Baptist Youth

HUNDREDS OF BAPTIST YOUTH Gather in Thailand

M

ore than 800 youth and young adults from 17 countries gathered in Bangkok,

Thailand, October 21-25, 2015, for the 16th

from Asia

Pacific Baptist Youth Fellowship (APBYF) Conference. The five-day event, normally held once

every five years to celebrate youth ministry among Baptist youth across Asia and the Pacific region, was hosted by the Thailand Baptist Convention and held at Bangkok Christian College. The conference focus was on praise to God, discipleship, mission and evangelism. During the conference, the decision was made for the APBYF to become the official youth ministry of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation (APBF). Previously, the APBYF was inde- pendent, voluntarily

with the APBF, a regional fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. The APBYF president will now be

elected as a member of the APBF Executive Committee. Vee Testeo, president for the

T AMERICAN Youth Hold Dialogue

he Baptist World Alliance Youth Department held the fourth in a series of dialogues with Baptist youth leaders in the eastern United States in November. The meetings are held primarily to listen to the concerns of youth leaders and ministers, discuss the current state of youth

“A confirmation and a revival.”

ministry, explore and learn new approaches to engaging young people and expose participants and churches to the work and ministry of the BWA. Edlyn Jones Adeosun, youth minister at Calvary Baptist Church and a student at Yale Divinity School, said the dialogue was “a confirmation and a revival. The process of sharing and discussing solutions and challenges has been life changing,” she said. “It is definitely essential for anyone working with youth to sit among your peers and discuss these things that are so essential to your call and to your ministry.” Other participants relevant,

insightful,

informative” and “a big picture moment.” Dialogues scheduled for 2016 will be held in the states of

New York, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina in the US.

JANUARY/MARCH 2016 27

Above: A choir sings during the 16th Asia Pacific Baptist Youth Fellowship Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

Below: Delegates at the Asia Pacific Baptist Youth Fellowship Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, sharing meal and fellowship

cooperating

APBYF over the last five years, will continue until the APBF Executive Committee meets in Fiji in February 2016, when his successor will be elected. “Vee has done an excellent job in reaching out to all the member bodies of the APBF,” BWA Youth Director Emmett Dunn said. Testeo was instrumental, Dunn asserted in, getting “many more youth leaders [involved] in the youth network. For the first time in many years, youth leaders from Papua New Guinea and Fiji were represented.” Dunn and former BWA vice president, Australian Ross

Clifford, were plenary speakers for the evening celebration services. Workshops on topics relevant to youth and young people were offered during afternoon sessions. A committee was elected to serve the APBYF until 2019. Members are Ardi Wiridanata,

Indonesia; YHanh Lucca,

Vietnam; Nawal Siwakoti, Nepal; Ashley Mak, Malaysia; Suka Taufa, Fiji; and Franco Ferrer, Philippines.

described the event as relational, engaging as well as “powerful and