Volmoed Youth

This Christmas, we give thanks for Christ’s light shining over our land and our youth. May His hope guide us as we build community, courage, and compassion together. Blessings of peace and joy from the Volmoed Youth family.

Welcome to the official website of the Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Programme (VYLTP).

VYLTP is a South African ecumenical initiative aimed at nurturing and developing young leaders since 2016. It has brought together young adults in the VOLMOED Retreat and Conference Centre, situated in the Hemel-and-Aarde-Valley in Hermanus, near Cape Town.

When we decided to initiate this programme, its urgency was uppermost in our minds. Not only had similar current programmes all but disappeared: their ecumenical necessity was more evident than ever before. How else could we bring together those of the same commitment from different denominational directions? How else could we meet the urgent demand of meeting the unfulfilled challenges of 1976 in a country where more than half the population is under the age of 35?

Our vision

A vibrant, ecumenical movement of courageous young leaders that ignites and facilitates transformative justice in our countries, for our planet.

Our mission

We gather young leaders to form a safe space of learning to foster wise leadership that empowers them to facilitate transformative justice in church and society.

How did it all begin?

Our story

In 2013, several Church leaders gathered in Johannesburg under the banner of SACLI, the South African Christian Leaders’ Initiative. Towards the end of that meeting, a group of young activists and advocates met and the idea of a new emerging Youth leadership training programme was conceived there.

More than a year later, in August 2014, a dynamic group of young Christian leaders met in Stellenbosch under the theme of “Moving Mountains”. Madiba had passed on in December 2013 and Bishop Ivan Abrahams’ sermon at his funeral service was about “passing on the baton”. The young leaders at Moving Mountains accepted this challenge of carrying forward the legacy that has been left for them.

Rev. Edwin Arrison, ArchBishop Desmond Tutu; Prof. John de Gruchy — Rev. Edwin Arrison, the late Archbishop-emeritus Desmond Tutu; Prof. John de Gruchy

At the 30^th anniversary of the 1985 Kairos document, it was resolved that new young leaders had to be nurtured to take forward the tradition of prophetic theology. n 2016, Prof. John de Gruchy and Rev. Edwin Arrison launched a youth leaders programme at Volmoed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1976 youth uprising in Soweto. Living at Volmoed and in nearby Hermanus, they were both committed to nurturing its continued growth. Archbishop-emeritus Tutu, who lived in Hermanus and is the patron of Volmoed, gave this new programme his full support and blessing.

Forty years after the events of June 1976, a new generation of young leaders has arisen: this new time required new leadership. The first cohort of 14 young people started a 10 week residential programme in late May 2016.

The class of 2016 on a visit to Cape Town

VYLTP was officially launched at the Volmoed chapel on June 16, 2016.

Where are we today?

In 2026, VYLTP will celebrate its 10^th Anniversary. Because of COVID, it was difficult to gather young leaders at Volmoed for the full 10 weeks, and we did some online teaching instead.

As we emerged from COVID, we reflected on our impact and realised that we were making very little impact on the local young people. VYLTP then pivoted and decided to focus primarily on young people from the local areas (Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant).

VYLTP drumming

In October 2022, we started a drumming course with a group called DRUMBA under the leadership of Bevil Spence. After ten young people graduated from that, Bevil proposed that we also make our own drums. This course took place in May 2023. We have not stopped making drums since then. While VYLTP is not a drumming or drum-making organisation, these activities have anchored our coming together and allowed us to explore the five themes of Volmoed:

Healing and Wholeness,
Creation and Creativity,
Beloved Community,
Reconciliation; and
Peace and Justice.

A professor responsible for Innovation at the UCT Graduate School of Business then invited the VYLTP drummers and drum-makers to share our story with her students in November 2023 and they also bought 30 drums. This happened again in 2024, and we have now again been invited to UCT GSB in November 2025.

All of this led to the young people being invited to the USA in November 2024: South Africa’s Volmoed Youth Drummers for Unity and Healing visit the States.

Thursday programme

Before the drum-making started, VYLTP however invited local young people to the Thursday morning service at Volmoed from March 2023. After the service, teaching on the five themes of Volmoed continue for the rest of the day. This has now happened regularly every Thursday for more than two years.