Two hundred Catholic and Protestant young people joined an ecumenical camp in Indonesia’s predominantly Christian Papua province this week.

The July 5-8 Youth Camp 2010 based on the theme “The generation that serves” took place at the Protestant-run Roesler School of the Bible.

“The camp aims to boost unity and togetherness among the young generation and to help young people improve their self-confidence,” an organizer, Johanes Ciandy, told ucanews.com.

The young generation is the hope of the nation, the 33-year-old Protestant believes.

“But in the search for self-confidence, many young people face challenges such as drugs, alcohol, free sex leading to transmission of HIV/AIDS and abortion,” he said.

Regarding ecumenism, he pointed out that “we do not live in our own church, and we cannot do it alone.”

Every Christian must be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, he added, saying that he hoped “that each participant will become a witness for Christ.”

Another organizer, Charles Mulyadi Utama, agreed that the ecumenical spirit should be introduced to the young generation.

There is no difference between Catholics and Protestants in the eyes of God, the Catholic layman insisted.

“This is where the seed of ecumenical movement is spread out,” he said.

Pascalina Yuni Mogan, 15, acknowledged that she had enjoyed the program.

“I realized that all the fun games had certain meanings. They were like spiritual and physical exercises,” she commented.

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