Empowering Youth

Prayers influence everyday life in the Moluccas. These cultural and religious expressions are embedded in many social activities that are rooted in the core of Moluccan society, among Muslims and Christians, today. In the following series of three photo essays, different church services* are shown as part of daily village life. This third photo essay is about an angkatan muda.
 
Photo essay ― It’s about a youth service that is being held every Thursday for people in the age of 18 years to about 35 years. angkatan muda means ‘young generation’. As if a daily practice takes place they go to one of these services, some arrive on time and some ten to fifteen minutes later. Nevertheless, that seems no problem at all. Its liturgy has roughly the same structure as other daily church services, but the sermons and readings are adapted to the group needs specifically. In this service a discussion about why faith is important in one’s life. Afterwards, they are preparing to organize a ‘cari dana’. During a ‘cari dana’ money is collected to support a certain charity or to fund a social activity for the youth in particular. [August 2014]
 
Other photo essays in this serie about daily protestant church life in the Moluccas:
Photo essay: Spiritual Devotion
Photo essay: Women in Worship
 

*The structure of services within the Moluccan Protestant Church (Gereja Protestant Maluku, GPM) consists of daily church services. These different smaller services always take place in someone’s home. Its structure is often common to other Christian denominations in the Moluccas.
 
Side note: The service in this photo essay are from the Baitrafa protestant community in the village of Suli, Ambon Island / These services of ‘angkatan muda’ are seen as a form of youth empowerment in the village / The term ‘youth’ is within the Moluccan culture different than as the term is defined in most Western countries.