Global Youth Day Embraces “The Forgotten”

Since 2013 the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Global Youth Day (GYD) has touched millions of lives around the world for Jesus—including the young people who participate each year. This year was no different. On March 19, 2022, youth in every conference, union, and division of the Adventist Church chose to “be the sermon” in their neighborhoods, communities, and beyond.

“People from 183 countries actively shared their GYD activities through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube using the hashtags #GYD22, #BeTheSermon, #LovingTheForgotten, #yovoy, and others,” Sam Neves, associate Communication Department director of the Adventist Church, reported. “Collectively, they reached more than 30 million individuals by posting or sharing each other’s GYD activities.”

BEHIND THE THEME

The GYD planning committee chose the 2022 theme “Loving the Forgotten,” based on Matthew 25:31-40. In that passage Jesus commends His followers for serving Him through feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, encouraging the sick, and visiting prisoners. Shocked by the praise, Christ’s followers reply that they didn’t know they were serving Him by doing those things. Jesus answers, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (verse 40 NIV).

Embracing these examples, “we focused on reaching individuals that are often overlooked,” Gary Blanchard, Youth Ministries director of the Adventist Church, said. “We challenged our youth around the world to intentionally reach out in love to the prisoner, refugee, elderly, and missing members.”

Blanchard explained that what often happens is that we focus on reaching the homeless, which is a good thing, but we don’t always look a little wider at others around us in need of love. “We wanted to expand our range of care,” he said.

Expanding that range of care involved Pathfinders and youth buying groceries for poor members, preparing “blessing bags” for homeless in their cities, ministering to refugees, and going door to door, sharing the love of Jesus with those in their neighborhoods.

“This is a lifestyle,” Maria Manderson, editorial assistant at the Youth Department of the Adventist Church, said. “[It is] not just a one-day event. Even in the midst of everything, the young people are excited, and they are [coming up with] new creative ways to make it work.”

PURPOSE AND PASSION

“GYD is a special day with many opportunities for young people to impact the community with purpose and passion, where they can serve and testify in a more collective way,” Al Powell, youth ministries director for the Inter-American Division, said. Engaging the community year after year means more than 1 million young people in Inter-America are active every year in serving and impacting their communities, he said.

“There’s been so much excitement, and not just on GYD,” Powell added. “We are seeing a trend now—young people loving the Lord who are zealous in doing something for Jesus every day, not just on GYD,” he said.

WHAT’S NEXT?

When asked about 2023, Blanchard was quick to share that the theme will be “Love Is a Verb.” “We particularly want to see the world church reach out to students and educators,” he said. “Obviously, the theme also lends itself to all types of outreaches, but those are the two entities we will be focusing on in 2023.”