wfn.org | Young Lutherans Affirm Need to be Actively Engaged in

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Young Lutherans Affirm Need to be Actively Engaged
in Transforming Economic Globalization 
Three-year LWF Youth Leadership Program Concludes

BATAM ISLAND, Indonesia/GENEVA, 10 December 2003 (LWI) - There
is need for the Lutheran communion to be actively engaged in
transforming economic globalization. This was the affirmation by
participants in a three-year Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
leadership program involving young people from LWF member
churches throughout the world.

The group of young adults met November 23-28 on Batam Island
near Singapore, to formally conclude the International Youth
Program-Transformation through Participation (IYP-TTP), a process
that began in 2001. The consultation's theme was "Toward the
Fullness of Life: Renewing Hope in Transforming Economic
Globalization." The program's work is carried out by the LWF desk
for Youth in Church and Society (YICAS) in the Department for
Mission and Development.

Indonesian pastor Reinhard Rajagukguk from the Protestant
Christian Batak Church (HKBP) welcomed the participants during
the opening worship service attended by around 500 people. YICAS
Executive Secretary Rev. Teresita Valeriano spoke about the
leadership program that started three years ago when 22 young men
and women from Lutheran churches in 16 countries began
internships on economic globalization and leadership formation in
their congregations. 

During the November consultation, the IYP-TTP participants
shared their opinions on topics ranging from perceived youth
permissiveness regarding drugs, alcohol, sexual behavior and
HIV/AIDS to concerns that youth in the west are not sufficiently
Bible-based in their understanding of the faith. The program
participants were drawn from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh,
Canada, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia,
Liberia, Norway, Russia, Slovak Republic, United States and
Venezuela. Although not all of them were in Batam, the entire
group has been engaged in raising awareness about globalization
with the aim to share their personal experiences with the larger
Lutheran communion.

During the opening worship service the international visitors
asked the host Indonesians - mainly single young women living on
Batam Island - why they had migrated from other regions in
Indonesia. "I came from North Sumatra because there are factory
jobs here. At home there is no work. Now I can send money to my
parents," was a common response. From the various remarks by
participants, it was evident that globalization is a word and
process with different meanings and impacts on the worldwide
Lutheran communion. In the North globalization is perceived
differently than in the South, where negative effects are
comparatively more apparent. 

The IYP-TTP final consultation was a forum to assess the group's
experience, develop general directions for future youth
leadership formation, and strengthen member churches in
proclaiming and living out the gospel by creating models of hope,
particularly in response to the negative effects of economic
globalization. The meeting also sought to inspire and deepen the
faith of individual participants by jointly pursuing justice and
spirituality of life together as a global communion of
Christians.

Call to Challenge Economic Globalization that Contradicts the
Building of Communion

In her keynote address, Rev. Sandra Bach, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Bavaria, Germany, commended the youth program for
demonstrating that there is "hope and enough power to transform
economic globalization," and respond to the needs of Lutheran
churches for visionary new leadership in a rapidly changing
global order. 

Speaking on the subject "Incarnation of Hope: Transforming
Economic Globalization," Bach affirmed that despite substantial
negative information on globalization worldwide, there is hope
for a better life for all God's children and the created order.
"Globalization in its fullness of life," she said, is "an
oikoumene where diversity and community build a positive
communion."

Bach gave an overview of her own context, Germany, which she
described as an economically privileged country. But, she said,
many people there "are frightened that the current economic
developments and political decisions will undermine our social
system."
 
She commented on a general description of Batam Island: Fifty
years ago the tiny island had only 6,000 inhabitants in a few
fishing villages, small shipyards and oil industry support
companies. Today, a population of nearly half a million mainly
unskilled industrial workers originally from North Sumatra are
employed in factories and the tourism service industry, where
they seek to support their families back at home. For Bach, the
ethical and logical problem of globalization "now means that
profits will be privatized while damages will be socialized both
in regard to ecology and the human environment." She remarked
that economic globalization had resulted in an upside-down
economy "so absent of concern for basic human values and  so
dangerous that Christians must condemn such economic
globalization as being counterproductive to building the wider
communion of humanity." 

But Bach noted that there are positive aspects about
globalization. There is a growing worldwide network of people who
work together for human rights or ecological concerns, and this
shows the increasing possibilities for education and establishing
human relations. She stressed that for the LWF as a communion of
churches, "the first and main source" of analyzing globalization
are the voices of its members, "especially those who are
suffering and must deal with the life-threatening effects of
current economic developments." 

LWF Council youth members from Indonesia and South Africa, and
resource persons from Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Nigeria and
Switzerland also participated in the concluding meeting of the
IYP-TTP. (866 words)

(By LWI correspondent Lance Woodruff, Thailand)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. 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.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where
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material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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