Youth Consultation Meeting: A Secular Guy’s Uncensored Testimony

Article written by: Fouad Kazan - Communication and PR Department

Last week, I was asked to attend an event about youths and their role in the middle east and to be honest, I cared very little about the topic. Not only the event discussed a topic which seemed irrelevant when compared to what is at stake in the region, it was on my precious day off. On that fateful day, I drowsily woke up early and grudgingly went to the meeting as I cursed the heavens. Since I arrived late and the meeting had already begun, I told myself: 15 minutes down and 9 hours to go of this menacing lecture!  I opened the doors and found everyone seated. However, to my surprise, it didn’t look much like a boring lecture.  There was no old guy being all preachy and boring, or some academic who likes to throw sophisticated terms to look smart and appeal to the ladies. To my great shock, it was a back and forth consultation!

Around 20 Youths my age from different denominations and professional backgrounds, were engaging in a back and forth discussion with two attentive priests, a nun, and a geo-political consultant. As the youth shared their concerns about their status in Lebanon and the region, the meeting brought some pretty serious topics which I have never imagined actually giving attention to. As such I can confidently declare that the event actually planted or ignited something deep within me: The necessity for change. While being deemed as a “Consultation”, both sides exchanged jokes which seemed to keep everyone engaged. Nevertheless, the imperativeness of such an event, forced everyone to re-focus their efforts on the points of discussion at hand.

Parallel to the socioeconomic problems impaling our region, lies in the inability of churches to address its youths. We discussed how nowadays’ youths are feeling abandoned and forsaken when during these troublesome times, they need every shred of help they can get. They expressed that church leaders are sitting high up on their thrones, where they remain ignorant of the pain youths are feeling. They also wondered about churches’ vast reserves of resources, capital, real estate, and what not, that can all be put into the service of believers. After all, isn’t it what Christ ordained us to do? To help the less fortunate?

Another point of concern, was the lack of inclusivity of youths in church decision making. Participants, who are well educated people, brought-up the subject called ‘Theory of Change’ which is used as a catalyst to spearhead the discussion. They claimed that the church and its leaders in the region are in dire need of change their behavior to insure the sustainability of Christian communities in the region. Participants stated that youths must be part of the decision making process since they can be sources of creativity, brilliant ideas, and innovation. As such, this will lead to “Out of the box” thinking and initiatives. They also made it clear that unless leaders implement a new set of policies, the church might end up losing its flock.

Other topics surrounding good governance, individual work, being active on the policy-making front, citizenship where also brought to light and were exhaustively discussed. Moreover, additional issues such as the interference of the church in politics, a problem still lingering since the days of the Ottoman Empire, were also debated. While the discussions where of “Christian and Ecumenical” in nature, another important subject participants touched upon was the imperativeness of Christians to work hand in hand with their Muslim brethren. After all, we all live in the same quagmire called the Middle East, and it is up to everyone to work together to adapt to the geo-political ships impacting the area.

Towards the end of the meeting, a list of suggestions was drafted by all attendees, to be relayed to church leaders. I can confidently state that the suggestions were the bi-product of everyone’s suffering and the high intellectual capacity participants had. To that end, I sincerely hope that leaders will take into account what we had to jot down for the sake of the future of youths, Christians in the Middle East, and the Church.