wfn.org | What can the churches do about unemployed youth?

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

LWF magazine raises critical questions on economic injustice

GENEVA, 4 March 1999, (lwi)  Youth Unemployment  is the title of the
February1999 Youth in Church and Society magazine of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) Department for Mission and Development (DMD).

Edited by Rev. Ondrej Prostrednik, LWF-DMD Secretary for Youth in
Church and Society and Birgitta Voltenauer from the same department,
the 51-page issue presents personal stories about unemployed young
people throughout the world, and raises questions about what the
churches do or can do for youth as they suffer the effects of
economic injustice.

Reference is made to the LWF 1997 Assembly in Hong Kong, during which
member churches, represented by their delegates, stated that: "The
process of globalization increases the number of people being
marginalized in our societies and many people are deprived of their
basic social security." The editors further note that "to work is
part of our being created in God's image...." and that  "....this
understanding of work certainly has implications on how we think and
act about issues related to employment and justice in the labor
market."

"Without an opportunity to work, people cannot fully develop their
potential and their life is very limited," Prostrednik and Voltenauer
conclude.

Most of the contribution from youth in the LWF member churches,
including the personal stories, which are told in English, German and
Spanish, give an overview of unemployment in Africa, Asia, Europe,
Latin America and North America.

Photographs and other illustrations accompany such titles as: A Very
Humiliating Situation (Brazil), Youth is the Present not only the
Future (El Salvador), Youth and HIV/AIDS Programs in Southern Africa
( Zambia, Malawi, Botwana),  Market Value   Human Value? (Germany),
Fellow Laborers in Christ's Vineyard (Liberia), and Unemployment and
Disabled Youth (USA).

*       *       *
Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/