Monthly Archives: June 2008

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A call to engage Climate Change

June 28, 2008 in Africa, Church, LWF, Poverty, Poverty/Affluence, Youth, Youth participation

Yesterday, 17 young people stood in front of the LWF Council in Arusha and read the following message:

“A household in a remote village outside of Arusha in Olokii Parish enjoys electric lights provided by a solar panel, allowing them to finish schoolwork and household chores after dark.  A woman cares for her cow, ensuring her family nourishment through its milk and economic security through selling its calves.  A building nears completion, ready to house a vocational training program for young women and men to learn relevant trades such as carpentry and masonry.  A woman, her son, and three grandsons express gratitude for a secure home with enough room for all.  A congregation warmly welcomes a diverse group of young people from the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, the United States of America and Zambia, offering hospitality through delicious meals, inspiration through joyous worship of our Lord and a tour of incredible diaconal work throughout the area through microcredit loans, a dairy cattle project, a homebuilding program, and a vocational training center.

Youths from LWF member churches were presenting the Youth Message during the opening hearing on climate change in LWF Council Meeting

Youths from LWF member churches were presenting the Youth Message during the opening hearing on climate change in LWF Council Meeting

These were some of the experiences enjoyed by young council members and stewards on an exposure trip during their gathering from 19-23 June 2008 at Canossa Spirituality Centre, Arusha, Tanzania.  The rest of our time was spent in prayer, Bible study, and discussion around climate change, the theme of the 2008 Council meeting.  Together, we contemplated God, creation, and our relationship with both.  We asked ourselves what climate change means for us as agents of God’s work.  God entrusted the care of creation to us, but the realities of droughts, floods and the other effects of climate change indicate that we have broken that trust.

The biblical witness is clear Read the rest of this entry →

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UN World Youth Report Series: Responses from Asian Lutheran youth(4/4)

June 17, 2008 in Asia/Pacific, Church, Life, Youth

How churches could be more relevant to youths in overcoming challenges in the job markets. Here are some suggestions given by our Youth Liaisons:

  • Help communicating with members who are employers and young people who could possibly fill in the job vacancies.
  • facilitate church members to fill in their corresponding professions or skills they possess, so when there is someone know a job suitable for another, they could simply tell communicate among themselves.
  • Church could even set up a database to facilitate the above two suggestions.
  • Church could open Youth Centers for teenagers (to aviod them joining unhealthy activities while unemployed).
  • Pastors/social workers could work more closely with young people and accompany them to overcome the challenges in job searching.
  • Set up small group or praying group for youth who are at the time of job searching, ie. graduation, in order to create a support group so that one will not feel lonely.

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UN World Youth Report Series: Responses from Asian Lutheran youth (3 of 4)

June 16, 2008 in Asia/Pacific, Life, Poverty/Affluence, Youth

What would youths do when they are unemployed?

Thomas Cho, from Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hong Kong, listed some of the possibilities. They include go to internet cafe, just stay at home, go to karaoke bar or disco, hang out at the playground at night, play computer games……

There are also some examples of well-educated youths ‘choosing to be unemployed’. The reason is that the Hong Kong stock market was doing very well last years. Thomas said,’ many young people including some university students are very keen on speculating in the stock market.’ Some of them are a kind of addicted in making ‘easy’ money.

That’s parts of reality in Hong Kong, a relatively affluent city in Asia (of course, there are also many youths facing tremendous pressures hoping for a job ). But for many countries in Asia, the stories in general are quite different.

As told by one of our youth liaisons from Southeast Asia , ‘for some youth, once they graduate, the burden of helping the family is placed on their shoulders. Somtimes, they are seen as ‘Savior’ of their families to get them out the poverty stage…… thus, even thought they graduated for a certain profession, like teaching perhaps, the call to go abroad is hearkened to , as someone else, more probably as a domestic helper……’  

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Migration in Europe

June 10, 2008 in Church, Ecumenism, Europe, Faith, Justice, Youth

What have the biblical persons of Abraham and Hagar, Jacob and Rebekka, Joseph, Rut, Jesus and Mary in common? Right, they all were migrants. People who left their home country for a limted or forever to live and work elsewhere.

Migration is a contentious issue today. In many countries, people are hostile towards people who do not originate in the same country – even if the family of these persons live already for generations in the new country.

Today, Sydia Nduna from the World Council of Churches spoke about her work in the area of migration policy. We discussed in a group of interns in the Ecumenical Center – all migrants themselves. The discussion centered around how Christians and churches should approach migrants and resisting any tendencies to treat migrants differently from other human beings. Sydia introduced an interesting resource that can be very helpful in dealing with the reality of migration as Christians and as churches. The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) published a study called “Mapping Migration. Mapping Churches’ Responses”. It has two pages on every country in Europe, giving some general information and then describing the work of migrant churches in these countries. It is very helpful to understand the scope that migration already has.

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