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Christian Conference of Asia
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Ecumenical Council for Students and Youth Meets in Japan
Rakesh attended the Youth committee of the National Christian Council in Japan(NCCJ), the Student department of Japan YMCA(Student YMCA), and the SCM Cooperative Committee(SCM) held the Third Ecumenical Conference under the theme "Justpeace for overcoming violence" at Gotenba, Shizuoka, March 20-22, 2003. [Read the full statement] National Youth Secretaries meet in Bangkok National youth leaders and workers of the various National Church Councils and Conferences from Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kampuchea, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Timor Lorosa?e, and Thailand, met at the Student Christian Center, Bangkok, Thailand, from November 11 to 16, 2002, to share, reflect and analyze their national and regional ecumenical youth work in Asia. [Click here to read the statment] Youth Empowerment Program for Bangladesh A youth empowerment program brought together twenty-five youth from all over Bangladesh to Dhaka on 1-5 July. It was organised jointly by CCA and the National Council of Churches in Bangladesh. In his inaugural speech, NCCB President Sudhir Adhikari challenged the participants to social reflection towards achieving life in all its fullness for all. He mentioned that capacity building is important but it should be according to the needs of the present day and within a value system. He encouraged the participants to utilise the workshop as a magnifying glass to open their perspectives. He cited areas of capacity building, drugs, HIV/AIDS, terrorism and information technology as priorities. Of the youth participants, about 40 per cent were women and 40 per cent came from rural areas. The program included sharing of personal history as social history, input on leadership, partnership of women and men, contextual social analysis and drawing up of action plans. Among the common concerns of the Bangladeshi youth were the need for skills development, especially in English speaking and writing, the need for staff at NCCB for youth work and the need to focus on interfaith and interreligious initiatives towards peace building and harmony. Breaking the Silence Women moving from darkness to light in Timor Lorosa'e At Timor Lorosa'e airport, a big billboard picture of smiling Timorese children announces: 'All together for one future of Timor Lorosa'e. Todos juntos pelo futuro de Timor.' And leaving the airport, one cannot but notice the big white crosses on top of the hills. They speak of the predominant Christian religion in Timor Lorosa'e. The crosses symbolise the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus remembered during the Holy Week. Indeed, they symbolise the suffering and deaths of Timorese people from 1975 to 1999 in the hands of Indonesian militia invaders. But they also symbolise their hope to rise above these dark memories so that they can move on to a new future, a new time, now that they have freedom as a new nation after their long struggle. In this new future, members of CCA are invited to participate, to be in solidarity, to express concretely our being the body of Christ. Thus Rev. Francisco M. de Vasconselos, moderator of Igreja Protest-ante Iha Timor Lorosa'e (IPTL) and a CCA General Committee member, organised a visit on 20-21 July 2002 to Los Palos Imanuel Church, in the easternmost district of Lautem, a five-hour drive from Dili across the hills and along the coast. We were joined by two youth preparing for their ordination, Gerson and Samuel. Los Palos has a circuit of eight local churches with 1,500 members (400 families), pastored by Rev. Albino Da Costa with the help of lay cathechists and elders. They have an active ecumenical relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, holding ecumenical services on special events and discussing among cathechists, pastor and priest problems in the villages. They were looking forward to ecumenical study in the villages and to an ecumenical youth work camp in mid-August. After the worship, where I preached and shook hands with everybody, we had a meeting with forty-five women, young and old. Rev. Albino translated from my English and Rev. Francisco's Tetum and Bahasa Indonesia to Fataluku, the local dialect of Los Palos. When needed, gestures and facial expressions helped overcome communication barriers. The women did not talk about personal stories and problems. Instead, as an organised group of traditional weavers, they spoke of their needs. They have a weavers' cooperative initiated by YASONA, the social development arm of IPTL, with Esther Gilarmina as their coordinator. They have weaving skills and a strong spirit but their problem is marketing, not only within the country but also outside. Where and how can they sell their tais to help put food on the table and send their children to school? Thus, they want to add to their weaving activities by engaging in buying and selling. They need capital, a facility and a place to do that. They also need management and networking skills--with the other two weavers' cooperatives that were also established by YASONA. They need ecumenical accompaniment for their development! The young women want guitars and guitar lessons. In their culture, music is used to express their aspirations. They believe having guitars will be good for their youth gatherings. But they are also challenged to have a sustainable income-generating project. After the visit, we held a two-day women's workshop at the IPTL Centre in Dili on 22-23 July. Twenty women attended, representing three local churches of IPTL--the Church of God, the Pentecostal Church and Bethel ELSADAI in Dili. This was the first time that this had happened, according to them. Within the framework of developing trust, we established the climate of acceptance through introductions and orientation. We used symbols to tell about ourselves, our strengths and how we feel about wanting to grow, to write experiences, to be a light like a candle and to serve God and people. We spoke of having strength because of God's presence and of being strong like a stone, but also of being simple and basic like a stone to build something good for God. On the other hand, a woman shared that she was 'like a paper with nothing on it. People write on it, get bored, crumple it and throw it away.' At times, we were in silence, empathising with the teary-eyed. At other times we shared in laughter. The dyadic and big-group sharing of stories of experiences and problems in the home and in the community brought to the surface gender issues of violence against women, prostitution, overwork, women's lack of education, poverty, problems in the family (in communication and in parenting), the creeping Westernisation of culture, health issues such as HIV/AIDS, the need for reconciliation based on truth as expressed by an Indonesian woman who opts to stay in Timor, religious tolerance, living in harmony in the neighbourhood, trauma counselling and understanding the role of women in church and society during this time of nation-building. 'Sisters in Asia, please pray for us!' This is their plea. We prayed together, reflected on biblical stories of Jesus healing women and having them as partners, reviewed the issues that surfaced from the sharing and discussed the concept of gender, though very briefly. They shared the situation and program priorities of women in their churches. In most churches not all women are able to attend activities because of preoccupation with traditional practices and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, which take much of their time and limited money. Towards the end of the workshop, the women decided to work together for fellowship, prayer and study and formed the 'Persekutuan Wanita Kristen se Timor Lorosa'e (Fellowship of Christian Women in Timor Lorosa'e), with the following elected committee: Chairperson: Frederika Thomas (Hosana, IPTL) Vice Chair: Leocadia de Jesus (Ekaristi, IPTL) Secretary: Lidia L. Malana (Bethel) Members: Palmira Maria (Pentecostal) Maria da Costa (Pentecostal) Adelaide L. Dias (Church of God) Maria Dolores (Church of God) Maria Simoes (Zebaot, IPTL) Sri Yane Pello (Hosana, IPTL) The visit initiated the coming together of church women from Dili to listen to one another and send their message to sisters and brothers in Asia. 'It is a healing experience to be together, breaking our silence,' one participant said. They were able to go past denominational barriers. However, we did not have Roman Catholic women in this meeting. From what I learned in Bishop Belo's Centre for Development and Peace, the Catholic women are not organised yet. Sr Bernadita Guhit, a Filipina religious, shared that the Roman Catholics are reorganising. At the moment their preoccupation is on policy regarding amnesty about which Bishop Belo had a pastoral letter. 'God is light and in God there is no darkness at all.' (1 John 1:5b) --Cora Tabing-Reyes Perspectives on Ecumenical Formation This is a composite paper drawn from experiences, materials discussed in ecumenical formation activities and insights from meetings that have taken place focusing on ecumenical formation. This hopes to draw conversation on this important facet of the life of the ecumenical movement and to engage people in the important task of ecumenical learning and ecumenical formation. I. Ecumenical Formation as an urgent task-- II. Ecumenical Formation as a Process --learning about, from and with others of different traditions, --praying for Christian unity and for each other --acting together as an offering of common witness and expression of our common search for Christian unity --struggling together over our divisions is being open to inter-religious dialogue in the context of plurality and secularism, aiming at deeper mutual understanding in the search for a world community. III. Ecumenical Formation Components IV. Ecumenical Formation as a Challenge Ecumenical formation is for the whole body of Christ. However, strategically CCA is focusing on ecumenical formation of leaders or enablers: key pastors, religious educators, national staff in church and ecumenical institutions, lay women, men and youth leaders. Four current major programs are: All who go through these programs have the responsibility to be enablers of ecumenical learning and formation in the grassroots! posted by cbs on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 |
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