First Youth organization to join LCJE
By Bodil F. Skjøtt, the Danish Israel Mission
At the end of 2002 the youth organization of the Danish Israel Mission (DIM) joined the LCJE network and became a member of LCJE paying their own membership fee just like any other organization. The first youth organization to do so.
The DIM youth organization – or IU as they call themselves – began about 10 years ago as a small group and part of DIM. They still are part of DIM, but they also have their own youth secretary, two part-time regional secretaries and a part-time office assistant.
Why would a youth organization join LCJE and pay their own (extra) fee when they already have all the membership privileges through their mother organization, the Danish Israel Mission? As a member you receive the Bulletin four times a year. They already did that. As a member you can vote in the elections held at the international conferences. They were already able to do that. All the membership benefits – which are not many – were available to them already. Then why join?
We asked Henrik Nordborg, the first full-time employed youth secretary, this question and here is what he said:
- First of all: we were encouraged to do so.
- Secondly, we are doing this because we - as youth - have enjoyed participating in LCJE events. Especially the opportunities this has provided for us to meet other people our own age who are also involved in Jewish evangelism. We have appreciated very much when items on the program related especially to us and our areas of interest or when the time schedule at a conference allowed for a special session for young leaders. My own first encounter with LCJE, apart from hearing about LCJE and reading the Bulletin, was when I participated in the sixth international conference in New York in 1999 and there met other youth leaders. It was fun just to meet them but it also gave me contacts which I have since used for inspiration or actual projects in Denmark.
When LCJE Europe had its conference in France in 2001 more of us were able to go. It was fun traveling together, not to mention staying at a monastery and eating a four-course meal twice a day. But it also gave each one of us a unique opportunity to enjoy fellowship with older more experienced leaders, thereby giving us a broader vision of what Jewish evangelism is, and enabling us to see where we can contribute. Furthermore it led to a closer cooperation between us and the youth group of the Norwegian Israel Mission.
- The next thing we hope to get out of our LCJE membership is an active participation in the seventh international conference in Finland this summer where we hope to send a small delegation. Hopefully we can send some who haven’t gone before to give them an opportunity to meet Jewish evangelism on a bigger scale and to interact with others their own age (therefore, other young people: please come!!). It means a lot to us and our members to be able to participate in activities where we work together with others across the borders. An international conference provides the opportunity to hear what others are doing and where we can contribute.
Bodil F. Skjøtt
Skjott@israel.dk
Skjott@israel.dk