On Thursday, June 14, the Continental Assembly Europe (CVE) met in the Grand Council building in Aarau. Like the Continental Assemblies of Mission 21 in Africa, Latin America and Asia, the CVE is to include the level of the churches in Switzerland and Europe as partners of Mission 21. In the process, an important change in the statutes was approved: In order to rejuvenate the body, three youth delegates will now be included, one of whom must be younger than 35. Magdalena Rieder was elected as the first youth delegate. Barbara Hirsbrunner (Graubünden) and Pascal Bazell (St. Gallen) were elected as further new board members.
The public part in the afternoon was dedicated to the change of the world through migration. The presentation on the topic was given by leading futurologist Dr. Andreas M. Walker. "There is no such thing as a standard lecture on the future of the world through migration," Walker said right at the beginning. He compared the complex situation of the globalized present (and future) to a mobile, where very many things are in motion at the same time in very different places: "We can currently observe that there are numerous so-called megatrends, which are formative for the future - of which migration is only one." Other examples of megatrends are the ever-increasing life expectancy or digitization.
Young men without prospects
Walker took a correspondingly differentiated approach to the presentation: Instead of presenting a possible scenario, he ventured 10 different outlooks on the extent to which migration will shape the future. For example, he said, dealing with young men without prospects is becoming increasingly important - because it is primarily this population group that migrates. Among other things, he said, this has to do with the large number of selective abortions, especially in China and India, which has already reduced the female share of the total population by nearly 20 percent in some places. "With so many young men on the move, violence is bound to occur," is Walker's sobering prediction.
His other nine outlooks also make clear how complex the migration situation is, how far-reaching its consequences - and that there is an urgent need for action. Nevertheless, he pleads for action from a perspective of hope rather than one of fear: "This fear of change and the pronounced need for security is something typically Swiss and German," he says - "whereas Christian virtues would actually be hope and fearlessness."
After a brief coffee break, Mission 21 youth delegates Richard Offei (Ghana) and Halim Pratama (Indonesia) had a chance to respond to Walker's various theses with a replication from the perspective of their respective contexts.
All in all, it was a very exciting afternoon that also provided food for thought - and once again highlighted the importance of solidarity and the joint search for international solutions.
