WCC NEWS: An invitation to young people to make their voices heard in a WCC publication

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Youth Engagement in the ecumenical movement plans to publish a book with young people’s voices for the first time in 25 years. We are inviting young people ages 18-30 from our member churches, ecumenical partners, and people of goodwill all over the world to submit articles on the current situation of young people today: their challenges, the transformational potentials they see, and their vision of the movement, moving forward.

The last published book, Ecumenism and Youth, was back in 1995, after the first Ecumenical Global Gathering of Youth and Students in Brazil. The book was a product of the consultations with young people from the international participants prior to and during the gathering. It presents the challenges of the young people during that period and explores opportunities for further work.

Joy Eva Bohol, WCC programme executive for Youth Engagement, reflected that “between 1995 and today, no book was published to update the current wave of young people’s engagement in the ecumenical movement. Since the 10th Assembly in Busan, South Korea, there is an increasing inquiry on the ecumenical community to address concerns and engagement of young people within our churches and society. After consulting with young people, participants in WCC events between the 10th and the 11th Assembly, and several church leaders, there is a need to provide an updated resource to get to know young people of today and explore ways for the church to effectively engage this age group, 18-30, in the ecumenical movement.”

The first round of selection submissions should be an abstract of 350 words maximum by 15 May 2020. The full article is not needed.

Up to 30 abstracts will be selected and authors will be invited to submit the full articles for the final round of selection, bearing in mind that all submissions must be in English. Additionally, the editorial team will ensure that authors selected have a balanced representation of the eight regions, different church families/traditions, gender, location and expertise.

The WCC wants to empower young Christians to liven up the ecumenical movement and this is one of the platforms they present to young people to connect and contribute towards the revival of the church and the communities proposing innovative approaches and solutions to local and global issues, driving social progress and inspiring change.

Guidelines and Submission form

Youth in the Ecumenical Movement

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 general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.

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