Introduction

For a long time, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) and the Church youths of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) affiliation have actively involved and contributed to the Ecumenical Movement through producing the much needed leadership in continuing and fulfilling the spirit of Ecumenism. The importance of upholding Ecumenism could be seen in its relation to the holistic and encompassing attitudes embraced by the elements of a Christian faith, that is, peace, love, justice, freedom and equality. Should Ecumenism be perceived as a redundant element in the Christian faith, the possibility of a surge in religious Fundamentalism would likely to be on the rise. Hence, the WSCF and CCA believe in the importance to uphold Ecumenism through the tradition of producing Ecumenical leadership in the Movement. However, this tradition is seen to be weakening at the present moment due to several reasons. One of the main reasons is that the Ecumenical student and youth organizations are unable to provide a challenging platform for the young people to receive the appropriate training, knowledge, skills and network to improve themselves as qualified future Ecumenical leaders. It is without doubt that the void in Ecumenical leadership would definitely weaken the Ecumenical Movement and could even cause the possible breakdown of the whole Movement.

Thus, it is in this light that the idea of the School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation (SELF) was jointly developed by WSCF Asia Pacific region and CCA Youth desk. SELF is a response to what was seen as a lacking in Ecumenical leadership. It hopes to re-examine the causes of the weakening and re-develop the scope of Ecumenical leadership. SELF offers concrete training on the realities of our society, knowledge on the Ecumenical Movement, network on building Ecumenical friendship and skills on leadership development.

SELF 2001 is just a beginning for many students and youths of WSCF AP and CCA. It is hoped that this School will help to facilitate a continuous pool of leaders that could keep the fire and spirit of Ecumenism glowing in the years to come.

There were 23 graduates of SELF 2001, we sincerely hope that there are more students and youths to share with us the experiences and lessons learned in this training workshop. Thus, the decision to develop this resource guidebook was taken up enthusiastically by the organizers, WSCF AP and CCA Youth desk. The modules in this resource guidebook are not a 'final' product. Instead they can be continuously refined and fine-tuned so as they can be applied relevantly according to your own context and training needs. Just like the spirit of Ecumenism, it is a process and not a final product of any kind. We hope this resource guidebook can be a contribution to the building of the Ecumenical Youth Movement in Asia as well as the world.

Dr. Ahn Jae Woong

General Secretary

CCA

Rev. Shin Seung Min

Regional Secretary

WSCF A-P