It is our privilege to be part of Nazarene Youth International – India (NYI). It was a joy and wonderful experience to attend the NYI Council and Youth Leaders training held at Kolkata in June. God really blessed us through the different devotional messages and the training sessions held by Rev. Amitava Chatterjee (NYI India Field advisor), Rev. Gary Hartke (Global NYI director) and Diego Lopez (NYI Regional director).
We learned that God has blessed us with our youthfulness and it is important for us to know God, allow Him to fulfill His eternal plans in us. We feel so proud to be a part of a big Nazarene family through NYI.
Many of us had a narrow understanding of NYI before attending the sessions. But we thank God for letting us know the different ministries we can do in the India field.
We also learned about ourselves: Who am I? Who are we? What is my own testimony and what is my friend’s testimony? Through answering these questions we found encouragement: how wonderfully God has saved our own brothers and sisters and chosen them for His youth ministries.
Young age is a blessing, and it brings many responsibilities. We need to be careful to make good decisions for our life while we are still in our youth. We were asked to draw our “life journey,” and many of us were engaged with paper and coloured pencils to draw it. Many of us had never thought before how wonderfully God has led us step by step so far.
We also learned in the sociology training session about the global culture, thinking, context, methodologies, communication ideas and skills, needs of people, educational approach, and relational things that are changing in their own contexts. Thus God has chosen us to relate to the people and youth, to learn their context, thinking and their needs.
Over all, the youth leader training was a great blessing to all of us. We were moved by the Spirit of God to go to our respective districts and churches and minister to the young people.
