Bern, Switzerland [Stephan Sigg; Daryl Gungadoo; CD EUDNews]. March 16, 2013 is a Sabbath to remember. Around the Globe hundreds of thousands of Adventist youth participated in the first Global Youth Day (GYD) initiated by the Adventist Youth Departments. Following the idea that on March 16 the youth will not just listen to a sermon but rather become the sermon young people stepped out of the building to be the Church and reach out in the name of Jesus.
The Global Youth Day finally mobilized the Adventist youths on the streets of their villages, towns, and cities around the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus through acts of kindness. The Youth Department's quinquennium theme "The Power of One" became alive and found a vivid expression in the GYD. Gilbert Cangy, the Youth Ministries Director of the General Conference says: "It was a historically unifying moment for global Adventist youth. At the heart of it all, this was not any of our doing; we simply made ourselves available to God as his hands and feet to get His work done."
The Global Youth Day Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/AdventistGlobalYouthDay) gives a glimpse of the many service activities youth were involved in around the World. More than 80,000 youth were connected through the social media and over 4 million people were talking about GYD in the Internet. "While the statistics are still pouring in", says Cangy, "it looks like GYD been the single largest global mobilization of Adventists through Facebook & Twitter ever!"
"I've noticed that this event was pivotal on the synergy of resources from many departments of our church; breaking down the "proverbial silos". Communications staff helped capture and edit videos, Hope Channel helped host and air the signal via its global satellite network, AWR helped in the Recording for the Theme Music, ADRA helped in donating care packs, Women's ministries chipped in, Health Ministries conducted health-checks, Publishing distributed books, and the list goes on and on... WOW! Is this a glimps of Heaven? We are already starting to plan for GYD'2014... and I'm sure we'll see an even better synergy of ALL our Church Resources! It's so wonderful to see the Youth Department taking leadership in mobilizing the whole world church this way", so Daryl Gungadoo, Distribution & Network Engineer of Adventist World Radio (Europe) and one of the organiser of the event.
The Adventist GYD was featured live on Hope Channel International for 1 hour from Australia, for 1:30hr from Stimme-der-Hoffnung in Germany, and 1hr from the General Conference Head Quarter. The broadcasts reported live from the various fields by being connected to local people through Skype. Stephan Sigg (EUD Youth Ministries Director) says: "It is amazing to see what happens when the God-given potential of young people in our churches is released and when the youth are in the lead of outreach, and yes, of the church!" The next Global Youth Day is scheduled for March 15, 2014.
picture: 1. Internet connection between Stephan Sigg, EUD Youth Ministries Director, and Ted Wilson, GC President (GYD, Facebook); 2. Gilbert Cangy, GC Youth Ministries Director with his staff (GYD, Facebook);
