CPCE Conference on Safeguarding Against Sexual Violence in Churches

On 19 June 2026, the Conference of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) opened its conference entitled Safeguarding Against Sexual Violence in Churches in Warsaw. The event was held at the Christian Theological Academy (ChAT).

More than 70 participants from 40 member churches took part in lectures, workshops and panel discussions on preventing sexual violence. An integral part of the conference was the exchange of experiences and good practices in addressing this challenge within the churches.

The participants were welcomed by Dr Tadeusz J. Zieliński, Vice-Rector and Professor at ChAT, and Bishop Jerzy Samiec, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland.

The CPCE conference formed part of the implementation of Resolution 2533 (2024) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, at which the CPCE holds observer status as an international non-governmental organisation. It also built on a long-standing process within the churches and wider society to address sexual violence, which was formalised at the CPCE General Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, in 2024.

In May 2026, the CPCE adopted a declaration acknowledging the profound suffering experienced by children, young people and adults in need of support within Protestant churches. The declaration also recognised the churches’ responsibility to identify and address the mechanisms that enable violence, learn from one another about prevention, and develop effective safeguarding measures.

“Europe must live up to the values it professes when it comes to protecting vulnerable people. As Protestant churches in Europe, we want to make our contribution,” emphasised Rev. Rita Famos, CPCE President and head of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Switzerland.

“The Church must be a place where people feel safe. Therefore, safeguarding against sexual violence is not an additional task, but lies at the heart of our church’s calling. Wherever the Church speaks of God’s love, it must do everything in its power to ensure that people are not exposed to violence and that those who have been harmed are listened to and supported,” she added.

The conference was co-organised by the Justice Initiative, a European ecumenical organisation bringing together people who have experienced sexual violence within churches. Its president, Guido Fluri, emphasised that the CPCE had initiated a collective shift in thinking about sexual violence and could serve as a model for other churches and societies.

A press conference was also held as part of the event, attended by several dozen journalists from across Europe. Those answering their questions included Rev. Dr Susanne Schenk, CPCE General Secretary; Bishop Dorothea Wüst of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate; and Rev. Rita Famos. The discussion addressed the lessons churches had learned from cases of sexual violence and whether there was a distinct “Protestant model” for addressing the issue. For many years, Protestant churches had wrongly been perceived as largely unaffected by the problems that had long shaken the Roman Catholic Church.

Drawing on the experience of the Swiss Reformed churches, Rev. Famos pointed out that, as in other countries, the problem lay in the Church’s attitude: protecting its own image had too often taken precedence over taking those affected seriously. Bishop Wüst, in turn, explained how cases had been covered up in Protestant churches through the manipulation of key concepts in Protestant theology. These included distorted understandings of sisterhood and brotherhood that fostered a culture of silence, the misuse of the concept of forgiveness and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, as well as power imbalances that persisted despite democratic governance structures.

The conference programme also included contributions from Poland. Dr Joanna Koleff of the Centre for Mediation and Counselling presented examples of preventive measures implemented within the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. A workshop on educational approaches and methodological resources was led by Bishop Paulina Hławiczka-Trotman of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain.

The second day of the conference, 20 June, had an ecumenical dimension. It brought together representatives of the Roman Catholic Church from Poland and Germany who were or had been involved in supporting people affected by sexual violence within the Church. Among them were Fr Hans Zollner SJ of Germany’s Pontifical Gregorian University and Ewa Kusz of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The CPCE brings together 96 churches from the Lutheran, Reformed, United and Methodist traditions. Its members in Poland are the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, the Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland and the Evangelical Methodist Church in Poland.

The conference concluded on 21 June. On Sunday, participants attended worship services at the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession’s Holy Trinity Church and at the Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw.