Tsion Hanaga, The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, and Raymond Ranker, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, exchange thoughts during a discussion round. Youth Pre-Assembly participants came from 45 different countries. © LWF/Florian Hübner

16.07.2010

Lutheran Youth Find Unity in Faith and Action

Preserve the Faith, Namibian Bishop Urges LWF Pre-Assembly

DRESDEN, Germany/GENEVA, 16 July 2010 (LWI) – They came from 45 different countries, their lives separated by distance, language and culture. But they had common bonds, celebrated daily in a week-long meeting in Germany’s eastern city of Dresden. They were young. They were Christian. And they were Lutherans, preparing for the Eleventh Assembly of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) to be held in Stuttgart, Germany, next week.

The LWF Pre-Assembly Youth Conference (PAYC), 11-17 July, is one of several gatherings held so far in several regions of the world before the LWF Assembly. Most were regional gatherings, but special pre-assembly meetings were convened for women and for young people.

While there were varying opinions among PAYC participants, the enthusiasm about having an impact on their churches prevailed.

“It is important that we are from all over the world and learn to accept our differences,” said Rahel Gysel from Chile, who will be a young delegate at the LWF Assembly, 20-27 July in Stuttgart, Germany. “We have to respect each other’s differences and not just try to change each other’s opinions but to help each other understand why we believe as we do.”

The young people were brought closer together by daily Bible studies, worship services, and times to share what life is like for young people in their home churches.

In long meetings during the week, the young people drafted a message that will be presented to the LWF Assembly, stressing their concern for protecting the future by improving what they called the “unsustainability” of current environmental, social and economic systems. The message also declared that “gender justice” was a key issue for youth and that increased attention should be given to the contributions that young people can make to their churches.

The LWF Assembly theme is “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread,” and Karen Andrea Ettlin Frey said she hoped the young people could help others “improve the comprehension of what it means to have daily bread.” Frey, a 23-year old physical education teacher from Uruguay, like many of the youth meeting in Dresden will be a steward at the LWF assembly.

Moving Forward

The forward movement of the youth and their churches was also stressed by the pre-assembly keynote speaker Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia. In the biblical story of Exodus, the “manna” or bread that God gave to the Israelites was “so that they could keep moving on,” said Kameeta, who is LWF vice president for the Africa region. He urged the youth to “preserve the faith, and keep moving on.”

One way that the young people are already “moving on” is their extensive use of the Internet and its “social media” to disseminate their views and form new friendships.

When asked by one of the facilitators, Emily Davila, from the USA, now living in Bonn, Germany, how many participants had accounts on Facebook, more than three-quarters of the participants raised their hands. Several are blogging about the pre-assembly meeting (at www.lwfyouth.org) on Facebook and on their personal Web sites.

On the LWF youth website, Jared Magero from Kenya, who will be a steward at the Assembly, quickly posted a response to a presentation by Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist, director of the LWF Department for Theology and Studies, gently suggesting a stronger emphasis on sola scriptura (by “scripture alone”), a key theme of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation.

Unity of Lutheran Communion

During some of the sessions, the young people expressed varying views on the issue of homosexuality, a controversial topic in many churches. One participant said that some of the discussion was “heated,” but the disagreements did not fracture the unity of the pre-assembly meeting. “The issue of homosexuality shouldn’t break our beautiful communion of Lutheran churches,” said Rev. Miika Ahola, a youth delegate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

On their message to the Assembly tackling such thorny social issues as ecology and an end to injustice based on gender, participants also expressed concern for the spiritual life of young people and their churches. Dènes Horvath-Hegyi from Hungary said “we didn’t treat spirituality very much, maybe because it is something that already works for us.”

Horvath-Hegyi, 25, will be a steward at the assembly, and said “while I will not have a voice at the Assembly, I have voice here at the pre-assembly, and I can influence the message.” He said he hoped the youth message would deal with how youth can be integrated into church decision-making.

That was also a concern for Mahenge Omega from Tanzania. The 28-year old teacher will be a delegate at the Assembly, and said “youth have ideas that can make changes; and they can work with older people for those changes.” The direct involvement of the youth with their churches “will make them better Christians in the future,” she added. (824 words)

Journey | Youth Pre-Assembly Conference

16.07.2010

Lutheran Youth Find Unity in Faith and Action

Preserve the Faith, Namibian Bishop Urges LWF Pre-Assembly

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