KENYA: Fifth Workshop of Network Small Christian Communities in Africa Centralizes on Revitalization of Youth SCC
As the Universal Church prepares for the Youth Synod to be held in Rome next month, members of the Network Small Christian Communities in Africa (NSCCA) met in Nairobi Kenya to explore ways of revitalizing young people in the Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in Africa.
The objectives of the meeting included, to listen to the young people and learn their experiences in SCCs, to find strategies of addressing young people through the SCCs, and finally, to focus and discuss the characteristics of SCCs that can be used for further networking.
of the 5th NSCCA Meeting in Nairobi, with him are
Rt. Rev. Method Kilaini, Auxiliary of Bukoba and
Dr. Miriam Leidenger from Missio Aachen
According to AMECEA Secretary General Rev. Fr. Anthony Makunde who was present at the beginning of the three-days meeting held from 14th to 17th September, 2018, the Church in AMECEA Region has taken Small Christian Communities as the way or model of being Church. However, the participation of the young people is still very minimal.
“The model of Koinonia (Communion) embraced by the Second Vatican Council is realized and expressed practically in our Region and in the Continent in the Small Christian Communities. An SCC is a communion of families, living in the neighbourhood, coming together to express and to live their faith and after almost forty years of planting Small Christian Communities in AMECEA Region, and indeed we have registered a number of achievements through this model. However, there is a great concern that young people are mostly the absentees in weekly gatherings,” Fr. Makunde pointed out.
The Secretary General of AMECEA told the participants of the fifth meeting of the Network Small Christian Communities in Africa that among the concerns of young people from AMECEA Region who met in Lusaka recently is that the youth are yet to see a proper place and a role that will motivate them to be on board as far as Church mission is concerned.
at Holy Cross Dandora. The occasion coincided with the Feast of the Parish
Exaltation of the Cross where 300 candidates received the Sacrament of
Confirmation. Rt. Rev. John Oballa Owaa of Ngong
Diocese was the main celebrant.
In exploring ways to improve young people’s participation in the SCCs, the participants of the meeting studied the Youth Synod interventions proposed by Young people from AMECEA countries, which were presented by AMECEA Pastoral Department Coordinator Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo and Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey, MM. The participants also shared about the situation of young people’s involvement in SCCs in their respective Conferences and proposed ways of improving their participation. At the same time, participants listened and took stalk of presentations from two successful Groups of Youth in SCCs in Kenya; one group being from Kenyatta University in Nairobi and the other being at Dandora Parish in the Archdiocese of Nairobi.
According to Fr. Chimombo, the participants of the meeting joined both the Dandora Parish and Kenyatta University groups on Sunday 16th October to have a practical experience of how the youth are involved both in SCCs at the parish level and at University level, and what was experienced there is part of the feedback towards the initiative to revitalizing Young people in the SCCs.
The fifth meeting of Network Small Christian Communities in Africa was attended by representatives from the AMECEA countries, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) Secretariat, Missio Aachen-Germany and a number of Network Small Christian communities from other Africa countries outside the AMECEA Region such as Burundi, Cameroon, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
∽End∽
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
