Mar Thoma Youth Conference

About 380 young members of the Mar Thoma Church got together from May 1y 29 to June 1 at the Hindustan College of Ebngineering, Padur, Chennai. The Conference was named "CEDARS ' 08" and was hosted by the Chennai Centre Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam organized by the youth wing of the . The Bishop of the Chennai-Bangalore Diocese of the Mar Thoma church Rt. Rev. Dr. Gheevarghese Mar Thodocius presided over the Conference. The theme for study was "ROOTING FOR FRUITING" based on the Psalm 1:3 from the Bible. Rev. Abraham Scariah of the Mar Thoma Counseling Centre was the Main Speaker.Rev. Vinod Victor, from the CSI Diocese of South Kerala led the Bible studies. Com. Jacob and Rani from the Scripture Union, Mr. Prince Solomon and Mrs. Princey Solomon of the Madras Christian College were the other leaders. It was the Third such conference of the Diocese. A lot of money and effort by the clergy and young leaders of Chennai were pooled into the success of the Conference. I was telling my friend Liba Varghese who was one of the leaders of the Conference to look critically into the effectiveness of such meetings. Certainly it has got the positive values of bringing young members together into fellowship which is very much needed in the post modern context of individualism; also it awakens youngsters to the spiritual dimension of human life. Further it promotes the interests of the Mar Thoma Community. All these are necessarily good in themselves. However the larger interests of the Church and Society are neglected in most of such conferences. Youngsters are fed with a lopsided spirituality fostered by self interests and the narrow vision of the community. Inter religious, inter-cultural and interdenominational vision of a broader society must be the theological focus of any such programmes. The leaders of the Church must see that inter-cultural sessions are included in the programme in order to promote a vision of wider community, which goes beyond the boundaries of one particular community, though the interests of the community has got its place in the development of individuals.