FEATURE: Sport Opens Young People's Hearts in Costa Rica The Church's Mission Has to Be Experienced in Daily Life
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica/GENEVA, 26 May 2006 (LWI) - A key that opens the hearts of young people, is how the Lutheran Costa Rican Church - Iglesia Luterana Costarricense (ILCO) perceives its "Football for Life" program targeting children and adolescents from less privileged families.
The program's coordinator, Mr Roy Arias Cruz, says he sees football as an essential tool in attracting young people's attention. It serves as an important forum for discussion about drug consumption, its prevention, as well as violence, among the many other issues encountered in society by youth. Through sports, he adds, they "can be given hope that a different world is possible."
More than 50 collaborators, including young people's parents and friends in the community, volunteer for "Football for Life," which has become an independent ILCO-coordinated non-governmental organization, also supported by German Protestant churches' aid agency, "Bread for the World."
ILCO clearly affirms its support, saying that carrying out mission through sports is fully in agreement with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) understanding of mission. The Costa Rican church joined the LWF in 2002.
During the 25*28 April LWF-facilitated Latin American Church Leadership Conference in San José, Costa Rica, representatives of the region's churches and invited guests visited three ILCO projects. Among them was the Alajuelita community, a poor neighborhood of some 15,000 people, where the "Football for Life" program is being developed.
The Alajuelita Lutheran congregation also runs a daycare program for the children of working mothers as well as courses on English, music, and computer applications. The congregation additionally seeks employment opportunities for Nicaraguan migrants.
Another ILCO outreach area is the community of La Carpio, in the district of Uruca, where there is evidence of xenophobia. A poor neighborhood, La Carpio currently also houses a large number of undocumented Nicaraguan migrants. Here, the church offers training for women in dressmaking, and helps migrants to obtain legal status.
The Quitirrisi reserve, another ILCO working area, is a one-hour drive from the capital, San José, and home to the Huetar indigenous community. This community has been hard hit by the exodus of young people to the city in search of better educational and employment opportunities, which poses the risk that they lose touch with their indigenous roots.
Consequently, and in cooperation with its association for women, ILCO has begun the difficult task of recovering indigenous communities' educational and cultural roots, beginning with basic characteristics such as food, dress, language and natural medicine, according to reports from Evelyn Heck from Argentina, and Rodrigue Covarrubias from Chile, who participated in the LWF Church Leadership Conference.
The ILCO President, Rev. Melvin Jiménez, emphasizes the integral nature of the church's mission: "It must be a ministry of Word, sacrament and service" that is experienced in people's daily lives.
Presenting the LWF Mission Document, "Mission in Context: Transformation, Reconciliation and Empowerment," to the Church Leadership Conference, Rev. Dr Kjell Nordstokke, director of the LWF Department for Mission and Development, emphasized mission as a task of the Church, which must include proclamation of the gospel, serving the needy and protecting the most vulnerable in society. (536 words)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
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