Global Youth Summit Indonesia 2022
Question: What does Life in the Spirit feel like? How does it manifest itself in how we Learn, Serve and Worship?
Context: Every six years, the Global Youth Summit brings together Anabaptist young adults from all over the world. Delegates, carefully selected by their national churches, represent their communities, bringing with them insights about the challenges, joys, and innovations they face. This gathering is more than just a meeting—it's a chance for deep, meaningful conversations, as participants engage in spiritual discernment about how the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives and countries. In 2022, the summit was hosted in the vibrant cities of Semarang and Salatiga, Indonesia, from July 1 to 4. Organized by Mennonite World Conference.
Project type: International Collaboration
More information Click Here “Returning to Radical Faith” by Aaron Epp
Photo credit: Oscar Suarez
Renewal is at the foundations of the Global Youth Summit 2022. I heard and observed young adults from different cultures, places and experiences share a deep longing for spiritual newness. Renewal is not about the creation of something “original” or “brand new”. But rather, the two letters “re” at the beginning of the English word indicates the returning to. A returning to the Holy Spirit allowing our hearts, minds and souls to be transformed.
As young adults we feel neither here nor there. Too old to be a child and to young to be a fully grown adult. We live in the realm of the unknown, the in-between. Here, people often feel confused, anxious and a yearning to feel grounding. However, I saw and felt something different at the Global Youth Summit.
Engaging in multiple delegate sessions, young adults were embracing the unknown. We asked difficult questions about mental health, spiritual guidance, social, economic inequalities, the politics of living a Christian life authentically and so much more. We envisioned a church led by the mystical spiritual guidance of the Holy Spirit. Young adults have a unique positionality and dwell in the unknown.
We go places others do not, we say things that are not being said, we do daring things for Jesus, we are connecting in creative and unconventional ways, we use our gifts to compliment others to serve, we are worshiping with hearts of praises. We young adults are mobilizing and transforming the landscape of church. We are urging congregations to return again, again, and again to the radical faith of Mennonites.
Pembaruan adalah dasar dari Global Youth Summit 2022. Saya mendengar dan mengamati orang dewasa muda dari berbagai budaya, tempat, dan pengalaman berbagi kerinduan yang mendalam akan kebaruan spiritual. Pembaruan bukan tentang penciptaan sesuatu yang "asli" atau "baru". Sebaliknya, dua huruf "re" di awal kata bahasa Inggris menunjukkan kembali ke. Kembali kepada Roh Kudus memungkinkan hati, pikiran, dan jiwa kita diubahkan.
Sebagai orang dewasa muda, kita tidak merasa di sini atau di sana. Terlalu tua untuk menjadi anak-anak dan terlalu muda untuk menjadi dewasa sepenuhnya. Kita hidup di alam yang tidak diketahui, di antara. Di sini, orang sering merasa bingung, cemas, dan ingin merasakan grounding. Namun, saya melihat dan merasakan sesuatu yang berbeda di Global Youth Summit.
Terlibat dalam beberapa sesi delegasi, orang dewasa muda merangkul yang tidak diketahui. Kami mengajukan pertanyaan-pertanyaan sulit tentang kesehatan mental, bimbingan rohani, sosial, kesenjangan ekonomi, politik menjalani kehidupan Kristen secara otentik dan banyak lagi. Kami membayangkan sebuah gereja yang dipimpin oleh bimbingan rohani mistik dari Roh Kudus. Orang dewasa muda memiliki posisi yang unik dan berdiam di tempat yang tidak diketahui.
Kami pergi ke tempat-tempat yang tidak dikunjungi orang lain; kita mengatakan hal-hal yang tidak dikatakan; kita melakukan hal-hal yang berani untuk Yesus; kami terhubung dengan cara yang kreatif dan tidak konvensional; kita menggunakan karunia kita untuk memuji orang lain untuk melayani; kami beribadah dengan hati memuji. Kami orang dewasa muda memobilisasi dan mengubah lanskap gereja. Kami mendesak jemaat untuk kembali lagi, lagi, dan lagi ke iman radikal Mennonites.
Global Youth Summit (GYS) 2022 theme is Living in the Spirit: Learn, Serve, Worship. Our Canadian GYS Team conducted a survey gathering insight on how young adults perceive and experience the Holy Spirit. Responses show that young adults know the Holy Spirit is important to their faith, but is not well understood or discussed deeply within the church. Notable responses:
“The Holy Spirit can be difficult to understand, I feel not enough people know what the Holy Spirit does. I am not really sure if there is a collective common understanding of the Holy Spirit. It has not been discussed frequently, but a common understanding from scripture is that it is a prominent part of anyone's faith journey. The Holy Spirit and the view of the Trinity godhead is something rarely explained well within our church for all people, not just young people. I'm not sure, I don't think we talk much about it”
However, despite the lack of common ground about the Holy Spirit, young adults have described the intangible character of the Holy Spirit in their inner and outer lives. Notable responses:
“To me the Holy Spirit is the part of God that is always with me. It helps me to remember that I am not alone even on my hardest days. When I feel alone and abandoned, I remember that he is with me and ready to listen.”
“The Holy Spirit is an internal spark or drive from the Lord. The Holy Spirit is God’s spirit dwelling in me; furthermore, a resource and direct connection to God the Father and Jesus. Even deeper, the Holy Spirit is one who convict’s personally.”
“I believe that it is always a gift to be waking up every morning, as well as feeling my mothers love. I believe the Holy Spirit tells her to show me her love for me and her support on harder days like today where I don’t want to leave my bed”
“The Holy Spirit is creative, passionate, and convicts things that overwhelm our souls and emotions to authentically express ourselves. The Holy Spirit was given to believers from God. The Spirit is alive in each of us and can help us to make decisions, reveal areas where we need work, and give us prompts to do extraordinary things.”
“It never leaves me and helps drive me when my next step Is unknown. When I was at my lowest in life this voice in my head gave me the drive and motivation to get to where I am today.” The survey answers have shown to reflect each individual's personal identities, environment, experiences and things we have been told. Following this question, we hope to investigate how culture and social identities inform how the Holy Spirit is perceived and experienced. How can learning about the Holy Spirit teach us about the global church reflecting our distinct values and needs?”
We invited Young Adults across Canada to share Short poems to explore how they experience Living in the Holy Spirit using their five senses, sight, touch, taste, smell and sound. Read below:
The Holy Spirit feels like happiness, smells like lavender on a warm summer’s day, tastes like sweet honey, sounds like chatter and laughter with the people you love and who love you - S.S.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like a high calling that I must rely on strength and provision from the Lord to step into - J.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like peace, smells like fields on a warm early summer day, looks like the wind pushing the growth in the fields like waves, tastes like the coolness of peppermint gum, and sounds like the wind flowing past you or the sound of waves crashing against the earth's edge - M.H.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like fuzzy sweaters, smells like vanilla, looks like joy, tastes like pho, sounds like Chopin - F.K.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like that feeling when you wake up at the perfect time after a restful nap - alert, refreshed, ready to take on the day; smells like walking through a forest after a fresh rain fall - rejuvenated, fresh; looks like witnessing someone harness a skill and create something beautiful, something they were meant to do - an exceptional athlete, a piece of art, a powerful sermon; tastes like a bun fresh from the oven with butter and honey - sweet, warm, nourishing, comfortable; sounds like a tall waterfall in a river - powerful, maybe a bit scary, awe-inspiring. - J.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like warmth and comfort; smells like sweetness; looks like family, a random act of kindness; tastes like comfort food; sounds like encouragement, kind words to each other and laughter - L.K.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like joy, smells like flowers, looks like optimism and a mountain, tastes like a coffee crisp, and sounds like music - S.J.
The Holy Spirit feels like a mother hen brooding over her chicks to ensure their health and survival; the same way the Holy Spirit brooded over the waters during the Creation of the Earth to ensure its safety and survival (Genesis 1:2) - A.K.B.
The Holy Spirit sounds like laughter, voices together in song, and joy - C.B.
The Holy Spirit feels like: fiery, warm, exciting, fresh; Smells like: cinnamon, campfire; Tastes like: pop rocks, fizzy water, spicy, flavourful; Sounds like: wind in the trees, a fire rapidly burning - R.M.
The Holy Spirit feels like letting go, it smells like a fragrance that drifts on forever, it looks like someone being brace, it tastes like a new food and sounds like a hymn - C.K.
The Holy Spirit It tastes like justice. Just kidding that's super vague. living in the Holy Spirit gives me this image of an event that happens in Edmonton called Taste of Edmonton. A park in downtown is filled with people selling food, presenting their cultural traditions, dances, art, music and educating people about their history. The fact that people flock to these spaces for the fun and food, but are surrounded by the celebration of culture - R.J.
The Holy Spirit sounds quiet. Because when you are surrounded by thoughts and questions, it is there to help you and support you and relive your stresses - C.H.
Living in the Holy Spirit feels like peacefulness and lack of worry and it smells clean - X.L.
Thank you to the 2022 Canadian delegates that have taken time out of their busy lives to develop this project and report for the past months: Andrew Klassen Brown, Ashley Lauren, Madison Harms, and Rebecca Janzen. We give thanks to God who carried us through this process. It has challenged and inspired us to share truths that have been shared with us. Our prayer is we may seek God’s heart in our church and communities through youth locally and globally.