Interview with Irena Dragas, Croatia YFC

Tell us a bit about yourself – where do you live?  What do you do for work, and for fun?
My name is Irena Dragas and I live in Croatia, in the city of Rijeka which is situated in the Kvarner bay of the Adriatic sea. The view from my window includes the sea, the islands, and the snow capped mountains – all from the same window! I work with YFC Croatia. My official title is the National Director of YFC Croatia, but we have developed team leadership in YFCC, so I prefer to say that I am a team member of YFCC. I enjoy sitting down with a close friend and a cup of tea or hot chocolate for a long talk; I am kind of addicted to the process of self-searching and self-knowledge :) I love to travel and explore new places, both in Croatia and abroad. I enjoy reading good books, spending time with my nephews, decorating my apartment, pondering art, and eating dark chocolate.

You’ve lived through a war in Croatia – what challenges did you face? How has that changed you?
Oh, yes, my war story… Just a few days ago my parents and I were sorting through some photos and we found our “war and refugee photos”. It was amazing to be able to look at them with a strange mixture of sadness, horror, laughter, and oddly enough, even joy. For all that is present now and was present during those war years. At moments it does feel as if though our war story is just a story and we even feel that it must have happened to someone else and we just got to see the photos and the videos. The war is such a huge and incomprehensible experience that at times we feel that we must have just been a part of some war film. But it was real… We were being shot at, bombarded, ran for our lives, became refugees, lived as refugees for 4 years, and finally returned home at the end of the war… The challenges were many, from the basic one of trying to stay alive and have clothes, food and shelter, to trying to keep the dreams, the beliefs, the faith, the dignity and the humanity alive within our souls. What the war does is shake you completely and absolutely until all falls out of you except what is deeply rooted. And at that point you recognize what is at your core, and what is important and what you wish to cling to. So, we clung to God, each other, and the constant honest search of our own souls, emotions, thoughts, paradigms… The war stripped me naked and allowed me to choose how to adorn myself and how to keep choosing to adorn myself… So, the war has changed me (and I am not just talking about the PTSD…), but it has also irrecoverably implanted in me the awareness for the need to constantly change, question and define myself anew in that continuous endeavor to cling to what is important and at the core.

And now for the more practical answer – it was during the war (I was in high school and university during the war) while I was involved with the humanitarian aid, working in church, working alongside my parents in helping other refugees, etc. that I decided and knew how I wanted to somehow be involved in full time ministry.

What are the main challenges facing youth workers in Croatia?
It was during the war that I decided that I wanted to somehow be involved in full time ministry. I studied literature and the Bible (in the United States) and was very involved in missions and youth work during my university days. As I was looking into going back to Croatia and finding a ministry that I could be involved in, I was recruited by YFC Croatia. That was in 1997 and I have been a part of the YFCC team ever since then! One of our main challenges was to find our “Croatian voice” and be an authentic Croatian youth ministry. Croatia was a post war country and it was a new country. We depended heavily on the help from abroad (in all the different areas of life, including spiritual). We felt deeply convicted to take responsibility for our own country and our own youth and use our resources and talents and abilities to work in our own country with our own people. That was a huge challenge, but through those efforts and struggles we learned and grew and started relying on our own capabilities (while always being open to learn from others as well!). As we were learning how to be an authentic Croatian youth ministry, we also realized that the other greatest struggle we have is how to be authentic ourselves. And that is the struggle we chose to have – we wanted to be authentic in who we are and never offer the young people something that we ourselves don’t believe or would not participate in. So, our personal spiritual journeys became transparent through our ministry. And that challenge to be and stay authentic has been one of the most difficult and most rewarding and wonderful aspects of our work and lives.

Again, I’ll offer a few more practical answers as well… the challenges facing youth workers in Croatia are many - the main one being the need to be authentic – as Croatians and on a personal level. The other is the state of the church and the economic situation. It is not a given that a church would even have a full time pastor, let alone a full or even a half-time youth pastor or worker. So, most of the work is organized, led and done by volunteers. That is a huge challenge! The approach to training such workers is so different from what happens in other countries. Often, it is the youth themselves that are responsible for youth work and while that certainly helps develop responsibility, it also presents a lot of problems. There are educated and capable youth workers, but there is no way for them to be employed in such positions. So, the challenges are many…

How has your ministry with YFC developed over the years? What new things do you feel God calling you to?
We have not been scared of change within YFCC and so our ministry has continually been changing, as have we! We started out with discipleship groups, youth camps, youth meetings and clubs. We slowly moved more towards training and resourcing youth leaders and young leaders and all those working with people interested in their spiritual journeys. Also, our work is not always and only directed towards youth. We have found out that many different generations respond to our resources and projects and ministries and so we are open to all seeking help and guidance on their spiritual journey. We wish to continue creating new resources and making them available to all those interested. We offer ourselves and all the materials that we have as a resource to others. We are in the middle of this transition right now. Actually, this past year and a half have been very difficult as we were going through “our dark night of the soul”. We hit burn-out and needed some recuperation time and some restructuring of ministry. We are slowly coming up for air right now and look forward to the new opportunities ahead of us.

What is it like being a female leader in Croatia? Do you have many role models? Are people generally accepting of female leaders in the church? Do you think women lead differently to men?
Uh, that’s a complex question and requires a complex answer and I could go on and on about that topic :) But here are a few thoughts…

My first impulse would be to say that being a female leader in church in Croatia is rare – but that’s not completely true. The truth is that it is rare because the system is such that it doesn’t provide many opportunities for women to be employed in leadership positions and therefore also be in recognized and “official” leadership positions. However, there are many educated, capable and talented women who would be great in those “official” leadership positions. At the same time women in the Croatian church are in many “unofficial” leadership positions. They teach, lead worship, preach, organize church life, are responsible for children’s work, youth work, women’s work… So, they do lead, but it’s not often called that – I know, it’s a strange concept :) It is also important to mention that this varies greatly from church to church and the view of women in leadership is a hot topic. There are certain churches where women have to be quiet in the church and possibly only teach children up to the age of 13, to churches where women preach, are chosen to be pastors, or are the deans of theological seminaries.

I grew up with a mom who is a female leader (she never held “an office” and never was employed, but was always involved in organizing, teaching, and leading the children, the women, and even at times the men, in the church). So, it was natural for me to think that being a female leader is the most normal thing in the world. I, however, had the opportunity my mom never did, which is to get the education I wanted and be employed in full time ministry and officially labeled as “female leader”! So, I would have to say that my mom is my first role model and that is where I learned that leadership is not something that is given to you or depends on the “official label” or the “official position” of leadership, but that leadership means having a passion to learn and grow and change and have the courage to expose yourself to others as you offer to journey with them as you post challenges on their path and together with them trail a new path. I don’t know if that is a female view of leadership, but it is the view of this female leader.

As far as my YFC experience, when I started as the National Director, I was one of the very few female national directors in YFC Europe and YFC International. All the other NDs were men, and it seemed to me that most of them had a different view of leadership than I did. However, at the same time my two teammates in YFC Croatia were men, and it was the three of us together that moved towards team leadership and started developing a new kind of leadership, that to me felt very intrinsic to who I was. But the thing is that it felt intrinsic to them as well, and they are men. So, I am not sure if women lead differently to men, but I do know that this woman and her two male teammates lead differently than most leaders who happen to be men :)

How are you developing as a leader? Do you have a mentor? What’s inspiring you at the moment?
I keep learning and growing, together with my teammates as well as my close friends and mentors. I don’t have an official mentor, but there are a few people in my life who I deem to be “the wise sages” in my life who inspire me each time we talk and share about our journeys. Some of them are women and some are men, some are close friends, some are former university professors, some are fellow laborers in full time ministry, some are lawyers, some are older than me, and some are my age, and the list goes on… What they all have in common though is that I am honored to be journeying with them…

What’s inspiring me at the moment is the love and care and understanding and grace I received from so many people in my life during my “dark night of the soul”… What a blessing it has been to be allowed to just BE for a while… I thank God and all my angels here in Earth for their love and grace and patience and acceptance…