Engaging and empowering Christian mission

By: Lantonirina Rakotomalala, National General Secretary, Madagascar YMCA

 

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luke 4: 16 – 21 ( King James Version)

 

Jesus announces his mission – an ambitious and hazardous mission. A mission He declares accomplished today. Amazingly, Jesus declares it openly and courageously in the middle of the assembly, in front of the synagogue’s leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees and other authoritarian people.

 

By doing that, He presents himself as a person having social responsibilities. He announces the good news for the poor and afflicted people, which is to restore their hope and dignity, to give a hand for them to be able to stand up and do their best to improve their situation. He proclaims release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, for them to have full potential for life.

 

Jesus has responsibilities to PROCLAIM and ACT. He says, “to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord”. Then, he confirmed: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

When George William established the first YMCA, he also set a mission for him: social responsibilities towards young people in his time, who were exhausted by hard labour conditions in the mines or by the demanding textile firms. Just like our young people today. They have social responsibilities towards their peers who are vulnerable to a deep poverty of spirit, soul and body. They are imprisoned by political circumstances or economic crises, about which they feel they cannot do anything except submit. In these situations, youth serve a cause which is not theirs, but they still serve as they just hope to gain a little to eat, because they are starving; or to have a minimum of comfort.

 

We have chosen to have a clear and engaging vision: Empowering young people for the African Renaissance. This gives us the responsibilities to PROCLAIM and ACT, just like Jesus has done. PROCLAIM that we do not agree with the precarious situation which infringes our youth’s development and ACT to effectively transform our youth to be good citizens. We are working to give space and voice to our youth, like Jesus could access the front space of the synagogue. We are sending them to fulfil this liberating mission, and as Jesus equipped his disciples before sending them, equally we are empowering them so they believe in themselves and skilling them so they can act wisely. There will come a time when African YMCA youth will say: today it is fulfilled.

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