Third Wave 2007 Stories
Eurasia Responses
by Simone Finney
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The Next Wave Johannesburg, South Africa –– The violin player was Hungarian, the keyboard player Lebanese. The drummer was Ukrainian, the guitarists from Jordan and Ireland, the singers English and Bulgarian––and the song was Arabic. “Peace,” the chorus is translated, “peace to the people of God everywhere.” |
They were especially appropriate lyrics on a Saturday night in Johannesburg, as Eurasia played and 230 young people from around the world followed along. It was the penultimate evening of Third Wave, a global conference for young emerging leaders. Eurasia contributed 34 participants from 22 countries this time, significant not only for more than doubling the numbers from the original 2004 conference in Quito, Ecuador, but also because this was the first event for which no Eurasian was denied a visa for entrance to the host country.
In the midst of a week filled with sessions about global issues, one participant from the Middle East was encouraged simply by witnessing so much diversity.
“Before this conference, I couldn’t imagine ‘I will feel that we are big family, we obey one God, and we serve him,’” he said. “Because I’ve spent all of my life [in the Middle East], I couldn’t imagine ‘what are the people of Jesus like outside my place?’ I was so afraid about the conference and about the people there because my English is very poor, so when the participants came, all of these walls started to fall down, and that happened because we are one in God, and that makes me very happy.” The conference, structured around the quadrennial themes “One Story,” “One Hope,” “One Mission” and “One Justice” gave the youth a lot to discuss, and carved out plenty of time to do so.
“We were intentional about bringing people together, having them sit down, listen, talk, share with each other,” said Regional Youth Coordinator Sabine Wielk. “There wasn’t such high focus on how to run a youth club, but that there’s a world out there and we’re responsible within it.”
Questions of responsibility were especially common on Friday, when the group focused on global issues of (in)justice and on South Africa’s local history of apartheid. Visits to the Hector Pieterson Memorial and the Regina Mundi church in Soweto made significant impressions on many from Western Europe, especially.
“I learned about the complexity of situations, about how nothing is black and white and so many things are hard to solve,” said Carl McCann from England. “This made me realize how crucial grace is to our world because sometimes we have to just hold our hands up and say ‘I can’t understand all this, only God can, but let’s be full of grace and ask and receive forgiveness in order to build a better future.’”
Most Eurasians marked Saturday’s ministry projects as their favorite time—coloring, playing football and swimming with children at their residential homes, painting churches and talking with neighbors inspired inspired reactions like “enlightening,” “eye-opening” and straight-up “fun.” It was the day that most affected Cezarina Cufaj ( Italy)––surprising, she said, since she works with abused children in her counseling job. But weeks later, she’s still trying to figure out how she can keep supporting the South African children’s home where she spent a few hours.
“When you return home you realize that you can find Africa here, too,” said Cufaj. “The people are spiritually poor, so I’ve started to talk more about Jesus. [In South Africa], I understood that God has a dream to change the world, and now that is my dream, too.”
Also significant for many was the closing Eucharist, footwashing service and prayer. “This was the highlight of my life,” said Rudolph Gusztin from Hungary. “I have never sensed the Holy Spirit so present like at the Sunday afternoon service.”
“I left encouraged because as we delved into issues of injustice, inequality and hopelessness, the role and responsibility of our church became more clear,” said Tim Evans, Eurasia Regional NYI Chairperson. “I hope and pray our young people will continually seek out what it means to be people of hope in tangible ways.”
As participants prepared to return home, several made one last request: copies of the lyrics and translation for “Salam Salam,” the Arabic song Eurasia had introduced the night before. The tune is simple, and as the week of challenging conversation and complex experiences ended, voices were still humming it: a song about peace for the people of God.
