youth
WCC Internship Programme 2005-2006
Ecumenical projects
In February 2005, five young adults came to Geneva, Switzerland for the World Council of Churches Internship Programme. At the end of their internships in April 2006, each of them started to prepare an ecumenical project based on their interests, passions, concerns and what they had learned during their formative ecumenical experience with the WCC. Each of these projects will be carried out by the interns back in their home contexts inspired by their commitment to the ecumenical vision. Building bridges: a documentary film — Naveen Qayyum, Pakistan |
 2005-6 interns(left to right): Thomas Yonker, Naveen Qayyum, José Vasquez-Lopez, Irene Kaulics, and Gustavo Bonato |
This film will incorporate my experience of being with the WCC communications team and working for the interreligious dialogue and relations team during my one-year internship. Interreligious dialogue has been named as a major priority at the WCC 9th Assembly.
The documentary will be based on two case studies. One will be set in Pakistan with a Christian living in a Muslim majority context, and the other will have a Muslim living in a minority context in the UK. This will involve research and planning which can be done in Pakistan with the help and support of my home church and human rights organisations involved in interreligious dialogue in Pakistan. The interviews can be shot in both Pakistan and the UK with the two main protagonists, church leaders and prominent key actors involved in the dialogue from both countries. The concluding interviews will connect the human examples of interreligious relations with the political complexities of ecumenical dialogue. In conclusion, the church voices will be spelling out the theme of the documentary as well as expressing the stance of the churches living in plural contexts.
This will put an ecumenical perspective to the interreligious issues mostly dealt with in a human rights/secular way. This project will provide a faith-based frame to the divides and division based on religion, often seen as only political and communal. The film can be used for awareness-raising and education about interreligious issues for churches, actors and participants of interreligious dialogue.
The island of glasses: an artistic story on ecumenism — José Vasquez Lopez, Mexico
Mexico is a country where many Christians have wrong information (or no information at all) about ecumenism. The country has seen many cases of religious intolerance among Christians of different faiths and denominations. My project promotes - in an artistic and young way - the necessity of establishing relationships between different beliefs. I believe there is a deep need for teaching new generations about the work of the ecumenical movement. In order to reach young people, the language being used is very important. The internship also showed me that there is a good network of churches with the possibility of interacting and sharing their different experiences. Therefore, I would like to make use of existing relations and ask for support of my project.
The performance will be a mixture of a fictional story read and acted for an audience, and songs. I am writing the story, and my brother, Marcos A. Lopez, is composing the songs, and we will perform the story together. After the performance, there will be an opportunity to give more information about ecumenism and ecumenical organisations.
I would like to raise the awareness of young people in the congregations on the importance of ecumenism. The aim is to make them think about and react to the ecumenical idea. My brother and I could serve as a link from WCC/CLAI to young people interested in ecumenism on a local level. We would like to start on a local level, visiting our own Mexican churches, and then proceed to the national level. If requested, we would also be willing to travel to neighbouring (Spanish-speaking) countries/churches.
Abstract of the story “The island of glasses” (original in Spanish!):
The story is set on an island. On this island, there are two communities that live apart from each other. One of them wears orange glasses (naranja), the other wears green glasses (verde). The glasses are a metaphor for the communities' different faiths. The island is threatened by a destructive flood. In this situation, the principal character, Verdel, a teenager from the green community, will together with Anya from the orange community and under the guidance of Lucio, a “glass-less” hermit, attempt to unite the two communities and reconcile their different beliefs in order to save the lives of the people. It is only after one of the characters has been murdered that the people come to their senses…
Church and nationalism — Iren Kaulics, Hungary
The project will be conference on the links between church denominations and nationalism/national identities. It will take place in central Europe, where our nations have gone through many clashes in the 20th century, often connected with denominational misunderstandings and prejudices.
The 3-6-day conference in Hungary in 2007 will have the involvement of young people (age 18-35) who are actively involved in local church life. It will bring together 30-40 people from the surrounding countries (Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary) from different traditional denominations (Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches).
The goals of this project are to raise awareness, sensitisation and education about church and nationalism. Hopefully, the conference will make an impact on more than just the people who actually participate, i.e., on their parishes, youth communities and smaller social groups.
Follow-up will take place the next year with national reunions after the conference - in autumn 2007 and spring 2008 .
Worship experiences — Gustavo Bonato, Brazil
Since the worship is the core of the church life, the idea is to introduce an ecumenical group of young people to many kinds of worship. Being introduced to different worship styles is a very good way to absorb ecumenism. The WCC 9th Assembly was an opportunity to discover that there are more than just a few denominations present in Porto Alegre. For example, there are Greek and Russian Orthodox churches in town, even if their congregations are quite small. The goal is to put together a group of different young people from various denominations, and have them “tour” different churches and experience different kinds of worship in Porto Alegre, Brazil over a period of several months, with the aim of starting ecumenical dialogue and mutual understanding.
The project involves forming a group of young Christians, creating a simple email system to contact them, and organizing visits with this group to various parishes in town (i.e. Methodist, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Pentecostal congregations). If the project is successful, I will publish a simple webpage in Portuguese and English to share the “formula” of the project. A test page is available, simulating what it will offer when the project is launched.
There will be a single introductory meeting with the whole group, and then the series of visits to the different churches. To avoid attending a worship where the symbols, procedures and theological concepts would not be understood, there will be a first encounter with the local priest/pastor, on Saturday, to explain the services the next day.
Except for the initial meeting, the introduction with the priests, and the actual church visits, this project does not include any other "official" gathering. But this of course, can be changed by the group, which can decide about gathering after the visits to evaluate and comment the experience.
Ecumenical formation and global awareness workshop — Tom Yonker, USA
This ecumenical formation and global awareness workshop will be a specific workshop (or series of workshops) which could be part of any church camp curriculum focusing on the ecumenical formation of the attendees. This workshop is designed for high-school students around the ages of 16-19. The basic principle is to create a space in a safe and unique environment where I can use the techniques, knowledge, and expertise that I have gained through the WCC internship programme to foster discussion, and to raise global and ecumenical awareness among the participants.
The workshop will consist of several sessions (of up to one-and-a-half hours) to take place in June and July 2006 at the high-school camp of the Northwest area of Missouri in the Mid-America region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the USA. Each session will allow time for general and small group discussions, and allow me to share aspects of my rich experience and the knowledge I’ve gained about the ecumenical movement.
Since this is an "ecumenical formation" project, the workshop would benefit immensely from the participation of even only one person from another church. Plans are underway to include someone from another denomination (hopefully very different from my own) in the leadership team of this workshop. It is clear that having another person to help lead, discuss, and share on issues of ecumenism would be a great benefit to the outcome of the workshop.
Most importantly, we will be monitoring the immediate reactions of the participants and analysing the quality of the discussions as the workshop progresses. It is to our advantage that this process will allow the workshop to improve as the week progresses.