Strategic Workshop & Seminar on Ecumenism of the Youth Committee of the Bangladesh National Council of Churches

4th-9th March, Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh: Representatives from NCCB Youth met March 5th through 8th 2004, at Coxs Bazaar Bangladesh to attend a workshop outlining future plans and implementation. The meeting included the presence of Mr. Subodh Adhikari, General Secretary of NCCB, who spent his time with the youth and joined their strategic deliberations. His contribution to the workshop and time devoted to the youth activities was encouraging. The CCA youth staff provided inputs for the workshop. The meeting achieved its objective: to prepare an action plan for the next two years based on the needs of the youth, ensuring that the programs are owned by the youth in Bangladesh. The meetings and the workshop resulted in the NCCB Youth Action Plan 2004-2005. The Workshop had two distinct events: a seminar and a workshop devoted to the formation of an action plan and its preparation. General Secretary Mr. Subodh Adhikari, Dr. James Tejosh Das, Mr. Rakesh Peter Dass, and Youth Moderator Mr. Proloy Samaddar conducted the seminar. Topics addressed were: the ability to identify issues directly concerning todays Asian Youth, Interfaith Relations, Youth Empowerment, and a history of the Ecumenical movement. Small group activities worked on the action planning. This was conducted with a SWOT analysis of the youth movement of NCCB in the past two years, since its resurgence in 2002. The CCA staff started off the seminar portion of the meeting with an outline of contextual national-workshop guidelines and identifying local issues; an important point made was that through the 40 members present 1000s others should be, and would be, influenced by the outcome. The importance of religious tolerance and economic injustices leading to disparity in wealth in developing Asian countries was highlighted during the session. It was also mentioned that the spirituality of the Churches should contain flexibility as opposed to deconstruction to overcome todays challenges. Mr. Proloy Samaddar provided a historical perspective of the ecumenical movement spanning the past century. His emphasis was on the last 20 years in which many of the leaders have made significant contributions, some of which were the uniting of the Churches and youth together. Also noted, from a more national context, was a challenge where the Evangelist churchs heavily funded presence is overwhelming other Christian efforts. Mr. Subodh Adhikari spoke on Discipleship, and stressed the decreasing Christian population in Bangladesh over the past 20 years. He also mentioned a decrease in literacy rate and a 60 / 40 split in population between Catholics and other Christian Groups. His composure during an unfortunate disruption, because of the arrival of a college tour at the venue, was appreciated by the participants as a sign as to his leadership in a Christian context. He exhibited the same sort of patience that we learn to achieve through the church. according to the report of the program prepared by the youth committee of NCCB. Dr. Tejosh Dass described the geographical spread of Christianity and other religions throughout the Indian Subcontinent. He also focused on inter-religious tensions and the understanding of how it has evolved as a smart way to understand how we may change it. The following day and a half was devoted to developing an action plan for implementation by and for the youth for 2004-2005. Here the tempo clearly picked up. Guidelines were to devote attention to one or two current issues only. We followed a format geared toward solutions for issues with realistic National and local consequences. Four separate breakout groups generated much overlap with their individual outcomes. The deliberations came up with many issues, but three were adopted for action in 2004-05. These were: education, inter-faith relations, and a focus on issues of peace and justice.