Churches in Germany Welcome Baptist World Youth Congress 2008
Up to 10,000 young Baptists from all over the world are expected to join the next Baptist World Youth Congress in Germany.
BERLIN – Up to 10,000 young Baptists from all over the world are expected to join the next Baptist World Youth Congress in Germany.
The 15th Baptist World Youth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is set to be held on July 30 - Aug. 8, 2008 in the East German city of Leipzig, near Berlin, according to the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany (BEFG).
The Congress theme, "Dive Deeper," is related to the theme "Jesus Christ, the living water" for the BWA Centenary Congress held in Birmingham, England in summer 2005. It aims to prompt young believers to reflect on the depth of the living water, which symbolizes a richness that could be shared by many people, instead of instilling a sense of fear or danger.
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It is estimated that around 8,000 to 10,000 international participants will be gathered. Currently, an international program committee led by the BWA Youth Executive Emmett L. Dunn from Washington, D.C., has been established, consisting of 15 national and international youth ministries leaders – four of whom are from Germany. The Baptist youth ministries in Germany will be hosting the event.
Seminaries, worship services, concerts, small group and plenary meetings are planned for the five-day Congress.
Churches across the denominational lines in Leipzig warmly welcome the international youth congress to be held in the city. They suggest holding an ecumenical conference at Leipzig Exhibition halls alongside with the event.
According to the magazine "Die Gemeinde" (The Community), Pastor Christoph Haus, head of the German organizing team, said that the churches in Leipzig have promised to offer great help providing accommodations for international delegates. Local Baptists have also shown their support through their active enrollment as volunteers for the World Youth Congress. It was reported that half of the 700 volunteers are from the city of Leipzig.
The city of Leipzig has a rich spiritual background. After the seven-year lasting prayer initiative of Pastor Christian Führer, Leipzig started the non-violent "Montagsdemonstrationen" (Monday demonstrations) in 1989, which has led to one of the city’s biggest changes of the 20th century.
Leipzig has been applying to hold the Youth Congress for two years. Not only has it wished to promote the image of the city through the event, but also to gain economic benefit through the influx of tourists, as experienced by some former host cities such as Houston (Texas), Glasgow, Harare and Hong Kong.
The Baptist World Youth Congress is an event held every four years. The last one was held in Hong Kong last year.
A competition has been launched to gather ideas on how to organize the Youth Congress in relation to the theme. The deadline for the submission of proposals is set on Jan. 4, 2006.
[Editor’s Note: Matthias Gebhardt and Andrea Angerer reported from Berlin for this article and Eunice Or from San Francisco.]
