Empowering young people and the ongoing reformation
Taizé, France/Geneva, 29.08.2014.
The LWF Global Young Reformers Network is seeking ways to cooperate with the ecumenical community of Taizé.
During a visit to Taizé, the leadership group of the Young Reformers Network invited the Taizé brothers and young volunteers to take part in the Young Reformers Conference in 2015, from 22 August to 4 September in Wittenberg, Germany. The conference will bring together Young Reformer delegates from all 144 LWF member churches.
Bringing the church’s gifts to life
“The Taizé brothers and volunteers can bring an ecumenical and spiritual perspective to the conference,” said LWF Youth Secretary Caroline Richter, meeting with Brother Alois Löser, the prior of the community.
“2017 should not be about finding our confessional identity over against one another, but rather with one another,” Brother Alois said. “The many gifts of our churches come to life only in an ecumenical way. You, the young people, can show this.”
“The Wittenberg conference is a wonderful way to give the reformation an international perspective,” says leadership group member Julia Braband of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. “Taizé shares our view of ‘ecclesia semper reformanda’, of a church that keeps reforming.”
The ecumenical community of brothers in Taizé, France, has been leading youth meetings since the 1970s, inviting thousands of young Christians from all over the world every week. It is especially known for its spirituality, which includes three prayers with songs in many languages every day. In 2015 it will mark its 75th anniversary. This anniversary will also commemorate the 100th birthday of Brother Roger Schutz. He was the founder of the community, and in 2005 he was killed.
What are you set free from? – ecumenical discussions
In connection with these celebrations, the community has invited young people to discuss ways of engaging in the world on the basis of faith. “We began to explore ways in which we can take part in these celebrations with the young witnesses from the LWF,” said Richter. The LWF Youth Department has already sent a young person to lead a seminar on climate justice and the climate fast initiative during a Taizé youth meeting this summer.
At the seminar, the leadership group also presented the LWF Global Young Reformers Network to the young people visiting Taizé. “Our theme ‘Liberated by God’s Grace’ was very well received,” said Rev. Monica Villarreal, a leadership group member from North America. “It sparked much discussion about freedom in the theological sense and in everyday experience.”
The visit to Taizé was part of a meeting of the Young Reformers leadership group in Geneva from 19 to 26 August. In seminars and meetings they jointly prepared future activities, such as the virtual conference “Liberated by God’s Grace – Change the World” on Reformation Day 2014 and the Young Reformers Wittenberg Conference in 2015.
Photo: Anti Kipper, http://antikipper.com
report prepared based on information provided by the LWF http://www.lutheranworld.org
Translated from English by LELBĀL pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe