30.10.2008
LWF Global Training for Young Leaders Launched in Africa
'Daily Bread' Is About Creating Hope and JusticeNAIROBI, Kenya/ GENEVA, 30 October 2008 (LWI) - Young adults representing the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Africa launched the region's process to explore the relevance of the LWF Eleventh Assembly theme "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread" during a training workshop, 1-8 October, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"To us as young people, the meaning of 'daily bread' is not just about what we eat, it also includes many things such as our spiritual needs, our hopes for a better world and our hunger for justice," said Ms Lydia Lasco Lawan, Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. She was among the 14 young adults from 12 countries participating in the regional launch of the three-year program 'Engage: LWF Global Training for Young Leaders' located in LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD) and its youth desk, LWF Youth. The Assembly theme provides the basis for deliberations of the 2008-2010 training program.
One of the program's major foci is to empower young church leaders to develop and implement small-scale activities that respond to a particular problem in church and society. The training in Nairobi included a series of Bible studies, though which participants explored the meaning of 'daily bread' in their own contexts.
Ms Heidrun Tobler, a theology student from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa spoke of plans together with her classmates to start a children's church with support from their local congregation. Besides providing a worshipping space for children, one of the project's aims will be to counsel children who had been sexually abused. "We want to help the children to realize that non-abusive relationship with male adults is possible," she said.
Mr Anthony Mustapha Tucker, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone (ELCSL), envisions an initiative to tackle widespread drug abuse in the West Africa country. In collaboration with one of the ELCSL programs, he hopes to use a series of workshops to provide the relevant information about the adverse effects of drug abuse. He targets at least 100 young adults by the end of 2009, who can then multiply the knowledge they will have acquired.
Like Tobler, he appreciates the LWF program's focus on sharing creative solutions. "What impressed me most [during this training] is the strong sense of cohesiveness as Africans. Even though we come from diverse cultures and traditions, we almost share the same problems. This program reinforces our beliefs that as youth we have a stake in our future. Therefore, we must be actively involved in the decision-making processes and in the life of the church and society," remarked Tucker.
LWF Youth secretary Rev. Roger Schmidt commended the participants for their willingness and ability to strategically respond to the pressing problems facing church and society. "I am optimistic that they will make some meaningful changes on the issues they focus on."
Africa's was the second "Engage" regional event after the March 2008 Asian inauguration in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshops will continue in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and North America over the next two years, providing opportunities for young leaders to practice their leadership skills through the implementation of small-scale projects. The international group will share their experiences and knowledge during the July 2010 Pre-Assembly Youth Meeting in Dresden, Germany. (556 words)
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