It looks like 2003 will not be another typical year for Seventh-day Adventist youth.
It looks like 2003 will not be another typical year for Seventh-day Adventist youth. They are invited to focus on compassion throughout 2003.
In a proclamation that 2003 will be the “Year of Compassion,” Baraka Muganda, youth leader for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, challenged millions of youth to “spread out into the community, making people happy, filling homes and schools with hope, touching lives with the hands of God.”
Explaining the initiative, Muganda said that the world youth team recommended more than 100 projects that would tangibly involve young people around the world in “performing acts of compassion.”
“The world is full of suffering and hurt, and we desire for our young people not only to stand face to face with reality, but respond to that reality by showing the compassion of Jesus to the dying world. The world is broken and needs fixing,” Muganda said.
In an interview with Adventist News Network, Muganda explained objectives of the Year of Compassion. There are the obvious caring acts that we should “live by,” but there is more, he said. “Youth in our postmodern culture need to do more than hear the Word of God preached. There is a need and an opportunity to make Christianity real and practical. The program is creating an opportunity for Adventist youth to share their love of God with the community.”
We usually talk about the benefits of doing this or doing that,” Muganda said. “By being compassionate, our young people will develop an increased feeling of self-worth. They will achieve a more open and honest relationship with each other, and obviously will get an increased awareness of the needs in their community. As this is an international initiative, we hope that our Adventist youth will deepen the feeling of being a part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist mission.”
The Year of Compassion will culminate in the Bangkok World Conference on Youth and Community Service, Dec.14, 2003, to Jan. 3, 2004. It is projected that the Thailand event will see thousands of young Adventists participating in the ” Actions of Compassion” projects.
A starter kit, prepared by the world church youth department, includes an “idea list” of suggestions for building on the theme for each quarter of 2003. The kit aims at motivating and exploring practical ideas on living a life of compassion.
Muganda explained that the expected results will “largely depend on being intentional with exploring the opportunities, preparing for a response, and engaging in an experience of becoming a people of compassion.”