Participants in LWF’s Peace Messengers training visit Nelson Mandela’s House museum in Soweto, South Africa. Photo: LWF/LUCSA - Concelia Boshielo
LWF training in South Africa offers youth new perspectives on peacebuilding, reconciliation and resistance to injustice
(LWI) - Being a peacemaker “situates me at the intersection of spirituality and social responsibility." That was the perspective of one young Lutheran who attended the recent Peace Messengers training in South Africa, learning about the struggles of the churches in that country to build a peaceful, post-apartheid society.
The Lutheran World Federation’s (LWF) annual training offers the opportunity for a group of young people to explore both theological and practical aspects of conflict resolution and peacebuilding, offering tools to become leaders in this work in their own communities. This year, 30 young women and men from 23 LWF member churches gathered in Johannesburg to learn about the anti-apartheid struggle, as well as ongoing efforts to tackle inequalities, unemployment and discrimination in South African society today.
Participants visited Soweto township, discovering firsthand the stories of young people who died in the 1976 uprising led by black students against the teaching of Afrikaans in their schools. They went to the Hector Pieterson Museum, dedicated to the 12-year-old schoolboy who was one of the first to die when police began shooting into the crowds of demonstrators. They visited Nelson Mandela House where the Nobel Peace Prize laureate lived during his early years of resistance against the apartheid regime.
Peacebuilding is a responsibility shared across past, present and future generations.
Savanna Sullivan, LWF program executive for youth
“These visits offered a deeply human encounter with both the cost of injustice and the power of courageous young leadership,” said LWF Program Executive for Youth Savanna Sullivan, who led the 20 - 25 April training. The history of the Soweto student uprising “emphasizes the moral urgency of standing with young people whose voices challenge oppression,” she said.
Sullivan noted that a trip to the South Africa Apartheid museum and an exhibition featuring former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, highlighted churches’ important role of “confronting injustice, amplifying marginalized voices and engaging in prophetic witness.” Together with the young participants, she said, “we reflected that peacebuilding is a responsibility shared across past, present and future generations. It is inseparable from justice, healing and active resistance to discrimination in all forms.”
Sullivan said a visit to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, built on the site of – and with bricks taken from – a prison that housed opponents of the apartheid regime, including Nelson and Winne Mandela, sparked discussion on the deeper meaning of reconciliation. “We reflected on reconciliation that does not erase painful histories, but is honest about them, while unrelentingly turning toward hope,” she insisted.
LWF Program Executive for Youth Savanna Sullivan, talks with young Peace Messengers during a visit to South Africa’s Constitution Hill, a former prison complex during the apartheid regime. Photo: LWF/LUCSA - Concelia Boshielo
Participants visit South Africa’s Hector Pieterson Museum dedicated to the memory of one of the first schoolchildren shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising. Photo: LWF/LUCSA - Concelia Boshielo
Participants reflect on the history of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid during a visit to Constitution Hill, a former prison complex housing political opponents including Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Photo: LWF/LUCSA - Concelia Boshielo
“There is no way to soften history,” explained Onyango Shadrak, a participant from the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church. “The museums we visited, the stories and songs we heard, all insist that peace cannot be built on forgetting,” but rather “the acknowledged truth becomes the foundation for reconciliation. Being a peacebuilder, I must strive to create spaces where painful suffering is openly shared for healing to progress. As a young Lutheran, I see this work as the embodiment of faith that is both reflective and action oriented, a calling that situates me at the intersection of spirituality and social responsibility.”
For Elisa Perez Trejo from the Mexican Lutheran Church, the Peace Messengers training marked a “very fulfilling and moving time” of sharing, studying Scripture and learning about the local context in South Africa. “In a world with so much chaos,” she said, “the opportunity to take a week reflecting on peace can make a great difference in our communities. It gave me the energy to continue working towards a better future,” she said.
“As a Black American woman, visiting South Africa deeply moved me,” said Kristen Blount from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “because the history of apartheid reflected many of the same injustices, segregation and generational pain that Black people have endured in America.” Serving as a Peace Messenger, she said “has strengthened my belief that faith and peace are not weaknesses, but transformative forces that can confront injustice, heal historical wounds and unite people in pursuit of liberation and reconciliation.” Returning to the United States, she said, “I hope to apply these lessons through my church’s Young Adult Network and my synod by mentoring and empowering other young people.”
Rev. Lilana Kasper, executive director of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA) which hosted the young participants, said the annual training offers time “to reflect, share and gain new knowledge on a topic and a virtue that the world needs more than ever now.” This year, she concluded, “it especially gave young people from our region an opportunity to engage with youth people who share similar concerns across the world, strengthening their resolve in continuing the world for peace.”
