Stepping into the World of Wisdom
We are so happy and grateful to share with you, that we held our first World Camp online between 30th July – 1st August, 2020, with the title ‘World of Wisdom’ (W.O.W).
Over 900 people registered from all around the world, amongst whom many were able to hear the gospel for the first time ever. We were amazed that though C-YA is a European association, many joined us from Africa and Asia, as well.
During the preparation, our vision was to unite as one under the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Through the Zoom meetings leading up to the camp, our team members were able to connect in heart day by day and, though our goals were difficult to reach and we had to work really hard, above all, the fellowships we had, the encouragement we could give to one another were the most rewarding.
We could see so clearly that all the work was done by God, not us, and everything happened with His guidance.
We had such colourful and exciting programmes, including Empowerment Talks, by Christian leaders. It was so inspiring to listen to their testimonies, their experiences and learn from them. It is so important to guide our youth, since we are the future, so we should think about our spiritual life as our priority, growing, learning and digging deeper into the Word of God.
Worship Leaders such as Kari Jobe, Jesus Culture or Bethel Music joined us with special videos, emphasising their wish to work with us in the future in person, as well. We had such a blessed time in the presence of God as we sang praise to Him from different places, still connected by the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Ock Soo Park, founder of C-YA, was able to join us straight from South-Korea each morning and evening to teach us from the Bible and share the gospel with the participants. It was a truly life-changing experience. Pastor Park has been ministering for decades now and we were so grateful that we could hear his message from Europe, too. He put the main focus on the scripture about the woman caught in adultery, in John chapter 8, verses 1-11. It was a food for thought, really, seeing the very same story from sermon to sermon from the same, yet different perspective: How Jesus had washed away every single one of our sins, and the only thing we should do is to accept that. This is how easy it is, still many Christians misinterpret the whole message of the Bible by trying to do something to get forgiveness. We are so thankful that through W.O.W. the true message could be delivered to many.
One participant Immanuel Peralta from Israel, shared his testimony about how these sermons affected him:
‘I have never felt close to God. But while listening to the Word, I was able to learn a lot about things that I didn't understand. Now, I was convinced that my sins were forgiven and justified for ever. Also, I'm really introverted, and I was grateful for the leadership of the students and teachers in my group so that I could open my heart and speak courageously. It was the happiest time of my life.’
In C-YA, diversity is very important for us, so we prepared a time for getting to know each other’s culture and country a bit more, during our ‘E-sight to Europe’ and ‘Virtual Avatar Tour’ as well as during our ‘Afro-Euro Forum’, that happened in cooperation with International Youth Fellowship. It was amazing to see the efforts the students put into their live videos, showing us their homes, sharing their history and their struggles.
What is even more exciting is that since ‘W.O.W’ was our largest event so far, it reached many more than we could have ever imagined, so we keep on having C-YA meetings in the participating countries as well as continuing our regular meetings each weekend. We pray that God will continue leading us in spreading the gospel and bless us with his wisdom while connecting to more and more youth-groups and individuals so that we can grow together in the understanding of the Lord.