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Youth Forum in Central Asia 2010

Youth Forum in Central Asia 2010

Yulia Starodubets.

Methodist Church came to the Central Asia territory about seven years ago. And this year we were able to hold the first youth leadership forum. The forum was held March, 22 -24, 2010 in the former capital of Kazakhstan (or now it is called the second capital) – the beautiful city – Almaty. It is notable that the three days of the forum are the days when the peoples of Central Asia celebrate Nooruz – a kind of Asian New Year – the time when nature awakes and a new life starts. And we decided to breathe a new breath in the development of the youth ministry, since we are concerned with the future of our district and believe that youth is the future of our churches.

The forum was prepared and held by a team of leaders from Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).

Leaders from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan came to take part in the forum. There were in total 35 people who want to serve God, who want to develop the youth ministry in their churches so that more and more young people knew about God’s love.
We named the forum “The Source of Life” with a view to teach young people to draw strength in Christ and to be fruitful for the Kingdom of God.

The main theme of our first forum was evangelism. To develop this theme we chose a program “Three Stories”, where the first story is our own story of how God works in our lives, the second is a story of our friend with whom we share the Good News, and the third is the plan of God’s salvation which was realized in Jesus Christ.

The essence of the program:

- The ability to reach with the Gospel not with the help of several phrases, but through building of confidential relations, since the experience shows that such message about Christ is more effective. You know how God worked in your life and how His prevenient grace led you, you can see and hear God’s work in the life of your friend, and you can combine these three stories in one – the story of God’s love.

The second part of the forum was devoted to the youth ministry: how to begin it, how to get the contemporary unbelieving youth interested. In many Methodist churches in Asia there are no youth ministries, and we tried to share our experience and give effective advice.

At the forum there were also workshops which inspired youth leaders for a more effective ministry in their local churches. The workshop “Time planning” was hold by our superintendent Edward Khegay. He also prepared a presentation about the youth ministry in the UMC of Eurasia with a critical analysis. There were other workshops, such as “Theater” and “Worship in a dance”.

The highlight of an informal evening program was KVN with similar theme “The youth ministry in our church”. The participants showed their talents in the competitions: greetings of the teams, stem and a music contest. For many of the participants the last evening of prayer became very important: we together could pray for our churches and successful ministry in Central Asia.

We plan to make this forum an annual event, so that youth could constantly communicate and share their experience, so that we could see and enjoy the growth of youth ministries in our region.

Impressions of the forum participants:

Roza (Gulistan, Uzbekistan): I’m very glad that I came to this youth forum. It’s the first time I participate in such events, but I really liked it. I thank God that He has brought me here and has given me such an opportunity to find many new friends in Jesus Christ. I’ve learned many things for my ministry, got many good impressions that will stay in my heart for a long time and will strengthen me in my ministry. The program was very interesting. I want to return home soon to share the joy God has given to us. In our church we will pray that more youth came to the next forum.

Nikita (Karabalty, Kyrgyzstan): It’s my first time at the forum and I really enjoyed it. I liked the program and the schedule. I was glad to know more about God in the place where I had never been. The last prayer evening was of particular importance to me. For me personally I learned a lot of new important and interesting information which I would certainly like to put into practice. And once again I got added evidence that God is beautiful in His creation: so many different Christians. For the first time I saw so many young people from different countries, who are burning for Christ and it empowered me and gave me more joy. Glory to God for that!

Olya (Gulistan, Uzbekistan): The youth forum of the UMC in Almaty… what can I say, I really enjoyed it! There was great communication, there I met wonderful young people – my brothers and sisters in Christ. At the lectures and discussions I learned a lot of new, interesting and useful that will help me in my ministry. Discussion clubs were the most interesting part for me: there we could freely share our opinions, share our experience, suggest and learn something new. The most joyful event was KVN and preparation for it – we had a lot of fun. I have not noticed any faults. Perhaps there were some and other participants have noticed them, but as for me - everything was just great! I really hope that such events will be held often in the future and I will participate in them.