Keith Jenkins writes:
MY FRIEND and colleague, the Revd Marc Lenders, who died on 21 March, aged 89, was a pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Church, who pioneered the ecumenical presence at the heart of the European institutions.
The Ecumenical Association for Church and Society had been started by a group of European civil servants and local pastors in the 1960s, with the aim of both gaining the interest of the European Churches in the European project and creating a network of mutual support. The Association employed Marc as Secretary, at first, a part-time appointment, combined with teaching religion in the European schools.
Gradually, the work increased, and some of the Protestant and Anglican churches in European Community states (then only six), together with the UK, set up the body that was to become the European Ecumenical Commission for Church and Society.
For years, Marc worked with a minute staff, rarely more than three, often only two. Nevertheless, he made a substantial impact in his and the Ecumenical Commission’s contacts with the institutions. These included advocacy for the Common Agricultural Policy to have the quality of rural life as one of its pillars, and support for non-governmental organisations working against apartheid in South Africa.
Marc was also involved in the organisation of the Roehampton Conference of 1974, which was instrumental in mobilising people in the British Churches in favour of British membership of the European Communities in the subsequent referendum.
In the late 1980s, Churches became more interested in Brussels and Strasbourg, as European legislation broadened and potentially affected the interests and status of Churches. Simultaneously, policy increasingly impinged on areas of church concerns — employment, poverty, social policy, and development aid. Marc had played a significant part in explaining the issues to the Churches.
By 1989, for the first time, resources were available to increase the numbers of staff. I am very grateful to Marc for the warmth of his welcome when I arrived in Brussels, and the generosity of spirit which enabled him to accept someone coming in to run the organisation that he had served for so long. He was glad to be freed of administrative tasks and to be able to concentrate on what he loved most: thinking, imagining, and developing vision — and sharing it with colleagues and the wider Church.
Marc also helped many to begin on what the World Council of Churches called “mission to ‘foreign’ structures”, a field in which he was a skilled exponent. That Churches and religious bodies now have “open, transparent, and regular dialogue” enshrined in Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty owes much to the pioneering work of Marc.
Marc is survived by his children, Nouchka, Françoise, and Pierre, and three grandchildren.