Many nations are working to establish sound leadership among their young people. In some countries, corporate sponsorship is strengthening efforts to attract teenagers to youth groups that meet in the community on a regular basis, and is funding more ambitious seminars and training courses that teach young people communication and decision-making skills, and the principles of good leadership.

The Sentinel talked with two young women who are working full time to train future leaders—Sharlene Swartz, the national life skills coordinator with Scripture Union in Cape Town, South Africa; and Courtney Bowie, program director of The National Conference of Christians and Jews (Boston, U.S.A., region), a human relations organization dedicated to promoting understanding and respect among all races, religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.

LEGACY OF APARTHEID

Sharlene Swartz trained as a teacher at University of the Witwatersrand, and for the ministry at Baptist Theological College in Johannesburg. In Scripture Union she works extensively with high-school and college students on campuses all over South Africa, encouraging them in their love of the Scriptures and in their church affiliations.

But Sharlene also spends several hours a week with a youth group for inner-city kids in Cape Town. Sixty percent of them are nonwhite, and are still dragging many of the shackles that were imposed by apartheid. "This is a burden," Sharlene explained, "on top of the usual teenage problems. They feel especially lost and bewildered, and many of the churches to which they turn are failing to understand this, and to reach them where they are.

"For example, one sixteen-year-old told me, 'The first time I came to church I cried and cried because it was so religious! I needed them to speak to me as a person.' Another teenager in Cape Town said, 'I felt so pathetic, I decided not even God could save me!'—a comment I could well understand.

"I soon learned," said Sharlene, "that these young people were desperate for reassurance. They needed to know that God could be relevant in their lives. Communicating that truth doesn't come in a mass situation. It's got to happen individually.

"So, the first thing we do is to build solid, individual, personal relationships with the kids who come to our Friday night youth groups. We look at their flick-knives with them—although we'll later discourage weapons. We show no sign of shock at the obscene words on their belts and T-shirts. And we jot down what they tell us about their fears—and aspirations—so that our follow-through doesn't have a random, dartboard approach to it.

"We help them discover their own potential as people made in the image of God, although we never mislead them into thinking that living the life of a true Christian is easy—least of all in the tough streets from which they come.

"We think of ourselves not as professionals, but as young adults with a little more experience.

When we mentor them, they love the feeling that we are walking the road with them. We emphasize that God knows what He's doing. And they understand what we mean when we say, 'I'm just a phone call away—and so's God!'

"Their process of discovery is touching, and sometimes gently amusing," Sharlene continued. "One tall, strong nineteen-year-old came out of the games room muttering in astonishment, 'It's amazing how you can trust these Christians. You can leave the pool table for a while and they won't change the balls!'

"Gradually the Scriptures come to mean more and more to them. They find wonderful reassurance in the thought of Christ powerfully at work in them (see Col. 1:29), and in the thought that they are intimately known to God, and can never stray from His presence. They welcome the thought of His hand holding them, and leading them (see Ps. 139).

"That's the best foundation for future leaders," concluded Sharlene, "and the most promising message for young people to hear from their peers."

STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY

A "Count me in!" high-school leadership conference, sponsored by The National Conference of Christian and Jews, was held recently in the Sunday School building of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston.

The two hundred delegates from schools in the Greater Boston area were welcomed by the Church's Youth Activities Manager, Christine Herlinger, who said: "You are not only tomorrow's leaders in the fields of politics, business, law, medicine, and education, to name only a few, but you are also today's leaders right where you are.

"It is such an inspiration," she continued, "to see you come together today to explore ways to overcome the prejudice and labels that misunderstanding has imposed on all of us. What a wonderful opportunity to discover the beauty and strength of our diversity!

"The Founder of the Christian Science Church, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote, 'Love hath one race, one realm, one power' ^{Poems, p.22 .} and, 'No power can withstand divine Love.' " ^{Science and Health, p.224 .}

The Sentinel was encouraged to participate fully in one of the "small groups" that explored ways to achieve strength in diversity. Spontaneous one-minute autobiographies, spoken aloud, helped the members of each group to identify the person most different from them. These unlikely pairs were then asked to work together to solve the problems posed by uncannily perceptive group leaders.

"How would you start to break down stereotyping among your fellow students?" challenged the young facilitator in our group. "Have you ever tried talking to someone you think you hate? If not, I hope you'll go right back to school and try it—tomorrow!"

In no time at all, the groups were throwing out fresh ideas like garden sprinklers. Words such as thoughtfulness, patience, understanding, curiosity, adventurousness, fearlessness, good humor, and humility were hastily scrawled across a dozen flip charts, while the conference coordinator, Courtney Bowie, made her rounds, smiling approvingly at the students' joy in true self-discovery.

"What they are learning," Courtney explained later, "is that each of us has the ability to work toward an inclusive community in which every person has the opportunity to belong, to achieve and contribute.

"These high-school leaders—who have already demonstrated their own self-awareness, as well as an awareness of what is happening around them—are working to understand how people can live together in peace," she said. "They are also learning how they, as young people, can work with their peers and with their communities to bring about that peace.

"Like those young people in South Africa," she added, "they need reassurance that they are good, and can help others."