Youth Retreat at Kibuara Bible College, 26-28 August.

“What time are we due to start our talk?” I asked  Monday, the youth pastor.

“2pm.”  He replied confidently.

“What time is it now?”

“It is around 3pm.”  He replied, ignoring my implied point.

I looked in the classroom: three youths were flicking nonchalantly through notebooks looking a bit bored.  A few more were hanging around outside leaning on trees.  A Toyota Saloon pulled up next to a parked boda-boda.  The driver got out.  One youth fell out of the right-hand door followed by another and another and another.  More youths got out of the left-hand door.  It reminded us of the joke “how many people can you fit into a mini”.  As we watched, the youths stretched, looked around them and dispersed, leaving their luggage in typical teenage fashion in a pile behind the car for someone else to deal with.  After the driver unloaded the copious luggage, including half-a-dozen mattresses, a diesel generator and a loud speaker, the car drove off.  Our little son Samuel and his local band of merry men saw the opportunity of a soft-play centre and began jumping around on the mattresses.

At 3.30pm about 12 youths had arrived for the conference that was to last from now (Friday afternoon) until Sunday evening and was for youth from across Kasese district.

“I think you can start now,”  suggested Monday.

“But lunch has not yet been served.”  I replied, seeing from the timetable that lunch was supposed to take place before talks.

“It is not ready.  The Cassava is still raw.”  Ah.  If the Cassava is still raw then it will indeed be a long time before lunch is ready.  Best to get on with the talks first.

Gareth was up first.  We had been asked to talk about the roles that the youth can play in their churches.  Now, even in the UK this is a hot topic.  Do we fire the youth up to believe that they can change things that have not changed for centuries?  Do we tell them that they should listen to and obey their elders at all costs?  Do we ask them what they think their roles are and then put them right?!  With some welcome advice from our BMS colleague in Peru, youth worker Amanda Roper, we decided to base our talk on 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 (about being part of the body of Christ) and Revelation 21 (a new Jerusalem).

Gareth stood up and introduced himself to a very placid, sincere-looking group of young people.  He began by discussing what uses the different parts of our bodies have.  He then produced a pile of “post-its” with words on which he distributed amongst the bemused-looking youths.  To any Brit worth his salt in youth-activities you could see where this was going but when told to stick the post-its to their fore-heads and ask each other questions with yes/no answers as to the name of the part of the body on their post-it, the youths looked stumped.  Silence.  To an outsider coming in now the scene of 15 (for some had come in late) young people sitting silently looking at each other with brightly coloured post-its on their foreheads would have been rather an odd sight!  After a little more explanation, sighs of “ahhh!” were breathed as the pennies dropped.  The group began to liven up and a gentle hubbub of noise was created as amusing questions as to what part of the body they were thrown about.  Fits of giggles began to crack through the air as someone found out he was an intestine, and wry little smiles appeared as someone else figured out that he was indeed the brain!

With the point proven, the game came to a close and Gareth continued with his talk.  He gave some Biblical background to the principle of the church making up the body of Christ and offered food for thought concerning what role the youth should play in their churches.  He encouraged them that they were of equal value to all other age-groups in the church and that they were the ones responsible both for setting a good example to the younger children and for leading the church into a brighter future,  but warned them that they should do so without dis-respecting their elders and traditions.

Now, with about 20 young people in the room, it was my turn to deliver what I had to offer.  Revelation 21 talks about a new Jerusalem.  The bad old things have passed away and the city is made new in the presence of God.  I began by talking a little about the Kingdom of God (thanks Mat Wilson for your deeply informative lectures on this matter at IMC!); where is it, when is it and how do we know when we see it?  The conclusion I drew (although the discussion on the matter will go on for eternity) was that the Kingdom of God is here now and glimpses of it can be seen in nature and good deeds that people do for each other.  It is also going to come in a much fuller way when Jesus returns.  I reminded the young people that when we pray we say “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.  I hoped that by talking a bit about the Kingdom of God it would help the youth to really think about what they are asking for when they say “your Kingdom come on earth”.  With this in mind, I moved to Revelation 21 and we did an activity in their church groups (they were from five different churches) whereby they had to identify the things in their communities/villages/towns that need to change.  They then went verse-by-verse through Revelation 21: 1-6 re-writing it for their own communities.  The following is a summary of what all the different groups came up with:

“I saw a new Bwera/Kasese/Kiburara.  The old one passed away.  I saw a new Kasese coming down from Heaven, dressed in peacefulness and truth.  A loud voice said “Now God is living amongst us and all local people will accept him as their Lord.  God will wipe away the tears caused by poverty and family breakdowns.  There will be no more AIDS or government corruption, there will be no more sick people or children dying.  These old things have passed away.”  God said “I am making everything new!  There will be no more lying or fornication!  I am the beginning and the end.  Anyone who even asks me for peace in their towns or an honest local government I will give it to him.  There will be no more suffering.”

The young people then went back into their groups with the task of finding practical ways that they could implement this new community; could they feed the hungry?  Could they stop corruption?  Many wanted to be pastors and preach the Good News and most put prayer as an important factor in changing their communities.  It was quite difficult to help the youth to think about practical things that they could also do to change their communities, and show them the Good News.

By the time I came to the end of my talk at about 5pm, I could hear a few stomachs rumbling and could smell the beans and Cassava waiting outside so I asked someone to lead us in a song to finish.  As with young people the world over, when it comes to music they really come alive!  The harmonies and energy brought about through the few songs were astounding, especially as they were singing on empty stomachs!  Even Samuel hung very still on my back and listened intently.  I closed in prayer, asking that God will enable these young people to identify their roles in their churches and be able to make those changes that need to happen in their communities in order that God’s Kingdom might come in those places.

Recent events in the UK have highlighted the importance of inspiring young people and giving them a secure grounding in their faith.  The work that is done with the youth here in the district of Kasese is of vital importance for raising up the next generation of Christian leaders.  It is a privilege to have been asked to play a small part in the Baptist Union of Uganda’s youth program, which will feature a much larger youth conference in January 2012 on the Uganda/DRC border.