Student federation reopens North America office
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A UMNS photo by John C. Goodwin United Methodist Ken Guest serves as chairperson of the World Student Christian Federation's executive committee.
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United
Methodist Ken Guest serves as chairperson of the World Student
Christian Federation's executive committee. A North America regional
office for the World Student Christian Federation has re-established a
North America regional office in Toronto that will be headed by the Rev.
Brandon Gilvin, a minister of the Christian Church USA (Disciples of
Christ). A UMNS photo by John C. Goodwin. Photo # 06603. Accompanies
UMNS story #323. 6/2/06
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June 2, 2006
By Linda Bloom*
NEW YORK (UMNS) — United Methodists are applauding the re-establishment
of a North America regional office for the World Student Christian Federation.
“It’s been one of the priorities for the WSCF in this quadrennium
to re-establish the office here,” said Ken Guest, a United Methodist
who serves as chairperson of the federation’s executive committee and
is a member of the U.S. trustees.
Guest officiated at a May 31 federation lunch in New York where the Rev. Brandon
Gilvin, a minister of the Christian Church USA (Disciples of Christ), was introduced
as the new regional secretary for North America. The regional office is based
in Toronto.
Methodists have been involved in the federation since its founding in 1895
by John R. Mott, a U.S. Methodist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Karl Fries
of Sweden.
A dwindling of the Christian student movement in the United States led
to the shuttering of its office nearly 30 years ago. In recent years,
North American
involvement in the federation has been represented by the Student Christian
Movement of Canada — “a vibrant and dynamic voice,” according
to Guest — and a U.S. council of six denominations, including United
Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Episcopal,
Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ.
Tamara Walker, a staff executive with the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, said the new regional office is “terribly important” and
provides young Christians in North America with “a vehicle to mobilize
around.” Credit for the revival of the regional office,
she said, goes to “those
people in their 20s who had a vision for making it happen” and the 65-year-old-plus
supporters or “senior friends” of the federation. “It’s
a multigenerational force.”
The Board of Global Ministries remains a major source of North American
support for the organization, which is headquartered in Geneva and
has other regional
offices in Hong Kong; Beirut, Lebanon; Budapest, Hungary; Nairobi, Kenya;
and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Support also comes from the United Methodist
Church’s
campus ministry programs and Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
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The Rev. Brandon Gilvin |
“
For over 100 years, WSCF has been involved in the cutting edge of theology,
politics and student life,” the federation’s Web site states. “WSCF
member movements challenge students to make their faith real in study, prayer
and action.” Diverse movement Michael Wallace, an Anglican from New Zealand who serves as the federation’s
chief executive, told lunch participants that the student movements belonging
to the federation are extremely diverse and range in size from about 12 students
in the Singapore group to “more than a million students in Egypt affiliated
with the movement.” The federation observes a “Universal Day of Prayer for Students” each
February, which provides “an act of solidarity as well as an act of worship,” according
to Wallace. The organization also has distributed some 40 grants for national
projects this year. The Syria student movement, for example, offers an Internet
café designed specifically to give women students safety and privacy. Gilvin said he hopes the North American regional
office can help students interpret faith and action in their own context
and bring
a global vision of
ecumenism to that context — “mainly where it is we come from and
what it is we’re doing.”
The 30-year-old Kentucky resident has a background in religious studies and
creative writing and previously worked in communications and advocacy for the
All Africa Council of Churches in Nairobi.
More information can be found at www.wscfglobal.org,
the federation’s
Web site.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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