The 35 th General Assembly of the WSCF

1. The 35th General Assembly of the WSCF February 26th – March 6th 2015 Bogotà, Colombia

2. GA 2015 • Under the ESCF Constitution, a General Assembly must take place every 4-6 years(The current GA is delayed – and therefore technically unconstitutional –, because the costs of holding it on time in August 2014 outweighed the benefits.) • Last GA was in Montreal, Canada, in 2008 • Change of Leadership: Executive Committee (ExCo), General Secretary • Amendments to Constitution can be made

3. GA 2015 Purpose of the General Assembly: • Mission: motivate and train young ecumenical leaders and to play a strong role in furthering God’s peace and justice in the church and world today. • Recognize the need for: • Greater coherence in our work across the regions • Greater communications internally and externally • Updated organizational and reporting systems • Renewed articulation of our mission, vision, and programming • Strengthened partnerships

4. GA 2015 Purpose of the General Assembly: Cont. • Evaluate the work since the last GA • Set some mandates for the contentand approach to the work for the next period • Hope for a better understanding of the current organisational and movement life in the coming years • Serve as a catalyst for the renewal of the movement for its sustainability and greater effectiveness in the years ahead

5. GA 2015 Theme “We are many. We are one. Sent out to build God’s peace” • Based on federation’s motto: “Ut Omnes Unum Sint” (That they shall be one) • WSCF has had an ecumenical vision of the positive transformation that international relationships and partnership for common goals can have since its founding in 1895. A part of our call today is to work against the trends to homogenise and underplay diversity and to work for a vision of unity that includes and celebrates the many identities that we all bring.

6. GA 2015 Date, place, participants: • 26 February – 6 March 2015 • 140-180 participants including delegates from the member movements, staff, Executive Committee members, and guests. • 107 movements, both the affiliated and associated movements, is invited to send one delegate (practical difference between them is that only the affiliated movements have a vote) • Each region sends 2 Executive Committee members and 1 regional secretary • The breakdown is as follows: • Africa: 31 • Asia Pacific: 24 • Latin America and the Caribbean: 19 • Middle East: 24 • Europe: 23 • North America: 9 • *(Idea is to empower the delegates, both male and female to speak out and to explain the General Assembly procedures)

7. GA 2015 Venue: • Bogotá, Colombia. • The WSCF uses a rotation system between the 6 regions for the hosting of assemblies. • Venue for the Assembly: YMCA Bogotá Auditorium (capacity: 400) • Accommodation: Hotel Baviera, which is an apartment hotel. Delegates will share spacious suites that can hold up to 5 persons. The hotel is in walking distance of the YMCA auditorium. • The choice of city and venue within Colombia was made using the following criteria: • Public visibility and potential for impact (including social organizations, government, media) • Ease of logistics • Budget

8. GA 2015 Venue: Cont. • The WSCF decision to hold its Assembly in Colombia has been supported strongly by the churches and ecumenical partners in Colombia. • They believe that now is a good time for an international ecumenical meeting in Colombia, as the peace process continues. • There is a potential to bring visibility to the issues through the lens that the churches wish to use and at the same time Colombia offers an excellent context in which to highlight many of the discussion that the WSCF plans to have about peace with justice, development, and the mission of the church and ecumenical community. • The Presbyterian Church will play a leading role in the organization and the Lutherans, Anglicans, Mennonites, YMCA, and ACT Forum, including the Lutheran World Federation have all agreed to serve on the Host Committee and/or lend support to the process.

9. GA 2015 Assembly Objectives: • Reflect on mission of the WSCF in an ecumenical and social organisations partnership perspective. • Define future areas of work to be included in the 2015 – 2018 WSCF Strategic Plan • To elect the future leadership of the Federation • To strengthen the inter-generational relationships within the WSCF • To strengthen ecumenical dialogue • To give visibility to present and future challenges in Colombia regarding human (social, economic, political) and environmental rights.

10. GA 2015 Desired Outcomes: • WSCF Vision and Mission statement approved • Priorities for the 2015 – 2018 defined • New leadership of the WSCF elected • Visibility of the situation of Colombia to other ecumenical bodies, churches, and wider society increased

11. GA 2015 Process of the Assembly: Assembly we will look at aspects of : • WSCF identity • Mission • Vision, • Strategy 1. Identity: Will look at core identity as “World Student Christian Federation” and look at the changing nature of students, our relationship with the churches and ecumenical community, and the potential and calling for a global federation in today’s globalising world. 2&3. Mission and Vision: Leave the Assembly with a renewed articulation of our mission and vision for this movement. Engage the wider ecumenical conversation in this discussion, especially the CWME Mission Statement.

12. GA 2015 Process of the Assembly:cont. 4. Strategy: • Impact: Advocacy is a clear priority for WSCF and will consider how to be more effective. The area of “transformational development” will be explored • Themes: Consider which themes to continue to guide our work and how to nuance them for the coming years. • These will include: economic and environmental justice, • overcoming violence and peace-building, • inter-religious partnership, • role of dialogue in celebrating and negotiating diversity while working in and for unity. • Capacity Building: Evaluate approaches to leadership building and the organizational structures we employ and will find strategies for both improvement and building the capacity to make necessary changes at all levels.

13. GA 2015 Aspirations: • Aspire to leave Assembly with the affirmation that we are headed in the right direction, • Some specific mandates about focus areas for the new Executive Committee to work on. • Mandate for thorough assessment process, with professional accompaniment, following the Assembly with the • Renewed belief that it’s necessary for the sustainability of the Federation and the ability of the Federation to play the role God is calling us to play to inspire young leaders and to make change for God’s peace and justice in this world.

14. GA 2015 • Agenda- see Concept Paper How it will be run: • This basic program of the assembly will take 5 days; the GA will be 6 days with worship, and Bible studies. There will also be one day for Women’s and Men’s Pre-Assemblies. The total number of days will therefore be 7 days. • Methodology: short presentations or panels, both in the plenary and in small groups, and then discussions for analysis and proposals. • In these groups we should expect significant inputs from: • ecumenical and social organizations in Colombia; • Specific SCMs with experience of work on some issues; • Partners; • Senior Friends (A Senior Friends Gathering will take place also) • Proposals from a gender perspective in all groups are expected also. • To ensure that by the last day there are concrete proposals, a synthesis committee will be appointed. Each day we will hear a presentation of the synthesis of the work of the previous day at the beginning of each day.