STATUTORYINFORMATION

Europeanregionalassembly

Between 3 and 8 October 2019, delegates of Student Christian Movements (SCMs) from across Europe, WSCF-Europe committee and staff members, and WSCF-Europe partners and Senior Friends, have all gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the 2019 European Regional Assembly The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of WSCFEurope, and gathers bi-annually. The last Assembly took place in 2017, in Prosperous, Ireland.

The Assembly discussed and voted on the future of the Federation, including: voting on a number of amendments to the WSCFEurope By-Laws, voting the new European Regional Committee (ERC), who will lead on the activity of the organisation for the next two years; and discussing topics and activities that WSCF-Europe could explore over the next two years. The Assembly was happy to elect a new ERC composed by both old and new members, and chaired by former Programme Coordinator, Christiane Gebauer. There were also a number of vacant positions, which were subsequently filled-in through open calls to the movements.

Apart from performing the main functions of the European Regional Assembly, attendees have also participated in a series of sessions focused on improving the dialogue and connections between WSCF-Europe and different affiliated and associated SCMs, but also between SCMs themselves The delegates discussed how to improve communications, how to work closely to organise events and run campaigns, and what kind of support they would like WSCF-Europe to offer to the movements. They also joined a number of workshops, on topics such as climate change, social action, and theology and interfaith dialogue.

"We were happy to be welcomed and supported by YMCA/YWCA Denmark which offered us one of their houses, both as an accommodation and place of gathering. At this place, they had a special concept that includedsomeoftheirownmemberslivinginthehouseand,inreturn,doingsomeworkfortheSCM,such ascookingandcateringforguests.ThatisalsowhywehadtheopportunitytotrydifferenttypicalDanish food(...)(and)allthesurroundingsoftheSCMDenmarkhousewereverycosyandpleasing.

During the activities, all the members of the ERC and the participants made sure that everyone felt safe and welcomed. This was also supported by a handbook, which was sent to the participants before the gathering (...). With the further help of introduction games, a trustful and friendly atmosphere was created. This was extremely important because the participants, guests and hosts were from different social,denominationalandculturalbackgroundsandmostofthemweren’tnativeEnglishspeakers.With thisatmospherecreated,duringthegathering,theparticipantsfeltfreetogetinvolvedduringthedifferent activities.

Thisinvolvementwasevenmoreimportantwhenitcametothe'drier'partsoftheAssembly.Followingthe election of the ERC, we attended long sessions about the amendments made to the By-laws of WSCFEurope, in which we discussed and voted for or against those amendments. Furthermore, the upcoming General Assembly (GA), which was going to take place in June 2020, in Berlin, was a big topic of the Assembly, as Europe was the hosting region of the GA (...). Thanks to the engagement of all the participantsandguests,wewereabletogetonwiththeseimportanttaskswithouttoomuchhesitation.

We also welcomed guests from different partner organisations, who introduced their work to the Assembly. We heard presentations by Joy Eva Bohol, Program Executive for Youth Engagement at the World Council of Churches, by Torsten Moritz, General Secretary of the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, and Angelita Tomaselli, Chair of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe. Besides their informative talks, we were also pleased to welcome their engagement during the different thematic workingsessionsoftheAssembly.

The most creative part of the ERA was when the participants were divided into smaller working groups focused on different topics. These topics reflected the thematic program of WSCF Global. Within the workinggroups'Eco-justice','AdvocacyandSolidarity', 'Interfaith','GenderandSexuality'and'Theology and Spirituality' students had the chance to work on a topic which suited their interests. The main goal wastocreateprogrammeguidelinesfortheincomingERC.

All in all, participation was a big part of the Assembly as all the thematic work couldn’t have been so fruitfully done without the enthusiastic and open-minded engagement of the delegates, ERC, hosts and guests. Every morning and evening, we had the possibility to reflect on this work during ecumenical prayers,whichwerepreparedbydifferentmovements.Sharingknowledgeandfaithwerekeyinfollowing oursharedmission,toexploreourcommonfaithinJesusChrist,whichmakesusone."