Seventh-day Adventists in Brazil are working to combat an alarming trend: Two out of three teenagers who attended church regularly drop out of the faith for at least a year in college. The statistic is part of the Lifeway Research study, carried out with adolescents of Protestant religions in the United States, and which gives a dimension of the challenge that Christian university students must reconcile religious belief with what they’re being taught in their classes.
Aiming to help young Adventists living in the university environment deal with conflicts between science and religion, the First Online Congress of Adventist University Students from the Northeast Brazilian Union (UNeB) offered content that brought together more than 70 speakers between the 16th and 18th of October. More than 3,000 young adults participated.

 Among the topics discussed: How should Christians deal with racial issues? What is the biblical view of women? If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist? Also highlighted was the article on the importance of dialogue to maintain unity in the Adventist Church, written by pastor Erton Köhler, South American division president.

 Workshops

Most of the more than 70 speakers shared knowledge through workshops. Areas of knowledge such as Law, Sociology, Psychology, Administration, Communication, and Literature were covered in one-hour sessions.

“I loved it so much! Too bad the time was short! The teachers were direct, without getting involved. Even with the short time, I learned so much,” said Rebecca Oliveira, a Civil Engineering student. She also praised the online format, since she probably would not be able to participate in the event if it was in person, since she currently lives in Jacareí, in the interior of Brazil’s São Paulo state. 

Another participant who praised the initiative to use the virtual environment was Vanessa Souza. "I have already thanked God very much for the opportunity to participate in such a congress at home," she wrote in the comments a YouTube broadcast. The complete program of the Congress, which in addition to the workshop includes plenary and devotionals, will be available on the Adventist Northeast YouTube channel.

Next editions

Another recurring comment during the Congress broadcast was the call for more editions. In a moment of answering the questions sent by the participants, Pastor Diego Barros and Carlos Campitelli, leaders of Adventist university students in the Northeast and for eight countries in South America, respectively, pointed out that there is an intention to do something similar on the third weekend October next year.

“This year we saw that the wave of online events was a good opportunity to hold an online conference on the date that the Church has already set aside to emphasize university students, which is the third weekend in October. For next year, the date is the same. We don't know yet if it will be at a local, regional or national level, but we will do something,” Barros said.

Campitelli also stressed that the Adventist Church has a focus on the university audience. “We think about Youth Ministry projects in a complementary way. University students are already participating in Mission Caleb, One Year in Mission, for Small Groups and also for Adventist Volunteer Service projects,”he said. Parallel to the Congress that brought together Adventist university students from all over Brazil, a version was also made for seven other countries in South America and brought together approximately 7,000 participants online.

This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site