In July, 35 young leaders from 14 countries across Asia – part of the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Youth in Asia Training in Religious Amity (YATRA) – travelled to the Indonesian city of Bandung to meet with faith leaders and young activists engaged in interreligious dialogue and work.
The Interdenominational Cooperation Fund enables United Methodists to share a presence and a voice in the activities of several national and worldwide ecumenical organizations such as the World Council of Churches.
The group was welcomed and hosted by the Pasundan Christian Church (PCC). A member church of WCC, PCC's mission is "to become church for others." PCC lives out its mission running hospitals, a women's crisis center, a university, and 58 local churches throughout West Java, Java, and Banten.
According to Dr Peniel Rajkumar, program executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation for the WCC and organizer of the YATRA program, the encounter with young interreligious practitioners was meant "to offer YATRA participants glimpses of what it means to be compassionately interreligious in practice – to teach us how love of God and love of one's neighbor can complement and complete each other."
The gathering was organized "with the hope that our heads would be inspired and hearts would be warmed to walk the paths of justice and peace hand in hand with our religious neighbors."
And when it comes to working with those of different faiths, Pastor Obertina Johanis shared with the group how "a real hope [for this work] lies in the youth, the young people." Since 2005, PCC has run an interfaith camp for more than 500 youth from across the region to do just this: bring young people from diverse faith traditions and communities together to address topics such as diversity, nationalism, radicalism, justice, and how to build interfaith community.
The gathering brought together Christian, Muslim, Confucian and Baha'i alumni from the camp to share with YATRA participants their vision and passion for building interreligious understanding – and more importantly, friendship – through "theology cafes," film screenings, photography, social media forums, and dialogues with other youth.
For the YATRA participants, who spent two weeks exploring what it means to be "passionately Christian and compassionately interreligious," the faith, creativity, and courage of the Indonesian youth working to bridge religious and cultural divides in Bandung was nothing short of inspiring.
The group held a lively discussion around systemic and structural challenges facing their work, the need to replace ideologies of intolerance with those of tolerance and diversity, the need for strong partnerships, and the driving passion and faith behind what they do.
This sense of shared passion, faith and struggle – from West Java, to Hyderabad, to Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and beyond – is the solidarity from which newfound courage and creativity for interreligious engagement can take root.
For Tiana Hsing, a YATRA participant from Malaysia, this solidarity remains a fundamental part of what makes this work both necessary and possible moving forward.
"It was revealing how the youth in Bandung face the same problems as I face back at home. Now, I don't feel like I'm alone. Even if we're from different religions, we all face the same issues… we have to persevere."
World Council of Churches website
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