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IL News 015/2013
52nd and 53rd Citizenship Education
Rantepao and Palopo (South Sulawesi), October 7-11, 2013
The Institut Leimena held the Citizenship Education program in Rantepao city (October 7-8, 2013) and Palopo city (October 10-11, 2013), both in South Sulawesi province, as an implementation of the cooperation agreement signed between the Institut Leimena and the Toraja Church Synod in 2012. For this Citizenship Education program, the institute assigned Budi Setiamarga and Matius Ho as the facilitators.
The 52nd Citizenship Education in Rantepao began with an opening service led by Rev. Dr. Sulaiman Manguling, of the Toraja Church Synod’s Discipleship Department. The program was officially opened by Rev. Jhony Madika, M.Th., a member of the Toraja Church Synod’s Executive Body. The program was attended by pastors, church elders and members, including district legislators, government officials, and politicians from Tana Toraja District.
The 53rd Citizenship Education was conducted in the Toraja Church’s Ministry Hall in Palopo. Participating in the program were around 70 people from the 16 church districts in Tanah Luwu region. Among them were pastors, church elders, legislative candidates, teachers, and businessmen. The program was opened by Rev. Yahya Boong, a member of the Toraja Church Synod’s Executive Body in the Luwu region.
As a followup to this Citizenship Education program, the Discipleship Department of the Toraja Church Synod will work on developing Citizens’s Discussion groups using the guideline and discussion materials provided by the Institut Leimena. These resources are available free on the Leimena website.
The following are some comments from the Citizenship Education’s participants:
This activity answers my struggle all this time, about how (in method and resources) to raise the awareness and participation of Christians as citizens. Especially the Toraja Church’s young people as future leaders in church and country. (Soni Budi Pandin – Toraja Church “Rama” in Makassar)
The program brings the awareness of the need for a political education for citizens, both sociologically and theologically. It clarifies the important things in a citizenship education to be included in a political education curriculum for citizens, in both competency and character development aspects. (Rev. Dr. Sulaiman Manguling – Toraja Church Synod’s Discipleship Department)
The benefit of this Citizenship Education is extraordinary for me, because this is the first time I understand what politics means and how to live as a responsible citizen. (Akis Nuru – Toraja Church “Imanuel” in North Luwu)