A total of 60 young people have recently given two weeks of their summer holidays to mission service in Australia and New Zealand. They were part of Youth Rush, a student literature evangelism program that provides young people with an opportunity during summer and winter school holidays to receive free training and get involved in local missions.

“This is a transforming experience where they can make new friends, develop life skills, and grow in their discipleship journey,” said Brenton Lowe, Adventist Media Literature Ministry coordinator.

This summer, the program was run by four conferences: South Queensland (SQC), Western Australia (WAC), South Australia (SAC), and North New Zealand (NNZC), with three of them (SAC, WAC, and NNZC) running their first Youth Rush event supported by the Literature Ministry Committee Innovation fund.

“I really loved Youth Rush. It helped me to be less shy and more confident in life. It has also opened my eyes more about how I can serve people needing help,” said 15-year-old Bethany, from New Zealand.

The South Australia Conference Youth Rush team.

Youth-Rush-SQC

WAC-Youth-Rush

Going from door to door, the young evangelists met new people and their needs, sharing a total of 375 prayers and 6,590 books. From the visitations, 2 people were brought to a church meeting, and 47 gave their contacts for follow-up.

Participating in the Youth Rush program run by NNZC in Palmerston North, Jedidiah Jennings said he experienced many “divine encounters” throughout the program, but a highlight was when he met Ken, who had been keeping the Sabbath for eight years but never with someone else.

“He chose five books and shared how he had been looking at his table, thinking, ‘I wish I had some to fellowship with,’ so we invited him to church. On Sabbath morning, even though we told him to come at 9:30 a.m., he jumped on his mobility scooter and was there at 8:30 a.m. We had a beautiful day, and he comes every week to study the Bible,” Jennings said.

For first-timer Zoraida Vytu Chho, the highlight was connecting with other young people and the people she met through door-knocking. “Canvassing just gave me that reminder that when you have God in your heart, you aren’t afraid of rejection, and although some interactions may seem insignificant, that small conversation could change someone greatly,” said Vytu Chho.

Youth Rush is run by Australia and New Zealand conferences and Avondale University in partnership with Adventist Media Literature Ministry. You can learn more at literature.adventistchurch.com/youth-rush.

The original article was published on the Adventist Record news site.