wfn.org | It’s time for youth in Lithuanian church to play David and confront Goliath

["Franziska Surber" <Franziska.Surber@warc.ch>]

>World Alliance of Reformed Churches
>News Release
>23 June 2009

It’s time for youth in Lithuanian church to play David and
confront Goliath

Youth should be entrusted with church leadership positions a
senior Reformed church executive has told leaders of the
Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania.

Acknowledging recent problems with leadership in the Lithuanian
church, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches (WARC), told members of the church’s governing body
that: “It took a very young man, David, to confront and slay
Goliath, even though he did not have the giant’s stature.”  

Evoking the story of the giant Goliath’s threats to the people
of Israel, Setri Nyomi said, “Let us listen to our young people.
They can inspire us to renew our commitment to God in a way that
makes a difference.”

The comments were made in a sermon preached at a weekend worship
service in the northeastern city of Birzai during the church
synod’s annual meeting.  In his remarks, Nyomi offered the
biblical story of David and Goliath as an example of how young
people can confront and overcome seemingly insurmountable
challenges facing their people.   

In the biblical account of the battle between David and Goliath,
the young man draws on his faith in God for the courage to
confront and fell his Philistine opponent armed with only a
slingshot.

Nyomi expressed his appreciation for the work of the church’s
current senior leader, General Superintendent Rimas Mikalauskas,
saying: “In these times of transition, Rev. Mikalauskas is doing
great work to rebuild the church and to keep it faithful to its
mission.”  

The synod was meeting in the context of worldwide celebrations
of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Protestant Reformer,
John Calvin.  In a later presentation linked to the Calvin
Jubilee, Nyomi referred to how young Calvin was at the time he
was given responsibility for rebuilding the church in Geneva and
urged older church members in Lithuania to “create space for
young people to use their gifts, just as Calvin’s gifts were
affirmed in his twenties.” 

Roman Catholics make up 79 per cent of Lithuania’s population,
followed by Eastern Orthodoxy at 4.9 per cent.  Protestants
represent 1.9 per cent of the population, with the largest number
being Lutheran.  The Reformed Church of Lithuania, first
chartered over 450 years ago, lost most of its clergy and
membership and all of its property following 1945 when Russia
took over the country.  When the country regained its
independence in 1991, church property was returned.  Since then,
the church has struggled to rebuild. Today only a few of those
church facilities have been restored; there are eight ordained
clergy and a church membership of 10,000.  

“My experience in the synod meetings told me this church has the
‘David spirit,’” Nyomi says. “The time is right for youth with
their gifts of energy, vision and faith, to take up roles in the
church and confront both its internal and external challenges.” 

>***
>Contact:
>Kristine Greenaway 
>Executive Secretary, Communications
>World Alliance of Reformed Churches
>150 Route de Ferney
>P.O. Box 2100
>1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
>tel.  +41.22 791 62 43 
>fax: +41.22 791 65 05
>web: www.warc.ch ( http://www.warc.ch/ ) 
>e-mail: kgr@warc.ch