Child-Friendly Church
WVI held another Church Leader Gathering and Generation Watcher. This time it was done in the form of an online Talk Show held on Monday, September 18, 2023 with the theme "Child Friendly Church". The event was moderated by Dr. Anil Dawan M.Th as Fath and Development Manager who stated that GRA is a journey together to protect children from exploitation, violence, neglect and abuse. It is fully realized that the Church has an important and strategic role to be able to provide education on parenting patterns in the family as well as a place for children and adolescents to utilize their free time for positive, innovative, and creative activities that are safe and comfortable. The church also plays a role in providing protection for children, women and families from acts of violence. The involvement of the church to provide protection for children in particular is the mission of the Child Friendly Church (GRA) program.
Multistakeholder Initiative
In her opening remarks Mrs. Angela Theodora, always the National Director, said that "WVI is working with all religions, aras, all synods, all local churches in various regions on a global, national, zonal and district / city scale down to the sub-district and village / village level to realize a Child Friendly Church. The realization of a Child Friendly Church requires multi-party support. . Quoting from Matthew 10:14-16 ""Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of God . 10:15 Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." 10:16 Then he embraced the children and laid his hands on them and blessed them. From this verse, it is clear that the image of God in Jesus Christ is friendly to children, and the Church should also represent the presence of God who blesses and embraces all children.
Some of the speakers who conveyed their thoughts about GRA were Rev. Drs. Sylvana Ranti-Apituley, S.Th - Commissioner of KPAI that "The pillars of the Child Friendly Church movement are efforts to mainstream the fulfillment and protection of children in the Church. It must be recognized that the Church's understanding of children is in line with KHA, but there are also gaps in practice. And it is precisely this gap that must be harmonized, so that concrete efforts are needed to mainstream children's rights in the church."
Meanwhile, another resource person was Ms. Ciput Eka Purwianti, S.Si. MA - Assistant Deputy for Special Protection of Children from Violence (Ministry of Women's Empowerment & Child Protection) said that actually the Church has been quite slick in giving attention to children. The government, in this case KPPPA, has also made general guidelines regarding GRA that can be used by churches. The aspects in the GRA guidelines are indicators of the existence of policies, supporting infrastructure, and children's participation, etc. And all of these indicators support the Government's big initiative. And all of these indicators support the Government's big initiative for the 2030 Child Friendly Indonesia Idol and also the KLA Child Friendly Districts and Cities.
Barriers and Opportunities
The biggest obstacle in realizing GRA is the social construction that exists in the community and also the type of church leadership that has not had a child perspective. This obstacle was conveyed by another speaker, Mrs. Haryati PH from the Chairperson of the National Child Care Network. "The type of church leadership determines how this social construction is built. Therefore, interventions must be carried out starting from building awareness at the leader level so that they have a child's perspective, understand the Child Protection Law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and also the principles that guide theologically about respect and the importance of respecting the dignity of children".
Meanwhile, Mrs. Emmy Lucy Smith as WVI's Child Protection Team Leader is optimistic that GRA will be realized. It has been proven that the churches assisted by WVI have the heart and openness to develop the potential to realize GRA through the project model of Child and Gender Protection Channels of Hope and Parenting With Love, there is a joint movement to form a congregation-based action group in moving and handling congregation-based child protection. Thus, existing obstacles can be overcome with opportunities to cooperate with the government, religious institutions, traditional institutions, academics, companies, media and other community institutions.
