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FEDERATION INPUT

This input was given by Bishop Poulose Mar Poulose, the Chairperson of the Federation.

In a historical overview, he compared history with a rear-view mirror, which should be looked at every once in a while. The SCM, he said, has a great heritage. It began as a response to the contemporary need of evangelisation, and must continue to respond to contemporary needs. Today, this need is participation in people's struggles for justice. As a Christian Movement of students, rather than a movement of Christian Students, the SCM believes in the unity, not the uniformity of the human family, and this belief makes it imperative for us to join in the struggle.

While speaking of unity, the attitude at the Church, and its relation with the SCM was discussed. Ideally, the Church, as a people's movement, as a fellowship united by faith, should identify with the people, and participate in their struggles for justice. Unfortunately, the Church has a tendency to stand aloof. The Church can be a useful instrument to bring about revolutionary changes in society, and the SCM, as a part of the Church, though outside the church control, must stand in critical solidarity with it, challenging the theology and system which support oppressive structures, advancing the vision of a just society, and working towards the realization of this vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The present distrust, suspicion and even contempt between the Church and the SCM is undesirable, and ways must be found to change it.

The session concluded with the affirmation that the USCF as a movement linking hands with others engaged in the struggle for a just society plays a corrective role in the church and society.