Youth Engagement for Peace and Justice

Over the past few years we have seen the increasing frustration from young people who feel they are not being listened to by the government or the church. They see so many problems around them and want to act but don’t know what do to effect change.

In May 2018 we facilitated a 3 day event together with IWaTaLi our new local partner and the Wenenu network. And so the first ‘Christian Youth Dialogue on Justice and Peace event was launched. We thought we might have approx. 60 participants but had over 120 young people attend for the entire 3 day event.

It was an amazing time of sharing and learning. We were privileged to have speakers from South Africa, Canada, local NGO leaders and key denominational church leaders providing seminars and holding workshops and discussions with young people.

We realized once the event had started that this was the first time that youth leaders from several of the main denominations had gathered to talk about these issues.

By the end of the workshop the Christian Youth Forum on Peace and Justice was established led by youth leaders from five different church denominations. Our hope going forward is that this network will continue to grow and be active in empowering and equipping young people to enact much needed change. These five denominations include over 80% of the Christian youth in Papua and so there is huge potential to impact the lives of thousands of young people throughout Papua and Indonesia.