Is it possible to get young people in secular Europe enthusiastic about missions? This is a question I have asked myself every time we visited Germany in recent years. We have few Adventist secondary schools there, and it is difficult to keep young people in the churches, let alone get them excited about ministry. However, this past Easter, I learned firsthand that it is possible, and it is happening. Toussaint and I had the opportunity to represent AFM at the seventh annual Youth-in-Mission Congress organized by my home conference on Easter weekend in a public school in the town of Mannheim, southern Germany.
I had heard of the congress before. When we learned that it would fit into our schedule, we seized the opportunity, happily joined by my two nephews. We were greatly looking forward to this event, especially Toussaint who had never attended an Adventist event of this size. About 1,700 young people came from as far away as Russia and Norway to learn, pray, sing and study together for five days.
When I had attended youth meetings years ago, they had been superficially fun and activity-oriented. Not this one! It was certainly not boring or depressing, but a profound spirit reigned. The throngs of young people came, driven by the desire to have a closer relationship with their Savior and learn how to share Him with their secular friends and neighbors. Even as I write this, I’m still touched by what we experienced over those five days, and my heart is full of joy that a new generation is arising and taking God’s call seriously.
The theme of the congress was “The Upper Room—Ye shall receive power. Acts 1:8.” The focus of most of the sermons and presentations was prayer and a daily walk with Christ. One of the speakers emphasized the importance of united prayer and shared her experiences with it. As a result, the classroom where the 6 a.m. prayer meeting was held became overcrowded on the second morning, and they had to move to the cafeteria!
The congress started on Thursday afternoon with a visit to nursing homes and homeless shelters where the young people brought joy to the residents and homeless through songs and visiting with them. On Friday and Sunday, workshops on many different topics provided an excellent opportunity for the young people to follow their gifts and interests and be trained in a variety of areas.
The person organizing the workshops warned me that interest in foreign missions would probably be low. In 2012, the missions workshop had only two attendees. Well, I was willing to talk to only two people if need be. But I was happily surprised when all three sessions of my workshop were about half full. Praise the Lord! And many more came to the AFM booth that we kept open every night until almost midnight and during meal hours and breaks. (Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep!)
From the AFM booth, we had an excellent view over an area of the hall where young people could hang out and visit. They sat around in groups, often with someone playing the guitar or piano in their midst, singing praise songs and hymns. Others read their Bibles or bowed their heads in united prayer.
On Sabbath afternoon, the youth congress did an outreach in the very secular town of Mannheim. In groups of two or three, the young people went door-to-door. Bigger groups went into malls and streets to sing and attract people with little skits, book tables and a living sample of the statue in Daniel 2. At the Sabbath evening meeting, there was a call for those who wanted to study for baptism, for those who wanted to give a year to Jesus in missions, and for those who wanted to become pastors. Hundreds answered the call and came forward.
The highlight on Sunday night was a baptism, which took place outside in freezing temperatures.
Every night there were little skits from the lives of pioneers in Adventist history, like Joseph Bates, William Miller and Ellen White. Also, every night there were excellent music performances.
The food was simple and served in another gym. By the end of the congress, more than 2,700 lbs. of bread had been consumed, and Toussaint was officially tired of any type of bread. Sleeping quarters were in classrooms on the floor. Thankfully, older people like Toussaint and me were accommodated in simple hotels. It was winter and quite cold, especially since the gym where the big meetings took place was a five-minute walk from the school where the rest of the congress happened. Yet, I didn’t hear any complaints, and I saw mostly joyful faces.
A special joy for us was to meet our former student missionaries, Raffael and Naomi, as well as former student missionaries from other AFM projects.
At the end of the congress we were exhausted, but we were inspired by this new generation of young European Christians. We praise God for all the blessed encounters and conversations we had, and we pray that some of the young people who showed interest in AFM will join our missionary family!
