More news from "le grand Kiff" - Youth Rap with Calvin

Youth rap with Calvin
A news feature from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
John Calvin wore sun glasses and rapped his story to the tune of the popular music classic, "We will, we will rock you". Audience members, invited to write their own raps, produced comic songs about God's mission, Calvin's example and the singer's sense of calling.
There are voices which say that the church in Europe today is dying. But the energy and engagement on show at a recent youth event in Lyon, France - timed to coincide with the 13th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) - exuded hope and expectation.
The eventdubbed Le Grand Kiff brought together some 1200 young people from France and abroad.(Kiffer means "to love something and find it cool.")
Organized by the Reformed Church of France, the youth programme (18-22 July) was designed as an introduction to the theme of the CEC Assembly: "Called to One Hope in Christ".
Five days packed with activities ranging from an exploration game in Lyon to rock concerts, film nights, group Bible studies and a wide variety of creative workshops, were geared to have this generation of 15-21 years express where they are vis-à-vis our planet, God, the church and themselves.
The programme included time for youth to explore opportunities to express solidarity with the world. Organizations like Scouting France, CIMADE, FAIR TRADE and OIKOCREDIT Lyon introduced themselves and their key themes through a range of simulation games and interactive workshops.
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) used the occasion to share how the Alliance engages young people in its work. Marie-Line Demeuse from the United Protestant Church in Belgium spoke enthusiastically aboutthe Comrades, Artisans and Partners(CAP) youth work camps. Rooted in the missionary relationship between the United Protestant Church in Belgium and the Rwanda Presbyterian Church, the camps bring young people from several countries together to serve the needs of each church and build lasting relationships to overcome the legacies of colonialism.
Demuse told young people at the event, "In our camp we calculated our energy use and waste production per person per day. As you can imagine, this gave vastly different outcomes for the delegations from South Africa, Rwanda, The Netherlands or Belgium. We talked about alternatives and God's care for creation and the steps we can take together".
WARC is involved with the camps through the mission project "Making a Difference" in which churches in Rwanda, Southern Africa and Belgium share mission expertise.
Jet den Hollander, WARC's executive secretary for mission, linked Demeuse's CAP camp stories to the work of other youth networks in the Alliance as they think through the implications of WARC's "Accra Confession", a statement issued in 2004 calling on churches to resist negative economic models and preserve natural resources. See http://www.warc.ch/documents/ACCRA_Pamphlet.pdf
The same call for justice came through in the song "Violencia" performed by Belkys Teherán from Colombia who together with her compatriot Gustavo Quintero formed the Calvin rap choir.
As for Calvin himself, he developed new ecumenical dimensions at Le Grand Kiff as he was brought to life by Stefan Marculet, a Geneva-based student from the Romanian Orthodox Church. "Born in France", Marculet rapped, "A refugee to Geneva, I fought in my life for these ideas: Equality for all, especially the poor, equal education and respect for the earth. We can change the world!"
That conviction was clearly shared by the youth united at Le Grand Kiff.

Le Grand Kiff brings more than 1200 young people to Lyon

Even as CEC assembly participants leave Lyon the Grand Kiff still continues bringing together young people from across Europe and further afield for an international youth camp.
They've been following our work at the assembly through the twitter feed and via Gérald Machabert's twitter.
More than 1200 young people will be leaving Lyon tomorrow.

Le grand KIFF a aussi un blog, un coin délires et d'autres infos à découvrir.

mixed blessing

The nature of youth participation in the CEC assembly is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it is fantastic that young people are being encouraged to participate as young delegates or stewards. It’s great that they are given opportunities to encourage each other, to share ideas and experiences, to create friendships. It is also very encouraging that it is recognised how important the youth are to the future of CEC. On the other hand the approach taken towards the youth can emphasize the differences rather than the similarities between young(er) and old(er). It risks reinforcing the distinction and not facilitating mutual respect and proper engagement and dialogue between people of different ages.
Some of the comments made in the plenary hall this morning showed how young people can be seen as a separate group that thinks and acts in different ways. Of course there are differences that should be recognized, celebrated and accommodated, but as with any demographical group, the similarities are much more important. If young people are to be able to fully participate in and contribute to the work of CEC, they must be recognised as full and equal partners.

What's the first discussion? Youth!

This is the first post out of the plenary hall. The first discussion was about... the youth. The proposal to the nomination committee made by the central committee was balanced in questions of gender, denomination and region, but not of youth and the relation between lay and ordained people. The nomination committee is important, because works out the lists with the candidates for the different committees of the Assembly, and also of the central committee of CEC.

There was only 1 young person proposed (Teodor from Romania) - with 11 members within the nomination committees. In the Ecumenical movement and also in the standing orders of the Assembly is written that there should be at least 20% of all candidates younger than 30.

So Stephi asked the Assembly, why the proposed list was no youth balanced. Then a discussion started with Milan from the Czech Republic, supporting Stephi. But in the end we were not successful - there were only a few delegates supporting us. Even some young delegates didn't agree. I was a little bit disappointed about that.

Nevertheless, it was great that we as youth showed that we are there (at the whole only 40 out of 306 delegates, which is only 11%). Now the next task should be to make our contribution to the discussions about questions, not directly linked to youth matters - and at the same time to insist on the significance of real youth participation in all Ecumenical matters.

A great Danish youth choir singing an evening song in the open air

Here are a couple of photos of the Danish youth choir. They arrived today and sang for staff and central committee members at the end of the evening meal. It was a beautiful moment at the end of a long day of final preparations and set up. It lifted everyone's spirits and really helped remind us that the assembly is about encounter and listening to witnesses of hope from all over Europe and beyond.
So what is your favourite song to give you hope at the end of a long day?

The computers are getting packed and we're online with twitter!

Today in Brussels, Strasbourg and Geneva preparations for the assembly are in their final phase. Most of the staff computers in Geneva will get packed up and driven to Lyon this afternoon.
As we all know the assembly is about hope ... today the main hope is that it will all go well!
In the offices in Geneva the spirit is good, the corridors are filling up with boxes to be shipped and the CEC assembly has started tweeting find us here twitter.com@cecassembly
maybe you could start tweeting too, that would be good and you can even do it from your mobile phones!
Annie will be the first CEC member of staff to arrive in Lyon. Stewards will start to meet tomorrow. Anyway folks, we're nearly there and it's going to be hard work but good fun too!
Keep hoping ;-)