Adventist youth throughout Europe will once again have the opportunity to meet in Lahti, Finland for the European Adventist Youth Congress (AYC22) from August 2 to 6, 2022.
Youth congresses have a long history in our European territory. The first youth congress took place in Chemnitz, Germany in 1928. Since then, times have changed and realities have changed, but one thing remains the same: the spirit of joy and community that young people experience when they come together as a family.
EUDnews met Jonatan Tejel, current Youth Ministries director in the Inter-European Division (EUD) and former global Pathfinders leader at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
EUDnews: Jonatan, when was the first joint EUD/TED Youth Congress?Tejel: The first event that we have recorded in which TED and EUD joined forces to have a Youth Congress together was in 1984, in Exeter, UK. TED and EUD joined in a European Congress. Then they continued the [journey] in separate ways until 2004, when we had the 1st PAN EUROPEAN Congress in Wroclaw, Poland. The theme for that Congress was “Time for Action”, and the main speaker for the Congress was Gilbert Cangy, SPD Youth Ministries Department director. Then came Munich, Germany, in 2009, and the theme for this Congress was “It’s Your Turn”, and the main speaker was Baraka Muganda, General Conference Youth Ministries Department director. After Munich came Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2013, and the theme for that year was “Power of One”. For that Congress, there were several speakers: Gilbert Cangy, David Asscherick, Matthew Gamble, Patrick Johnson, and Dejan Stojkovic.
In 2017, we took the Congress to Spain, Valencia. The theme for that year was “The Journey”. For this Congress, we also had several speakers: Pako Mokgwane, Jeffrey Rosario, Ty Gibson, and, as main speaker, Sam Leonor. And now, in August 2022, we are going to Lahti, Finland. I would like to mention that we now call this congress: European Adventist Youth Congress.
EUDnews: What is its main purpose? What is the theme for this year and why has it been chosen?Tejel: The theme we’ve chosen for this Congress is “Plug In”. And we have prepared a journey, for all the youth, of connecting with God and the people around them, which will start on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, and hopefully never end.
The question to ask is: are you plugged into something? We live in a time in which we have more cables to recharge the devices in our house than any other thing you can think [of]. We always make sure that our devices do not run out of battery. We need to take this reality to the spiritual realm. Starting Tuesday night, with the topic “Unplug”, David Asscherick will introduce us to a series of topics that aim to help us find our rest and rhythm, to truly connect with God. On Wednesday, we’ll have the topic “Plug & Breathe”; on Thursday, “Plug & Serve”; on Friday evening, “Plug & Share”, and [on] Saturday, “Plug & Live”.
EUDnews: Finland is going to welcome this Congress. What can participants expect from the country and program?Tejel: Finland is a very welcoming country. Let me share some aspects of Finnish culture that can be of interest: Finns love nature and take strong measures to protect their environment; this has made Finland one of the cleanest countries in the world. They also do lots of physical activity. Hiking, ice hockey, skiing, swimming, hunting, sailing, and camping are popular activities.
Finland is an exciting destination for a very specific reason—lakes. Finland has an astounding number of lakes, and the official number stands close to 168,000, which is why it is known as “The Land of a Thousand Lakes.”
But the sauna is a different story altogether. The sauna plays a role in both business and social interactions. An invitation to a sauna should be considered an honor and a treat. If you travel to Finland, you must experience the sauna at least once… but I’m sure you’ll repeat the experience.
As organisers of the Congress, we’ll try to give many of the participants the possibility of having this sauna experience and the location of the venue could not be different, near a lake.
EUDnews: What does the organizing committee expect from the Congress? How many people, what kind of environment, and, especially, what kind of impact? Tejel: We would like every young person to enjoy the Congress, to be inspired by the messages, by the workshops, by the conversations in your small groups. We pray that, throughout this Congress, every individual attending will be able to connect again and again with Jesus. Everything we’ve prepared is designed to equip and grow their personal faith, for service to God and the people near them.
The last number I got of people attending the Congress is 2,245. With the situation we’re living in, here in Europe, with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with the COVID-19 virus still knocking at our doors, our estimation of attendance was lower. But God always surprises us, and we have numbers that are almost equal to most of the Congresses we had before.
EUDnews: What are the main challenges you find in young people’s lives today and how does the Congress try to answer them?Tejel: Apart from the main theme that will address a key element in the life of every single youth, we’ll have a menu of workshops that we divided in 3 different categories: Creative, Theological, and Social.
In these workshops we’ll try to address different issues that are relevant for our youth today. We’ll have many workshops and I’m not going to share all of them but let me, at least, share some of the topics with you: basic rules to find lasting love, Adventists and environment, how to be a positive influencer today, how to cope with sadness and faith crisis, how to communicate effectively, how to discover the power of prayer, how to plug in to creative worship, etc.
Those topics try to address issues that are affecting our youth today. Like sexual purity in a society where pressures and temptations exist, the problem of loneliness, the issue of disconnection from the church. The Congress tries to also answer the question: how can we personalise and live out our own faith? Being creative in everything we do in the church is very important, nowadays, for the youth.
If you are a young member of the church, Jesus wants to connect with you, my dear friend! All you need to do is open the door. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20 ESV).
To learn more about the event, please go here.
