Youth in the mission to overcome racism: the formation and development of the Christian Youth Movement in Southern Africa (1995-2005)

Abstract

The article traces the history of the Christian Youth Movement, and thus provides an approach for dealing with the current surge of contemporary racism (which has religious undertones). This approach to mission, namely the development of missional youth theologies, by youth themselves, is presented and illustrated through a thematic narrative of the formation and historical development of this particular youth movement. I develop this thematic narrative on the basis of the praxis cycle, doing a literature review and a documentary search of formation on the development of the youth movement. The findings show a movement, which, in a specific social context, was transformed through a postcolonial missional self-identity sustained by rituals, to articulate its unity through negotiated and newly forged symbols.