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WORLD YOUTH DAY – Outreach
30. July – 5th (6 or 7) August
It’s gonna be awesome. With 150 youth & students we serve the 1 Million visitors in the city of Lisbon in Portugal. We populate the second largest square in the city with great attractions and concerts and much more – all to generate good conversation with spiritually open youth from all over the plant. Imagine the trails of blessing that will start there. With SHINE. And with you!.
WYD / JMJ Facts
Catholic World Youth Day (called Jornada Mundial da Juventude in Portuguese) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. The event is held every 3 years and lasts one week. Millions of young people from around the world attend the event. This year it will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from August 1-6. In the mornings youth will gather in 3 different locations for plenary meetings and catechism. In the afternoons and evenings youth will be encouraged to explore the many exposition tents organized by JMJ.
What will we be doing?
Fundación Ramón Pané (FRP) is a Catholic Ministry focusing on evangelization and Bible teaching by technology. They are the main connection to the event itself. They have invited other organizations to partner with them to host one of the exposition tents in the center to town. The other organizations involved are the Jesus Film, SLM, Agape Portugal and Youth Alpha. The theme of the square is Technology and the Scriptures and the name of the square is CRISTONAUTAS. The square will be a large interactive space where youth can explore our reel boxes, Tik Tok Stage, Waterfountain, Charging Stations, Contest Tent, Silent Disco, the Jesus film, interact with others, relax, charge their phones and enjoy time with others. We will also have a large stage with concerts and interactive contests. The name of the square will be Parque Cristonautas.
We will be manning the square for 16 hours a day. Volunteers will be working in shifts. We want volunteers to serve and interact with youth who come to tent.
What is WYD vision?
“Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39)
That is the theme of Catholic World Youth Day (Called Jornadas Mundiais da Juventude in Portuguese). Our task will be to encourage catholic christians to be a light for Jesus when they go home AND to share the good news with those who came along but don’t have Jesus in the center of their lifes yet.
We are expecting over 1 million young people ages 14-24 at JMJ.
Catholic Event
JMJ is a Catholic Event. Catholic doctrine, theology and practices will obviously abound at the event. With that in mind, those of us who aren’t catholic need to be sensitive and aware of this reality by demonstrating the utmost example of grace and understanding. We do not want to turn catholics into protestants, but into better catholics.
This level of care must be transversal to all non-catholics participants in the event, especially any volunteers serving at the event. To this end it will be required for all volunteers to be approved by Matt Pursley and FRP to go through a special training.
Through God’s grace, we can partake in something that will last for generations, if not forever.
What we want to see happen during WYD:
Youth visiting Parque Cristonautas will encounter Christ and understand how to know Him personally and the importance of the Bible.
Protestant staff and students will grow in knowing how to better engage practicing Catholics in meaningful spiritual conversations.
SHINE youth and Agape Students and staff will have time to interact with other Agape students and staff from around Europe, to encourage each other, and exchange ideas. Staff and students will get a bigger vision of what Agape is doing throughout Europe.
When Where What
A few details:
Dates:
Arrive on July 30th by dinner. Depart anytime after breakfast on August 5th to 7th. Earlier arrival up to 26th might be an option for cheaper travel.
The SHINE ‘camp’ will be 30th July – 5th August.
Housing:
As you can imagine with any city receiving 1 million young people, housing will be in short supply. We are renting a school to house volunteers. Volunteers will live together, have breakfast,a devotional and prayer together in the mornings and then head out to serve in the tents. Currently we have volunteers sleeping in 2 different schools:
- Colégio Real (a 15 minute walk from Lumiar metro stop)
- Externato O Poeta (a 5 minute walk from Campo Grande metro stop)
Since we are sleeping in school classrooms, conditions are not good for families to being their younger children to WYD. All participants should bring an air mattress and sleeping bag.
Costs:
We have received a donation that will offset the cost of housing for SLM staff and volunteers. Cost is 150€ and includes registration fee, insurance, housing, 3 meals a day starting from dinner July 30 to breakfast on July 5, pilgrim’s kit, transportation pass for Lisbon public transport, and 2 volunteer tee shirts. The 150 Euro is only for SHINE youth. Other staff pay 255.- (we’re working on getting this price down too).
How to register:
In order to serve as a volunteer at Parque Cristonautas volunteers need to do the following:
1. Fill out the google application here: Application for JMJ/WYD
2. Go to the official World Youth Day pilgrim site and register as a pilgrim who would like packet A2. (Important: do not register as a volunteer. If you do the WYD committee will decide where you volunteer rather than being gaurenteed to be a volunteer at Parque Cristonautas). Local Portuguese volunteers who will be living at home can sign up with packet A4.
3. Pay the 150 € to the Agape ministry in your country. (They will then send that to us and we will pay the pilgrim fee and housing from that).
