26 year old Jessica Mora is a member of the Costa Rican Evangelical Presbyterian Church. She has experience in the ecumenical work in her home country and in the CLAI Meso America Region comprising 7 countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua) 

The CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry expressed its gratitude to the out-going coordinator, Pastor Nelson Celis of the Colombian Evangelical Lutheran Church, who served in that capacity for the last two years.  

The CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry is organized in 17 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, with national teams and facilitators.    

The work of the Youth Pastoral Ministry is centered on the needs of the youth of the member churches of CLAI, and is to strengthen the work at both the national and regional levels, as well as the continental.

The emphasis for the period 2013 and 2014 is on the national training of the youth pastoral ministries of the churches in matters related to sexual and reproductive rights. With the support of the United Nations Population Fund, the youth pastoral ministry will be actively present at the Continental Consultation on the Church and Sexual and Reproductive Rights to be held in Havana, Cuba, from May 20-22. The youth will also encourage the leaders of the churches present at the CLAI VI General Assembly to take on the issues related to human sexuality as an integral part of a youth pastoral ministry of the churches. 

The functions of the continental coordination are: accompany the processes in each country through the regional coordinators; foster the work of the youth in coordination with the regional secretaries; assure that the youth processes are made known in the different communications media; represent the CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry at the different levels of CLAI and other organizations; coordinate the preparing and monitoring of the Annual Work Plan, and provide the regular reports requested by the CLAI General Secretary. 

It is of great importance for the Youth and Culture of Peace Pastoral Ministry that its continental coordination be renewed every two years, and that gender equity and regional balance be taken into consideration. 

Photo: CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry Coordinating Team  Nelson Celis, Pedro Radney, Joaquín Peña, Jéssica Mora, Juan Achupatin and Tatiane Ribeiro (CLAI)

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