Young adults explore Wesleyan heritage in Brazil

Feb. 18, 2005

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*

When 60 Methodist and United Methodist young adults met in Brazil, they not only explored their common religious heritage but also applied its principles to social issues in the larger world.

For Shalom Agtarap, a senior at the University of Washington, fellowship was the key.

“Whether it was being together at the table in the cafeteria or praying together in Bible study, impromptu jam sessions with the guitar and flute and even ‘dying’ together as we walked up steep hills … each time was fellowship that created a more sincere time to get to know the other and, eventually, how the other is being impacted by God,” she wrote about his experience.

On the Jan. 23-31 agenda in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was a two-day mission seminar on Wesleyan identity, sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries; a one-day ecumenical youth day, organized by the Council of Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Student Christian Federation and World Council of Churches; and a six-day intercontinental youth camp related to the 2005 World Social Forum.

In addition to selected young adults from the United States, the group included church youth from Cambodia, Indonesia, Angola, Mozambique, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile, and a 20-member youth delegation from the Methodist Church in Brazil.

“It was through spending time with members from the Brazilian, world and U.S. Methodist delegations at this event that I was able to gain a greater insight about what it means to be an active part of a genuine global church,” said Theon L. Johnson III, a student at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. “For a few moments in time, I was privileged to view a snapshot of what God is calling people to do.”

Sharrell Barber, a student at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., realized that despite the difference in language and life experience, Christianity provided a unifying element for the young adults.

“When we prayed and studied God’s word and sang, we were one,” she reflected. “When we laughed and fellowshipped, we were one. And even when we didn’t quite understand each other, we were still one by God’s spirit.”

That fact, she added, gives her strength to fight for justice and equality. “Unified as Christians, we can change this world for the better.” 

The mission seminar’s purpose was to help leaders from the agency’s global youth networks understand church youth programs and mission education, according to Tamara Walker, the Board of Global Ministries’ staff executive for youth and young adults. The call to mission, through both their Wesleyan identity and ecumenical networks, also was explored.

David Elizondo of Monterrey, Mexico, said the experience gave him an understanding of people’s needs, both materially and spiritually. “Sometimes, we Christians only focus on ourselves, on only our close friends and families,” he added. “We do not see people. If you see someone suffering, then you are going to do something.”

The young adults applied their faith perspective to workshops on social justice, advocacy and organizing issues during the World Social Forum, an annual event held simultaneously when the World Economic Forum meets in Davos, Switzerland.

David Wildman, a board executive who participated, said the World Social Forum provides a place where marginalized people can speak and organize. The forum challenges young leaders to address issues of poverty and injustice through the power of people working in solidarity.

Issues raised in the mission seminar and forum challenged Tiv Linath, a national organizer of Methodist youth in Cambodia, “to understand more about the situation in my country.”

C. Michele Johns, a master of divinity student at Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, noted that she was a veteran of many marches but never had experienced one like the forum’s opening march. “Finally, I was marching with other Methodists, passionate about our denominational heritage and about connecting that to social and political activism,” she said.

“As people of faith, we have a concept of a place where all live with dignity, where resources are not hoarded by a few while many suffer,” she wrote about the forum. “We are called to make simple and difficult choices today to bring that world into reality. Within the Methodist Church, we have the people power to help create on this earth a world where all can live in dignity.”

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.