WCC NEWS: Pacific urges youth to understand ancestral lessons of land, sea and faith

Young people have been challenged to envisage a future for the region and work together towards building a dynamic Pacific in preparation for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly.   Representatives of churches worldwide gathered at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey in June 2018, for a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches. Here, a song performed by participants from the Pacific. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 06 July 2021 Pacific Conference of Churches general secretary Rev. James Bhagwan said: “it is possible to adapt, evolve and grow while maintaining all that is good and true from faith, indigenous spirituality and culture.” Speaking at the launch of the Regional Youth Ecumenical Council, Bhagwan encouraged the young leaders to vision the future that would be their present.   “The present in which you will lead the community, the church, the nation, the region, the planet. It is you the youth, who have the power to define what our tomorrow will look like,'' he said.   The Regional Youth Ecumenical Council was held online after COVID-19 stopped all international travel.   "'It is important to understand the lessons your ancestors of land, sea and faith learned in order to guide you forward. If you do not understand what it is that brought your people and places to this point in time – to where you are, to who you are, how can you forge ahead?'' Bhagwan remarked. “I challenge you to also be wary of the ideas you inherit – to be critical in your thinking and acceptance of old conventions and previous forms, sometimes accepted without question and once accepted, they set a boundary around creativity, around inspiration and around what can be done and what can’t be done,” he added.    Baghwan invited the young people to ponder some complex questions. ”For example, how do we take indigenous knowledge, ancient principles and wisdom and bring that into the future, removing the boundaries and limitations when we place culture into a glass box and make it static? How can our culture evolve? How can we leapfrog from pre-modern to postmodern, from pre-contact oral culture – where we sing, we dance, we weave, into a world where we are now coding?” The Regional Youth Ecumenical Council has been established to foster intergenerational engagement with church leaders on critical issues and to lead young people in the Pacific in prophetic activism for change.   Learn more about the Pacific Conference of Churches WCC central committee meeting 2021 The 11th Assembly of the WCC in Karlsruhe, Germany Youth in the Ecumenical movement See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland