Child Champs 2019 “For love and Equality” Church of South India Convenes a mega gathering of Children Hosted by Karnataka Central Diocese
A huge gathering of eight hundred children and their accompaniers from the Dioceses of the Church of South India was held on 20th and 21st May 2019 at the Bishop’s Cotton Boys’ School hosted by Karnataka Central Diocese (KCD), under the leadership of the Bishop Rt Rev Dr Prasana Kumar Samuel, Bangalore. Children sang together, attended workshops on issues relating to child rights, deliberated on issues of child protection, and raise their opinions and aspirations about a child friendly Church during this event.
The Moderator, Most. Rev. Thomas K. Oommen, Deputy Moderator Rt. Rev. Vadapalli Prasada Rao, General Secretary Rev. Dr. Rathnakara Sadananda, Treasurer Advocate Robert C Bruce, Rt. Rev. Dr Prasana Kumar Samuel, Bishop in Karnataka Central Diocese, Officers of the Diocese and Senior Pastors joined the children who carried the Wooden Cross, different coloured clothes for the Altar and the Diocese flags.
The two fold purpose of Child Champs 2019, was to empower children to become champions for issues of children in community and also introduce salient components of the draft CSI Child protection policy.
On both the days the children from Karnataka Central Diocese led the worship through enactments, lively singing and responsive prayers. Two children from KCD represented the children by sharing the aspirations, fears and dreams of being a child as they shared the dais with the Church leadership.
The second half of the day deepened the understanding about issues faced by children in community through 3 parallel story telling sessions: Children with disabilities; Children at risk and Children in Conflict.
A Special session for intellectually challenged Children with action songs, games and activities ran parallel to the three main breakout sessions of the Child Champs 2019.
On Day 2 had children breaking into four regional languages: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Kannada. Children focussed on various vulnerabilities faced by children in community that was enacted by children themselves as skits and tableaus. Children were then facilitated to express biblical texts that uplift children in creative ways through charts, songs and enactments.
A plenary then took suggestions and ideas from children on the ways the Church can improve the lot of children both within Church and in society. The final session had a complaints and suggestion Box for children to share suggestions for building a child friendly Church some of which were then picked out and discussed.
This mega event which brought in 800 children from various parts of South India was well planned and coordinated by 100 volunteers from Youth Department and Sunday School Department of our Diocese who gave their time and talents for the success of this program under the guidance of Rev. Mary Shalini and Rev. Praveen P respectively.
Rt. Rev Dr Prasana Kumar Samuel, Bishop in Karnataka Central Diocese during his concluding message challenged the children to be responsible champions to go out into the world as light to expel darkness. He encouraged them to go and share the learning they have received with other children of their Churches and community.
On behalf of the CSI Synod leadership Rev. Dr. Rathnakar Sadananda conveyed his deep sense of gratitude to Karnataka Central Diocese under the able leadership of Bishop Rt. Rev Dr Prasana Kumar Samuel for the warm hospitality and jointly organizing with well-coordinated local arrangements in making this event a memorable one.
