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Peace starts with us!

May 23, 2011 in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Church, Ecumenism, Enviroment, Europe, Faith, Justice, Latin America/Carribean, Life, LWF, LWF together - the earth needs you, Middle East, North America, Spirituality, Youth participation

Introduction to the WCC IEPC and Peace with the Earth

Greetings from Kingston, Jamaica! We are participating in the World Council of Churches (WCC) International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) along with about 1000 people from around the world and WCC member churches.

The theme of the convocation is “Glory to God and Peace on Earth.” The main objectives for the IEPC are many, but most broadly:

  1. Sharing inspirations and reflections
  2. Network-building, strategy development and other actions.

This is a harvesting event and celebration for the Decade to Overcome Violence. This is not a decision-making body, but rather a group that will crystallize emerging peace issues on the way to the 2013 WCC Assembly in Busan, South Korea.

The four themes of our days together are:

  1. Peace in the Community
  2. Peace with the Earth
  3. Peace in the Marketplace
  4. Peace Among the Peoples.

Today, we will focus on Peace with the Earth.

Part of our life together at the convocation includes bible study. The text for “Peace with the Earth” is Isaiah 11:6-9. Take a look at the text. Share it with your friends. To start your conversation, here are two questions:

What does the ‘knowledge of the Lord’ refer to in this passage?
Is the world painted in this passage possible?

In the daily plenary, the focus was to: Raise awareness on the various threats to creation, present churches’ statements and actions addressing caring for creation, offer theological and spiritual insights from various religious perspectives on peace and creation, and share practical examples on what churches can do on peace with the earth.

As three young people from the LWF, we felt connected to this work, since this same theme, sustainability (with a focus on climate change and food security) was expressed as an emerging issue among the youth at the 2010 Lutheran World Federation (LWF) assembly. Currently, groups of young people from around the LWF communion are reflecting together on bible texts that relate to this theme. Groups are sharing with one another through the worldwide web—a very “green” option!

One of the objectives of LWF Together is to use the outcomes from the bible studies and reflections to work toward sustainability in your own community. Peace with the earth begins with us!

For more information visit www.lwfyouth.org.

In a d’ Lates (Compliments of Peter Powell, Campus Security),

Daniele, Mikka and Sanna

P.S. Come back again soon! During the week, we will take turns reflecting on the remaining three themes.

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Sabbath and News from a “Remote-Controlled War”

July 26, 2010 in Faith, Justice, Life, Middle East

I probably enjoyed my Sabbath day a bit too much yesterday. I’m too embarassed to even admit how late into the afternoon I slept. It was only hunger that pulled me out of my bed. After filling myself with Turkish food, I returned to my bed with my laptop to work on some grant applications. It was lovely to have the opportunity to spend an afternoon to myself to write and work on projects that I hope will help me continue to commit myself to sustainability, gender justice, and the role of youth in enhancing the visibility of the LWF. I also took a day off from The New York Times and so wasn’t greeted until this morning with disheartening news from Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks released on Sunday some 92,000 classified U.S. military documents that paint a grim picture of the United State’s ongoing occupation of Afghanistan. Reading the NY Times article this morning, I recognized over and over again themes from the LWF Global Assembly. A story about the rape of a sixteen-year-old girl by a police chief ran through my head over and over as the Assembly’s statement on gender justice was fine-tuned in plenary this morning. But, what I struggle with most is how easy it can be to insulate myself from the realities of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I found most striking about the article was that while most of the leaked documents do not contradict official military documents, they do illustrate just how misleading the American government’s narrative of the war has been.

As the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan approaches its tenth year, we in the U.S. hear less and less of what everyday life is like in the region and the narrative the U.S. military offers us we are sometimes to eager to accept. The following is but one story so tragic that it is difficult to even fathom:

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Encounters in Edinburgh - Mission is out of control

June 5, 2010 in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Church, Ecumenism, Evangelism, Faith, Latin America/Carribean, Middle East, North America

Talking today to Julio Lopez, a Presbyterian minister from Argentina, he summarized his learning from the Edinburgh conference so far. He said: “Mission is alive - but it is out of control.”
He sees that there is a lot of mission happening by Christians around the world. But it is not organized by a limited number of churches and mission agencies. Quite often, it just happens - through migrants and freelance missionaries, by emerging churches unconnected with traditional churches. That is not necessarily a bad thing but points to the activity of the Holy Spirit. But it still leaves the need and the task to get into a fruitful and also critical dialogue.

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World Youth Conference in Mexico (August 2010) - Update

April 20, 2010 in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Enviroment, Justice, Latin America/Carribean, Life, Middle East, North America, Poverty/Affluence, UN, Youth, Youth participation

We receive more information and some changes of the World Youth Conference sent from SOFOC (Social Forum Committee) which is available here. You can also find these and other information at World Youth Conference website.

Registration

The deadline has been extended until 30 April 2010. There are still many countries with only 1 or no applicants. It is important that we urge our members to register to ensure we have a good quality of youth representatives participating in the Conference. Let’s not wait to the last minute!

Governments’ Forum

The invitation letters for Ministers will be sent on 15 April by the Mexican government. We encourage that all delegations for the Governments’ Forum include young people as part of the delegation. Our organisations can lobby for this within the respective countries.

Volunteers/Facilitators

For organisations who have groups in Mexico, there is a recruitment process for those who are interested in being volunteers. Volunteers must be able to communicate in Spanish and English well. These Mexican volunteers will assist with the sessions, so they must an interest in the themes of the Conference at an international level. More information can be found on the website. The deadline to register is 15 May online.

Also, there will be a need for 11 international volunteer facilitators for the workshops during the NGO global meeting. In addition to having the necessary skills to facilitate group discussions, these volunteers must be familiar with the topics of the thematic axes. Volunteers will receive orientation 3 days before the event. Food and accommodation will be provided, however, not travel. Registration information will be made available on the WYC website when the details are finalized.

Interactive Global Forum

There will be spaces to have a stand. This will provide a space for organisations to be able to engage visitors. However, each participating NGO will have a display space (on display boards, not a booth). A separate registration process for the IGF will be launched.

Pre-Conferences/Consultations

To date, only two have taken place. The first was held on 9-11 March in Strasbourg, France. The second took place during the international Forum “Global League of Breakthrough Elite” (GLOBE) at MGIMO University in Moscow, Russia.

There is one set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Another is set to take place during the Conference of Ministers of Youth on 12-16 April in Zimbabwe.

The SOFOC (Social Forum Committee) has worked hard to ensure that the World Youth Conference is really a space where youth participation can truly make an impact in the outcomes of international processes. The maximum participation of as many youth and youth organizations at the World Youth Conference is very important. But, this is up to us. We must bring this experience back to the grassroots where it matters the most! We must act now to make sure that we take advantage of this space which has been created for youth and put it to good use.

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