CCD conferences are organised by a passionate team of individuals from our network
Andreas Jenny
Andreas is coordinating the CCD network and conferences. His professional background is in the fields of Management in Nonprofit-Organisations, International Agriculture and Horticulture. He works as a freelance development consultant and is based in Germany. Since 2007 Andreas is involved in international development with several Nonprofit Organizations in South Asia and Eastern Africa, both in rural and urban settings, in development and relief sectors. Additional roles include lecturing as adjunct faculty on financial management and community development in several academic programmes. Andreas has been serving for 10 years in Nepal with the International Nepal Fellowship (INF).
Frank Paul
Frank Paul and his wife Ute have three children. They belong to OJC, an intentional interdenominational community in Germany – sharing life, daily work, resources. OJC-vision and mission embraces churches and society – but focuses on living and offering (mainly) to young people: friendship, a place of belonging, and a sense of direction in Jesus Christ. OJC confirms that the strength as a fellowship lies in the dynamic combination of community living, intellectual and spiritual reflection, and social action. Frank is also a member of the AVM, Alliance of Vulnerable Mission trying to encourage others in intercultural contexts to lean on local strengths, resources and mother tongues. 18 years they lived in Argentina – collaborating a few years with the Kairos foundation (friends and partners of our community) in the slum areas of Buenos Aires. Then they joined an international team of fraternal workers who are accompanying real independent indigenous churches in the Chaco area in northern Argentina.
Manuel Böhm
Manuel is an ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Free Churches in Germany and has been working for the Peace and Reconciliation Network (a commission of the World Evangelical Alliance) since its beginning in 2016. He holds a Master in Evangelical Theology and started his journey of a PhD at the University of Pretoria, South Africa to research network leadership.
Through networking and travelling, he has experience with intercultural faith communities in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. His focus is on expanding the network of local peacemakers in faith communities to enable better knowledge and resource sharing globally, and is interested in the links between faith and community development.
Within the broader work of the World Evangelical Alliance, Manuel often responded to global crisis to establish first collaboration efforts of local churches, global mission and development agencies, and other experts of the required expertise, and provided resources for those agents.
In 2014, Manuel wrote his master’s thesis on the influence of the CCDC on the participating organisations and since then has been an passionate advocate for holistic mission and Christian Community Development through the local church.
Manuel lives in Canada together with his wife Jeanette and their newborn daughter, both are pursuing to be reconciling neighbors in their local community and inspire others to be reconciling disciples of Jesus. In his local rural community, Manuel joined the volunteer fire department.
Matthieu Dobler Paganoni
Matthieu is the father of two daughters (5 and 2 years old), likes groovy music, exciting philosophical-theological discussions and the culture of Latin America. He lives with his family near Basel (Switzerland) and works as the Executive Director of Interaction, the Swiss umbrella organisation of 34 Christian development organisations. He studied Sociology & Theology (BA) and International Development Studies (MA) and spent 5.5 years in Honduras after his studies. In his free time, he enjoys talking to interesting people for his Justpeace podcast, should do more sports and is happy when his children allow him to sleep in a little longer on weekends.
Renate Hauer
Renate is the management assistant. She is your primary contact for all your questions and comments. She speaks German and English and appreciates to give you information and a helping hand. She loves reading books – always a good issue to talk about with her.
Thomas Kröck
Thomas is married and has three grown up sons. He holds a PhD in Agriculture. With his family he lived 10 years in Tanzania, training church workers and supporting small development initiatives. Later he promoted child development and education projects in India and Nepal. From 2012 to 2024 he held the position of Director of Studies for a MA program in Development Studies in cooperation with GBFE and the University of South Africa (Unisa) and is also teaching at other institutes. He loves the richness and diversity of God’s creation and is involved with the friends of A Rocha in Germany.
Wolfgang Büsing
Wolfgang is the director of the Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM Germany), the organisation hosting the CCD conference.
How CCD began
In response to the challenges of global poverty, Christian organizations have historically engaged in various projects aimed at addressing the needs of those at the margins and exploring sustainable paths out of poverty. Klaus Strub, a German farmer passionate about such initiatives, became involved in missions as a volunteer. With a firm belief that agriculture was essential to poverty alleviation, he sought to connect with others who shared this vision. The first gathering of these like-minded practitioners took place in Korntal in 1993.
This initial meeting laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Christian Community Development Network (CCDN) in 2003, which quickly became known for its grassroots, movement-oriented approach. The network’s conferences, organized voluntarily with support from various organizations, have since become a biennial event in Germany. These gatherings bring together a wide range of practitioners involved in Christian development and relief efforts.
The German Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM) took this initiative under its wing, and over time, the conferences grew in both reach and impact, attracting more international participants.
