This past weekend, the 30-31 of July, we had a youth retreat with the San Jeronimo Church. Three weeks ago the youth leaders and I had a meeting about whether or not we should continue with the retreat because only three kids had signed up to attend. However, like many latin-based cultures, the last minute is always the more productive. We ended up with 27 people on a property that only really housed well about 15. The leaders were excited and encouraged to see that many kids attend. Here in Perú, youth ministry is targeted at ages 10-25, so there is a bit of a difficulty at reaching them exactly where they are.
Nevertheless, I think we had an excellent time outside the city discussing the radical change of the Christian and relating it to a highly secular term, evolution. We discussed that for the believer, their life changes in a way that is beyond moral commitments and removal of bad habits. Instead, as the theory of evolution suggests, the being becomes a whole new creation. The Scriptures attest to this in 2 Corinthians:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
The youth leaders and I shared the burden of teaching the sessions which were mostly devotionals followed by a time of personal reflection. It was a nice highlight of the youth ministry for this year and I’m continually encouraged by the leaders and the youth as many of them are earnestly seeking to know our Lord. Below are some photos from our retreat.
