Workshop on Digital Literacy for Justice in Jakarta

At the end of July 2025, 28 young adults from Indonesia and from member churches of United Evangelical Mission (UEM) in the Asia Region gathered for a six-day workshop in Jakarta. Invited were students from the Christian University of Indonesia, the Christian Student Movement in Indonesia, and participants from UEM member churches. Together, they explored digital education as a tool for justice – with a focus on environmental issues and current challenges in the Asian context.

 

Theological Foundations and Social Engagement

 

The Head of the Jakarta Theological Seminary, Rev Prof Binsar Jonathan Pakpahan PhD, opened the workshop with a theological introduction. He outlined how churches can take responsibility on social media and sincerely commit themselves to justice. Afterwards, the participants reflected on the development of communication in the Asian context and discussed the role of the churches in this process.

 

Encounter with Greenpeace Indonesia

 

A highlight of the workshop was the visit to the office of Greenpeace Indonesia in Jakarta. There, the young adults gained insights into campaigns for environmental and climate justice, urban sustainability, and grassroots mobilisation. This encounter opened new perspectives and offered points of connection to their own fields of work within the UEM community.

 

Developing Campaigns

 

The participants then put their learning into practice: they developed ideas for their own video campaigns tailored to specific political contexts. The aim is to use digital media to raise awareness and initiate social change. Topics included, for example, the use of social media by children and young people, forest fires in Indonesia, and the question of how the history of Indonesia’s democratisation in 1998 will be told in the future. In this process, the individual backgrounds and traditions of the young adults play a crucial role.

 

Ridho Simamora is Programme Officer at the UEM Asia Regional Office. He co-organized the training and says: “In order to effectively advocate and campaign for environmental and human rights concerns, we must be prepared to become more influential leaders and innovators in our churches and communities. The goal of the Digital Literacy for Justice and Peace Workshop is to address this issue and encourage them to be more active doing advocacy works and human rights campaigns in social media.”

 

Celebrating Diversity

 

For the cultural evening, everyone brought in their traditions – with songs, dances, games, and traditional clothing. This exchange made the diversity within the UEM Asia Region visible and tangible.