EYCE Newsletter #15

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13

Dear friend,

Welcome to 2021!

Most (if not all) European countries are in a lockdown right now, yet the end of the pandemic has never been so close. The frustrations and depressions, which come with the lockdown, the season, and the pandemic are joined by newly found hope. Budding hope when seeing how our most vulnerable siblings are slowly but surely being vaccinated and knowing that (hopefully) rather sooner than later, we and our nearest and dearest will have their turn. This hope is so essential right now and I thank God for this hope in such a hard time.

We as the EYCE ExCo wanted to give you a small update on what is going on right and where we might need your help.

Yours in Christ,

Maria, Anne, Nora, Julia, Katherine, Aida, Hannah

EYCE Executive Committee

ECEN Assembly

The 13th Assembly of European Christian Environmental Network will take place online at the end of May/beginning of June (dates will come). The Assembly was first planned to take place in Germany, but due to the pandemic it will take place online for 2 days from start to finish. The Assembly will offer a broad ecumenical platform for strengthening cooperation and for sharing activities related ecology, climate change and nature protection among representatives from Angelican, Orthodox, Protestant and RomanCatholic Churches. For the first time, EYCE has the ability to send youth participants to the Assembly which has the topic "Reconciled with creation: a call for urgent action on climate and biodiversity". The program of the Assembly is varied, and to get a taste of it all we can mention eco-theology, climate change, eco-management, biodiversity and nature protection, environmental education and transition. The youth participants will also be a part of a workshop before the ECEN Assembly itself with the aim of getting to know each other, get more knowledge about what ECEN is and the topic of the Assembly. Also we will dig into what is of special concern of the youths. We will post information about the application process in late February/beginning of March on our social media platforms so stay tuned!

Statement on Ecojustice

The Climate Crisis is as big and as dangerous as a pandemic and can have even more catastrophic consequences. In 2020 the Religious Youth of Europe gathered through their faith based organizations to address the urgent threat of climate change. Here we call for action, and also make personal commitments in order to be a part of the change the world desperately needs.

The organizations behind the written statement are World Student Christian Federation - Europe, Junge Buddhistische Union, Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe, European Interfaith in Europe Youth Network, Forum for European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations, Soka Gakkai International. Other partner organisations are World Council of Churches, The Lutheran World Federation, Conference of European Churches and European Christian Environmental Network.

You can find the full statement written here: http://wscf-europe.org/prayer-and-solidarity/call-for-action-on-climate-justice/

The video you can find through this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp3jpbmX8ImzFCV1tqAs9Gu1sxcDRpLas

Call for Inspiration

In relation to the ECEN Assembly, the EYCE has been given a chance to give input on what one session in the program should contain. The ECEN is eager to include young people’s voices, as they are far more impacted by environmental changes than older generations are. They wanna give us space to share our voices. What we share is yet to be determined. Here we are depending on you and hoping for some input. We are looking for stories of caution and inspiration - tales of community and estrangement. If you are a young person concerned with the environmental situation we are in, tell us how it affected you and your peers. If you know someone or are someone who works closely with young people and has an environmental project going on, tell us. If you or someone you know has done something exciting and interesting in relation to the environment, share it with us. Please send suggestions to nora.antonsen@eyce.org. We are looking forward to and highly appreciate your help and hope to hear from you soon!

Committees

We have currently two committees, which would love to have additional members to help out:

• Fundraising committee: it helps to find new fundraising opportunities for the EYCE and helps to apply for them. If you have any experience with that, we would be very grateful if you were to support us with your gifts and experiences. This is for you? Contact julia.palosara@eyce.org

• Program Planning Committee: even in times like this pandemic we want to have some programming. Last year was really difficult and all our great plans got destroyed quite easily. But if you have cool ideas and wanna share your creativity with us or are a great talent at organizing events, come on and join us. We would be more than happy to have your support! This is for you? Contact maria.sonnleithner@eyce.org

Dates

Here are a few heads-up what is going to happen this year and you should keep it in mind or give it some space in your calendar. Also, share those dates with any other young people whom you think might be interested :) Keep in mind, we live in a pandemic, so dates might change, but we will keep you updated if that were to happen.

• 10th of April 2021: ECEN Preparation Workshop, hosted by EYCE and WSCF-E - online

• 31st of May - 1st of June: 13th ECEN Assembly - online

• 22nd - 26th of September: EYCE General Meeting - Oslo, Norway

Questions and Office

We currently have no one who can support the Executive Committee from the office. The volunteers do their best to keep the daily operations running. If you have any questions or ideas, please contact us via general.secretary@eyce.org or via social media - the channels are checked daily. As we currently have no possibilities to travel to Brussels, we cannot open our mail at the moment. We therefore ask for electronic communication and hope for understanding.

In the moment the ExCo is working on applications of EYF to get some funding for activities next year. Every helping hand is welcome! Thank you very much!

Photo by Erik Mclean

It is a new year with new challenges and new adventures. May the challenges be less difficult than the last year, may God gives us the strength to master those challenges. May the adventures be diverse and exciting in this new year, which we all look at with great hope. May God guide you and be with you through all those challenges and adventures.