COE (Communiqués de presse), Switzerland
May 10 2005
Conseil oecuménique des Églises – Reportage
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 [email protected]
Pour publication immédiate: 10 mai 2005
Youth find reconciliation through understanding
By Heather Chappell (*)
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Understanding is the first step on the road to reconciliation. This
is one of the convictions that Christian youth from diverse regions
will carry home with them following a week of conversations and
reflections on the themes of mission, reconciliation and healing.
During the week of May 3-8, 2005, one week prior to the 13th
Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, 49 participants gathered
at the Agios Andreas Recreational Centre near Athens, Greece. The
event was designed as an opportunity for young people to join in
community before attending the main conference. According to Vahagn
Azizyan, a youth delegate from Armenia, the pre-conference experience
was a “marvellous opportunity to discover Christian riches from all
over the world.”
Monica Coll Gonzáles from Cuba found that the diversity of
participants made for interesting discussions on key issues facing
the church in the world. “Views and opinions were certainly rich,”
she said. Yet, while backgrounds, denominations and opinions varied
widely, similarities were also discovered. When discussing the
problems associated with reconciliation in various political,
theological and social contexts, Gonzáles reported that many
participants shared similar experiences. “It seems that the problems
are the same all over the world,” she said.
Bringing the conference back home
The pre-conference also provided the young people with practical
knowledge and tools that will be useful to them once they go back to
their local communities. Bertram Granville Swarts will return to
South Africa, where he acknowledges that racism still exists despite
ten years of democracy. He found that the youth conference has
challenged him to discover personal reconciliation and healing within
this context. “I will go home with a lot of experience,” he said.
Participants included both stewards and youth delegates. Half of the
stewards were Greek. Of these, some were Orthodox, some Evangelical.
Greek participant Anastasia Gkitsi discovered that by sharing their
experiences, participants were able to gain a growing understanding
of one another. Stewards and delegates travelled to a downtown Greek
Orthodox church, where they were given the opportunity to ask
questions. For many, this was their first exposure to Orthodoxy.
Natalie Maxson, Youth Programme Executive for the World Council of
Churches (WCC), reports that it was an extremely positive experience.
Through learning and sharing together, youth from widely varying
backgrounds began to appreciate one another as members of “healing
and reconciling communities”, in the words of the conference theme.
They also developed good relationships that will most likely last
throughout their lives.
During the pre-conference, stewards began developing ecumenical
projects that will be implemented when they return home. These
projects will focus on issues such as HIV/AIDS and globalization, and
will include youth workshops and exchanges between churches. The
Greek stewards, both Orthodox and Evangelical, are working together
on one of these ecumenical projects. They are excited and hopeful
about this unprecedented partnership, and they ask for the prayers of
conference participants over the coming weeks and months.
Planting seeds
Although it is the goal of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to
have 25% youth involvement in any activity, under 10% of the main
conference delegates are young people. Maxson worries that the
perspectives of youth could be marginalized as a result. “As a young
person working with youth, I find that it is a constant battle to
make space for the voices of youth to be heard,” she says. However,
the strong connections and friendships that were built at the
pre-conference event will enable those attending the conference to
have a much stronger voice than if they were to attend individually.
Together, they will share in two plenaries, through drama and art.
Maxson stresses that the stewards participating in the main
conference are not merely volunteers. They are participants in an
ecumenical learning experience. They are very much involved in their
home churches, and they are at the conference to build connections.
She believes that it is “the responsibility of older delegates to get
to know these young people, and to support them in their work.”
When asked if the goals for the pre-conference event were met, Maxson
responds that she doesn’t like to think in terms of “goals” when
people are involved. Rather, she sees the event as a chance to plant
seeds. “You don’t necessarily see the fruit that develops
immediately,” she says. She goes on to say that the connections that
were made, the co-operation of Orthodox and non-Orthodox Greek
Christians, the understanding that was achieved – all of these can be
considered the fruits of this process. “It is an ecumenical process
that continues long past this conference,” she says.
The youth event was sponsored by the World Council of Churches, in
co-operation with ecumenical partners.
(*) Heather Chappell is a writer from Toronto, Ontario. She works as
Programme Assistant for The Presbyterian Church in Canada in the
areas of Stewardship and Mission Education.