"We are the church not just for tomorrow!"

"We want to be active and not passive members of our church! The signal of the two youth representatives at the ELM partner church consultation to the church leaders was unmistakable:

Young people are also the church of today, not just of tomorrow. And their list of demands is long and a request to the church structures that make it difficult for certain groups, such as women, to participate equally in development and decision-making processes, not least in leadership positions.
On Tuesday morning, Eva Banda from Malawi and Tobias from Brazil were given the opportunity to present the demands formulated by the participants of the International F2GO-online Peace Camp and to put them up for discussion. The topics were changing the framework conditions for participation, the willingness of leaders to listen without bias, to share important information with the young people or to give young people space and to take the interests of e.g. minorities in the church seriously as well as to create opportunities for networking (also internationally). The demands, which resulted in a petition to the PKK delegates at the end of the presentation, expressed the desire for democratic participation, but also for active struggle against abuse of power in the form of corruption, nepotism and concentration of power in a few hands.
Enough food for thought for the assembled leaders and representatives of the ELM partner churches. In three groups they discussed different issues of corruption, gender and communication with youth.
How the suggestions and demands can be implemented on the way to a just church of the future and not just become a paper tiger will certainly be part of the discussions in the coming days.

Peace Place2GO: Interview with Tobias Da Paixão Fiegenbaum

Ingrid Lüdemann talks to Tobias Da Paixão Fiegenbaum from IECLB (Brazil) about his participation in the Peace Place2GO camp and the partner church consultation of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM). What hopes does the 24-year-old associate with the conference? What did the participants of the camp bring with them?

Peace Place2GO: Interview with Eva Banda

Ingrid Lüdemann talks to Eva Banda from Malawi about her participation in the PeacePlace2GO camp and the partner church consultation of the Ev.-luth. Missionswerk in Niedersachsen (ELM). What are her hopes for the conference? What did the participants of the camp bring with them?