Issues

The word 'dialogue' has gained far too many meanings over the past few years. When some people hear the word they think of a group of people being willing to give up everything for the sake of finding common ground. Others think of a conversation between two people. Others assume it's a cover for evangelism. Which is why we prefer the word encounter. It has less baggage and doesn't imply that it's all about talking. However, most of the thinking has used the word dialogue so we'll use it here for now. But don't get too used to it because its not a word you'll here us use too often.

What does it mean for Youth Encounter when we are running Faith and Young People Events?

The British Council of Churches set out four principles of dialogue which many people have used since and which inform the Faith and Young People events.

They are:

• Dialogue begins when people meet each other
  
• Dialogue depends on mutual understanding and mutual trust
  
• Dialogue makes it possible to share in service to the community
  
• Dialogue becomes the medium of authentic witness

Dialogue begins when people meet each other

The first one seems obvious. But how often do teenagers of different faiths meet each other? For some this is a daily occurrence at school or in the street. But for many their school is mono-cultural. Over the years we have had a number of young people participate in Faith and Young People, which has been their first opportunity to meet a person their own age of the other faith. So one of the aims of Youth Encounter is to give teenagers the opportunity to meet each other. back to list

Dialogue depends on mutual understanding and mutual trust

Setting up a Faith and Young People event requires a great deal of planning. The idea is that it should be a Safe Space for everyone who comes. Doing this demonstrates our trustworthiness in the way we treat the young people and encourages a spirit of understanding and trust.

We choose careful venues. We meet in neither mosques nor churches but somewhere neutral where everyone is a visitor, where everyone is equal.

We invite young people to bring their own food so that each can bring with them what they feel comfortable eating. Muslims can have Halal meat, Christians don't have to eat it if they don't wish to. Likewise Christians can eat ham sandwiches if they choose without the Muslims having to worry about what might be in their lunch.

We play ambient background music. We found that the Christians and many of the Muslims liked background music, but some Muslims felt uncomfortable listening to music with a very distinctive beat. We try and include a mix of western and Asian musical styles.

We never include activities that require physical contact between males and females. This can be awkward for some Muslims.

We make sure that there are ground rules for discussions. Each person is given a copy of the Guidelines for dialogue . By having these guidelines we've found that the young people feel safe and are then more open to discussion. back to list

Dialogue makes it possible to share in service to the community

The ethos of Faith and Young People has been, and continues to be that it should make a difference to the world we live in. When people of different faiths get together it needn't cause conflict, but good can come because we are people of faith. Faith and Young People, therefore, looks to help Muslim and Christian teenagers make a difference to their community together. This was done in a very practical way back in 2005 (see 2005 - Social Action Day) back to list

Dialogue becomes the medium of authentic witness

At Youth Encounter we believe that any meeting affects people. We witness not just by our words but by our lives. Consequently when Christians and Muslims meet they witness to their faith by what they say, the way they say it and the way they treat one another.

Dialogue also makes it possible to witness by what we say. Because people are each given a chance to speak and be listened to, dialogue becomes a place where truth claims can be voiced. But it stops short of being a place where they are shouted. back to list