The beginnings of CEVMA

By Nigel Cooke

The TEMA MISSION-80 drew young people from all over Europe – and wider – to Lausanne in Switzerland between Christmas 1979 and New Year. Alongside the meetings for 10,000 under 25’s, there was a large exhibition of mission stands. International Films in London was invited to take a stand. This seemed a ‘wild shot’ to advertise English language films in a mainly French speaking area.

But at MISSION-80 we met lots of people using Christian films, and others feeling that God might be calling them to work as Christians in television or films. Indirectly, I was introduced to Kurt Sprenger, head of the then new TV unit at ERF in Wetzlar, Germany.

In September 1980, the first conference of approximately 36 European Christians working in the Visual Media met at the ERF studios, jointly funded by ERF and International Films. It was soon realised that different formats were beginning to take over from film, so we recognised this when arranging the second conference a year later and the name CEVMA (Christian European Visual Media Association) came into being. The order of the words was simply to make a name which could be pronounced.

The first conference in Wetzlar

Kurt and I both came from Bible teaching backgrounds, and we felt the spiritual life of the communicator was more important than the equipment he or she used. Many Christians working in the media still find that there is little support for their work in the average church. From the start, the CEVMA conference day began with a Bible talk, relevant to media people, and group prayer times sharing needs and aspirations. Whilst some had to be convinced, this emphasis in CEVMA soon became the driving force for people to make sacrifices in time and money to attend. Many Christians in media struggle with loneliness and discouragement, and CEVMA plays a significant role in providing support and encouragement.

Conference in Denmark.

The organisation was soon widened, and a Board from different countries was invited and included Ger de Rider (EO Netherlands), Bo Sander (Sweden), Jean-Luc Ray (Switzerland) and others. This meets in the autumn, the spring and before the conference, normally in the location of the forthcoming conference. CEVMA maintains the European emphasis but welcomes others from around the world. EO and ERF continue to support CEVMA in many practical ways.

Bo Sander (Sweden) Nigel Cooke (UK) Claudine Luthy (Switzerland) Finn Andersen (Denmark), Kurt Sprenger (Germany)

The early plan was to hold the conference in as many different European countries as possible. This was a good idea but it soon became clear that only a limited number of locations could be reached easily or where there were people to do the organising. So we try to find locations which are central in Europe, relatively accessible to a truly international airport, on a good rail network or major Autobahn, and most important, a place proving the right mix of public meeting rooms and bedrooms – at an affordable price!

For 30 years, CEVMA has become a place to renew vision, to meet others doing similar work, to encourage new young film and programme makers, view product, to network resulting in business cooperation and fellowship, and to dream together and plan currently relevant ways of reaching a lost world for Christ.