Echos - Commission on youth in the ecumenical movement
- At the Echos meeting in May 2007.
The WCC's 9th Assembly called for the formation of a youth body to enable young people to develop their visions of the ecumenical movement and strengthen their role in the decision-making mechanisms of the Council.
At its first meeting in May 2007, the new consultative body adopted the name Echos - Commission on youth in the ecumenical movement. This is how the commission members explain their choice of name, which is a transcription of the Greek word Hχος meaning sound:
"We realized that our generation did not create many of the structures existing today. We are called to respond to the echos from the past of those ecumenical leaders ― young and old ―who have gone before us. We must also lay the groundwork for the youth that will come after this generation. So we hope to send our voices as echos into the future."
The Echos commission consists of 25 young people from a broad cross-section of churches and youth organizations within the ecumenical movement. It was set up as an "active think tank" to provide the WCC and ecumenical youth networks with new ideas on how young people can engage in ecumenical work.
Members of the Echos commission come from:
- each of the other WCC commissions
- from the executive committee to moderate and provide ongoing follow-up with WCC governing structures
- from the central committee and member churches
- from the broader ecumenical constituency
Related documentsMessage from the ECHOS youth commissionDuring its 24-29 January 2010 meeting in Addis Ababa, Echos reaffirmed its commitment to the development of the youth ecumenical movement within the WCC, within the churches and organizations outside of the WCC whose members serve in our commission, and within the broader ecumenical community.
"Voices of Youth in the Ecumenical Movement: Stronger and Better Heard"A message from the Echos Commission on Youth in the Ecumenical Movement meeting in Bangalore, India, October 2008
Report of the first Echos meetingIn its May 2007 meeting, the newly established youth body of the WCC adopted the name "Echos -Commission on youth in the ecumenical movement" and identified four areas of focus for its work.
Proposal to establish a WCC Youth Body:WCC 9th Assembly directed the central committee to create a representative body of young adults [that would] allow meaningful participation of young adults in the life and decision-making of the WCC, and would be able to hold the WCC accountable to its goals regarding young adults.
Statement on youth contribution, prepared by the youth contribution committeeIn the spirit of the 9th Assembly as a “youth assembly”, the youth gathered here, through a Committee created with an attempt to be as representative as possible, present the following summary of youth consensus in regards to their contributions to the WCC and the global ecumenical movement.
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