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GLOBAL SENIOR FRIENDS GATHERING
WSCF General Assembly
Montreal, Quebec

August 4-8, 2008

Join with friends, alumni and supporters of the global ecumenical student movement

From August 4-8, all alumni and allies of SCM’s and WSCF are invited to a special gathering. This is a chance to meet and connect with friends who continue to support SCM - whether they were involved 5 years ago, 50 years ago, or wished they could have been.

• Please contact 1-877-674-3842 (in North America) or (204) 772-9602 for more information.

• Download the Application Form from the website and send to Alice Hageman (below)

• Expressions of interest may be sent to the conference planning group through Alice Hageman at alh@theworld.com and registrations should be sent to her postal address: Rev. Alice L. Hageman, 37 Boylston Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, USA.

The deadline for submitting registrations is 1 July 2008.

Speakers for the Gathering Confirmed!

Professor Rubem Alves, from Brazil, will give the keynote address on “Memories, Dreams and Visions of WSCF” in the form of a reflection on what has happened to the generation of the 1960s in the last forty years.

Rev Dr Paul Oestreicher, originally from Germany, now a citizen of Aotearoa/New Zealand living and working in the United Kingdom, will be one of the Bible study leaders.

Both Rubem and Paul led theological reflection at the Turku conference. At the time, Rubem was at Princeton Theological Seminary and Paul was with the British Council of Churches. Rubem is now a well-known theologian, philosopher and writer. He has published more than forty books and is a regular newspaper columnist in Brazil. Paul, an Anglican priest and at the same time Quaker university chaplain, has a ministry for reconciliation and was until recently the Director of the Centre for International Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral.

Rev Dora Arce-Valentin, a Presbyterian pastor from Cuba will coordinate daily worship. She is currently moderator of the Havana Presbytery, director of the Department of Program and Mission of the national church and teaches at the theological seminary. She is a former president of the Cuban SCM.

Professor Wong Wai Ching from Hong Kong and Ms. Georgine Kengne Djeutane, from Cameroon who will lead Bible study along with Paul Oestreicher drawing on the Biblical theme, �Your sons and daughters shall prophesy � and your elders shall dream dreams�. (Acts 2.17). Wai Ching was a WSCF leader in the 1980s and 1990s when she served as Regional Secretary for Asia/Pacific and later as Chairperson. She is now a Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Georgine, from Cameroon was the General Secretary of the SCM of Cameroon and is the current Regional Secretary for Africa, based in Nairobi.

WSCF invites registrations for senior friends gathering 2008
25 January 2008

WSCF sent out the invitation today for registrations to its 2008 global senior friends’ gathering to be held in August 2008 alongside the WSCF 34th General Assembly.

The 2008 global senior friend’s gathering will take place from August 4-8, in Montréal Canada alongside the WSCF 34th General Assembly in Montréal from August 1-9. The senior friends’ gathering theme is “Memories, dreams and visions of the WSCF”. This theme comes from the end of the verse begun in the theme of the 34th WSCF General Assembly, taken from the words of the prophet Joel, “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy … and your elders shall dream dreams (Acts 2:17)”.

The senior friends’ conference comes forty years after the historic World Student Conference held in Turku in 1968 and is open to all senior friends of WSCF. Conference sessions will include worship, Bible study, Remembering Turku: Panel and discussion, WSCF 34th General Assembly visit, sessions on the legacy and future of WSCF and keynote addresses on the conference theme. Interested senior friends are requested to broadly advertise this event and to encourage others to participate. Senior friends wishing to contribute as resource people or to approach appropriate resource persons are encouraged to contact the planning group via Alice Hageman (contact details below) or Christine Ledger at chrisledger@netspeed.com.au

Expressions of interest may be sent to the conference planning group through Alice Hageman at alh@theworld.com: and registrations should be sent to her postal address: Rev. Alice L. Hageman, 37 Boylston Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, USA.

The deadline for submitting registrations is 1 July 2008.

The senior friends’ conference registration form, draft program and Centennial Fund brochure follow in downloadable and printable pdf format below.