YWCAs Around the World: Women, Faith and Action

The World YWCA is founded on and inspired by Christian principles. In this section of Common Concern, we highlight how some YWCA use creative ways to communicate Christian values to women and young people.

Food for the body, mind and spirit

The YWCA of Singapore’s monthly Joy Talk classes offer spiritual nourishment for people from all walks of life. The lunchtime fellowship meeting nourishes the minds, bodies and spirits of participants, most of whom are professional and retired women. Each month, a guest speaker is invited to deliver a message on a topic that explores faith and joy.

“The strength of Joy Talk lies in the adoption of a holistic approach in meeting people’s needs for their body, mind and spirit,” explains Karen Chay, Programmes Executive for the YWCA of Singapore. The fellowship starts with food for the body followed by ‘spiritual food’ to nourish the spirit and refresh the mind. “Some of our participants have benefited greatly from the physical and spiritual nourishment and have been faithfully attending Joy Talk since 2003,” says Chay.

Christians make up just under 15 percent of the population of Singapore and a Christian identity is important for the YWCA of Singapore. “We must never lose sight of our Christian values and focus,“ says Chay, “God has blessed our association over the years in immeasurable ways and our programmes and services have grown and multiplied so we can reach out to the needy and disadvantaged people in our community. It is important to always seek God and continue to place our faith and trust in God.”

The building-blocks of faith: youth in Denmark learn about God

A group of teenage girls gather around a large pile of LEGO® bricks—an unusual sight for girls their age. They concentrate intensely on finding the right bricks in order to build an elaborate scene that tells a story. When complete, it is not hard to see that the scene depicts a story from the Bible.

The YMCA-YWCA of Denmark’s Christian youth club runs a program that uses Lego to help young people illustrate the principles and values from the Bible. “Denmark is well known for the Lego brand of small plastic bricks,” explains Kirsten Lund Larsen, General Secretary of the YMCA-YWCA of Denmark, “We have taken advantage of this and introduced Lego as a tool to encourage youth to be imaginative and creative.”

To run the programme, local associations order containers of 30 kilograms of Lego bricks. The Lego comes with a guide and project ideas on reconstructing specific stories from the Bible such as Noah’s Ark or Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Participants can also depict Biblical concepts such as ‘love your neighbour’, grace, salvation and faith. As part of the programme, participants publish photos of their Lego scenes on the Internet.

The Christian youth clubs have over 4000 members under 18 years old and using Lego has become a popular part of the programme nationwide.

The YMCA-YWCA of Denmark was formed with the particular aim of building Christian fellowship and sharing the Gospel with young people. “Our vision is to ensure young people in Denmark know about God and understand that God believes in them,” says Larsen.

The Bahamas: Integrating Christianity into youth programmes

The YWCA Kids Clubs in the Bahamas uses games, fun activities, Bible stories, singing and liturgical dancing to teach the Bible. “People in the Bahamas are very religious and enjoy going to church and worshiping God,” says Rosalie Fawkes General Secretary, YWCA of Bahamas, “Christianity is woven into the fabric of society and parents welcome and support the teaching of Christian principles and values to their children at the YWCA of Bahamas.”

For youth, the Y Teens Club brings community role models to share their expertise, knowledge and talents with the young people and to impart Christian principles to the participants. About 50 young people participate each year. “We simplify the messages in the Bible to make it more easily understood and help the young people apply Christian values to their everyday life situations.”

“The ‘C’ in ‘YWCA’ stands for ‘Christian’ and defines the purpose of our association,” explains Fawkes, “The Bible provides us with a formula for everyday living and it is important for us to share the Christian Gospel when we organise our youth and children programmes.”