The Open Work of the Erfurt Protestant Church District has existed since 1979 and is open to all people regardless of age, nationality, worldview, social background and gender. It is a place where different people meet and deal with themselves and social issues in a content-based, creative and critical way. It is all about commitment to a peaceful, just world and the preservation of creation.
In order to reach the widest possible range of people, the Open Work offers a wide range of activities:
- regular weekly events (e.g. theme nights, film evenings, children's and family get-togethers, music events)
- school and extracurricular educational projects for children, young people and adults (e.g. media projects, exhibitions, theatre, art projects)
- Counselling services
- extraordinary events (e.g. children's carnival, Rosenmontag party, major events lasting several days with cultural and workshop character
- Excursions and leisure activities (e.g. on the island of Hiddensee)
- participation in political and social activities
The Open Work has been a cooperation partner of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation since around 2003. Since then, regular joint lecture and discussion events have taken place and, depending on current topics, conferences and meetings.
- The following topics play a thematic role:
- Right-wing populism and right-wing extremism
- Racism and exclusion of minorities
- the departure from the logic of the military
- Climate change and environmental policy
- current social challenges, crises and change processes
- the social upheaval in 1989 in the GDR - the consequences and the current debate
As a Protestant church, Open Work has an impact in social areas. It is part of initiatives, alliances and networks which work, for example, for social justice, for the phasing out of nuclear energy, against racism and right-wing extremism and for non-violent conflict resolution. Offene Arbeit supports the anti-nuclear movement, the Easter March, Protestant and Ecumenical Church Days, the AG against right-wing extremism at the Citizens' Table Democracy in the city of Erfurt, the Mobile Consultancy for Democracy and against Right-Wing Extremism in Thuringia (MOBIT), World Children's Day, the Alliance for More Democracy and the Alliance for New Energies in Thuringia.