wfn.org | Re: LWI 2008-077 LWF Global Training for Young Leaders Launched in Africa

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

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LWF Global Training for Young Leaders Launched in Africa
'Daily Bread' Is About Creating Hope and Justice

NAIROBI, 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 the
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. (557 words)

>*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 141 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.3 million. The LWF acts
on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenicalassistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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