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Taiwan Church News 3051 Edition August 16~22, 2010
Youths discover their place and calling in society through volunteering
Reported by Sam Lee Written by Lydia Ma Photo by PCT Youth Committee
Young volunteers in Taiwan are on the move! A training seminar for youths interested in volunteering took place from August 9~11, 2010, co-sponsored by Taiwan Christian Service and PCT Youth Ministry Committee.
The seminar trained youths on the theories and practices of volunteerism and equipped them to become “professional” volunteers who possess all the necessary skills needed to assist in community outreach and rescue operations spearheaded by their own churches.
Speakers emphasized that volunteering was an important aspect of establishing connections with the international community and encouraged youths to get training in order to become good volunteers for their churches.
Taiwan Christian Service is composed of 15 Christian churches, non-profit and social welfare organizations, including PCT, Episcopal Church, and Garden of Hope Foundation. Its current CEO is PCT General Secretary Andrew Chang. Rev. Chang highly recommends training youths to become volunteers and believes it’s necessary to raise up young volunteers who can then go on to serve in local, national and international settings.
Taiwan Christian Service has held several training seminars in the past, but this seminar was especially tailored for youths. Introductory classes include survey of volunteer activities, sharing from volunteers, social services overview, introduction to organizations in need of volunteers, review of regulations concerning volunteering, etc.
Advanced classes include topics such as resource allocation, trends in volunteerism, ethics for volunteers, teamwork and self-analysis, etc. These classes are all geared towards helping youths add knowledge to passion so they can become competent volunteers.
Shih Wei-ting, a college student from Taitung College Fellowship, commented that the seminars she attended were very informative and fast-paced and prompted her to reflect once again on her role as a Christian in her society.
Shih had previously attended a summer camp in July co-sponsored by Hualien and Taitung college fellowships where she visited poor families and inmates and shared the gospel with them. She later attended a forum for Christian students interested in starting a student movement and it inspired her to apply for training and become a better volunteer.
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