in the Baltic region will be tested in the long-term.

Folk high school-based studies on Baltic issues:
Nowadays there is a great need for knowledge about the Baltic region and it can be expected that different interests require support in this area. This can be individuals, as well as organisations, companies and authorities that have contacts in the region in their operations. The Swedish traditional residential adult education schools (folk high school) are suitable working model for this task and they are allowed to recruit over a large field - also from the other countries in the area. The course programme will be interprofessional which means that religion's historical and current importance in the social life of the Baltic region can be placed in a larger context.

As an introduction to this idea the Diocese of Visby can refer to current plans to establish a folk high school in Fårösund, where working for peace is proposed as part of the profile, among other things. The project has great potential and requires a special analysis with separate cost calculations (see attachment 3).

Theme courses:
Yet another way of spreading knowledge about the life, history, tradition and culture of the churches is through special courses (1-2 weeks) during the summer. People from the entire Baltic region will be eligible to apply, both the general public and professionals. General courses can cover anything from icon painting to church history. In addition, teachers, for example, can be invited to work together on educational materials about the Baltic region, for translation later into several languages for distribution to schools.

To start with courses will be conducted every other year beginning in 2003. In Sweden they can be coordinated with a study organisation. An effort should be made to arrange these theme courses in other countries too, with other churches as hosts.

3. Communications:

To create and develop our homepage: Basic data is already compiled and will now be edited with the aim of presenting Theobalt's homepage during the spring of 2001. Here the network and its member churches will be introduced with short facts, addresses and contact persons as well as a chance to link to their homepages. Events are shown with invitations and application forms as well as reports etc. Thoughts and questions about faith have a natural place. In the long run electronic conferences and 'chatting' will be introduced in an effort to provide a high level of interactivity.

Production of the homepage requires the services of a full-time web-master for a month. Maintenance will be handled within the Visby diocese's IT-function. For further development a consultant will be engaged on a regular basis a couple of hours every month.

Information material:

Along with the IT-programme, a conventional information package will be produced in the autumn of 2001. An eight-page brochure will be printed in three languages (English, Russian and German) for distribution among the churches and organisations, businesses and authorities, for example. The brochure will present a theological reflection on Theobalt, its aim and background, a description of the present situation and the project plan. If necessary special fact sheets can be produced to describe the network, a conference, a church, a project or anything other question concerning a church.

4. Follow-up

During the entire project period yearly evaluations will be made in relation to overall goals and aims. The steering group that normally meets in November every year will make the evaluation. Contact persons in every church will also make observations on a continual basis and report to the yearly joint discussions in September. There their observations will be received for comment before forwarding to the steering group. The evaluation can result in adjustments to the project plan.

An overall evaluation of the whole period will be made at the steering group meeting in February, 2004. This will be the final kick-off for new planning of continued activities.

Both the annual evaluation and the final one at the end of the period will include a balancing of the economy. In future financial planning there will be a re-assessment of the ability of the churches in the network to contribute to the continued operations to a greater extent.

5. Resources

Steering group:

The Theobalt IV conference declared that all the churches in the network have a duty to contribute to the work of developing the network. In these circumstances it is natural that there is a steering group with representatives for the three church traditions that meets once a year in different countries with a local church as host. The group is made up of eight persons with, among others, representatives from the Russian Orthodox and the Catholic churches in Lithuania and Poland. The Bishop of Visby leads the group seconded by the Bishop of Strängnäs. The group deals with questions of a general and principle nature concerning the development of the network as well as the planning of larger events.

Contact persons:

Each church has a contact person charged with the task of serving as liaison between the leaders of his/her church and the Diocese of Visby. These duties also include coordinating and supplying information and contacts across church- and national boundaries. The contact persons gather once a year in Visby for information, an exchange of experience and training. The group also deals with practical questions and other matters important to the functioning of the network.

Communications:

Many million people are connected to Theobalt through the churches that belong to the network. In addition there are many other interested parties in the region such as associations, non-governmental offices, public authorities, other networks, etc. This makes it especially important to be able to easily communicate Theobalt's aims and activities to the world around. The planned homepage will fill an important function in this respect, especially if it has a high level of interactivity. Printed matter will complement electronic information. Lectures, newspaper articles, and theme church services are other possibilities. The contact persons are encouraged to work for these interests in their own situations.

Administrative base at the Diocese of Visby:

The Diocese of Visby acts as the administrative base for the network. This means that the diocese furnishes premises, office equipment and personnel resources. The latter includes economy, information and office services. Some of the personnel need to be detached for the continuing work with the network. Experience shows that during a conference year there is a need for a 50% administrator and 50% secretary. During the interim years the workload can be reduced by half, that is 25% for each position. This division of resources must be compensated within the rest of organisation in the Diocese of Visby and therefore the project budget is debited for these costs.

Sweden's embassies:

Since Theobalt focuses on the relationship between the church and society, the importance of maintaining contact with the Swedish diplomatic corps in the countries involved has become apparent. They offer access to current information about different social issues both generally and more specifically. Likewise there is an interest for information about the aims and activities of Theobalt. In many cases embassy personnel have also been of great assistance in establishing contacts and solving practical problems.

6. Economy

Financing:

The board of the Diocese of Visby has defined Theobalt as an area of high priority for the diocese. This implies an economic commitment to financing the administrative base operations as well as the costs for diocese representatives participating in meetings and in other contacts with the churches within the network.

In principle, each respective church shall finance the costs involved for their representatives at conferences and other meetings. This is still not possible for the majority of churches. The same thing applies to the development of the project. The Diocese of Visby has not the economic means to be able to assume even greater costs. Therefore financial assistance must be acquired from outside sources throughout the entire project period. In light of the expectations and response received from the churches in the network this is considered to be a matter of great importance.

Costs:

Most of the project's costs have the nature of assistance and subsidies to the churches in Russia, the Baltic countries and Poland. This means that costs for travel and accommodation in connection with conferences and other meetings become large budget items. In addition there are the other costs involved with conferences such as lecturers'- and interpreters' fees, meals and social events, etc.

Throughout the development of the project according to this plan, costs will also be incurred for the development of ways of communicating, e.g. homepage and printed material. The educational programme involves lecturers' fees, grants/scholarships and material costs. Exchange at a local level requires support for youth camps and travel expenses for groups and congregations in the churches. Contact with other networks entails expenses for meetings and trips. Most of the administrative costs for operating the network can be covered by the Diocese of Visby with the exception of the personnel required for administrative- and secretarial tasks.

A cost budget set up according to the different stages of the project during the period of 2001 - 2004 is included as attachment 1. For the Theobalt V conference that will take place in June 2001 there is a special description with a detailed cost estimate (attachment 2 with sub-attachments). The proposal concerning an educational programme based on folk high school-based courses (point 3:2 above) is described as a subproject with a cost estimate (attachment 3).