Establishment (2021-2023)
In February-March 2021, interested participants were gathered from the parishes of the Turku and Kaarina parish federation for the Youth Future Seminar (remotely). Young representatives from every parish in Finland have been invited to the seminar. The assembled group also formed the first youth influence group after the seminar, which also included Eina Mäkelä, Samuel Oliveros de Nordenflicht and Otto Tammi.
What did we want?
Our activities first began by thinking about goals within the church. Perhaps the most important was opening the doors of churches, clarifying the church's message, and bringing young people's opinions into decision-making.
In addition, we familiarized ourselves with the new Church Act (still awaiting confirmation at the time), which required young people to participate in the church. A similar entry was on the public side, for example, in the Municipal Act regarding youth councils.
The influence group organized itself for the first time in the fall of 2021 and elected a board of directors and communications managers. I became social media corresponder with Eina Mäkelä.
The next important tasks were to establish our position in the church, to obtain representatives from other parishes in the SRK group, and to create a code of conduct.
The code of conduct was worked on for a long time, so that it would be approved as it progressed. We sometimes disagreed about the content, but I think the whole thing was quite successful. It also went through the higher institutions quite painlessly.
The first elections for the youth board were held in the fall of 2023. By then, we had obtained representatives from several different parishes, and some of the members changed quite frequently in the early stages. I also ran for office in the elections and was elected with a good number of votes.
Our position has gradually become established in the parish federation with the approval of the new Church Law. Of course, cooperation still needs to be developed and our existence reminded of so that we can truly have a voice in decision-making.