This weekend is quasi the International Youth Convention’s (IYC) first birthday. And there is a big gift waiting for all who are interested: for four days, the highlights of the event will be put on the virtual stage.
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Photo: Oliver Preß
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Photo: Oliver Preß
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Oliver Rütten
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Photo: Jessica Krämer
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Photo: Mirco Ulfers
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Photo: Thomas Brunschede
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Photo: Andi Alger
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Photo: Andreas Fürst
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Photo: Andreas Fürst
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Photo: CC. Spindler
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Photo: CC. Spindler
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Photo: CC. Spindler
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Photo: Oliver Preß
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Photo: Mirco Ulfers
On the 2019 Ascension Day weekend, the New Apostolic Church had rented the exhibition grounds in Düsseldorf in Germany and put together a four-day programme: serious and fun themes, sacred and secular, informative and argumentative, divine services and devotionals, as well as music galore. Some 27,000 people participated in this unique event.
Many congregations had actually planned to celebrate this year’s Ascension Day—the first anniversary of the IYC—with divine services for the youth, based on the motto of the IYC. “But this is not possible at the moment because of the coronavirus pandemic, and will be postponed,” the organisers explain on the IYC website ijt2019.org. They have, however, come up with an alternative.
Four days of exceptional diversity
Starting on 21 May right through to 24 May there will be a packed programme on the IJT-YouTube-Kanal. Recordings of 23 events will be presented for a total of 25 hours:
- Thursday starts with the Ascension Day service in English, which was conducted by Apostle David Heynes (Great Britain). It will be followed by a music mix.
- On Friday, starting at seven o’clock in the evening, viewers can watch a video of the opening event, which will be followed by performances of various music groups.
- Saturday continues with the devotional by District Apostle John L. Kriel from South Africa. This will be followed by the panel discussion with the Chief Apostle, the Arena event #HereThereEverywhere, and the concert “Face the Lord – facing you”.
- Sunday is the main event day: from 12 noon to ten at night there will be a mix of information and music. Spiritually, the day will begin with the morning prayer by District Apostle Michael Deppner (Democratic Republic Congo-West). .
For New Apostolic Christians in Western Germany, Bishop Peter Johanning will conduct the divine service on Sunday, 24 May, which will be streamed live on the same channel.
Between gratitude and intercession
In the foreword of the IYC Jubilee Guide, District Apostle Rainer Storck—the head of the New Apostolic Church Western Germany and host of the International Youth Convention—makes yet another point: “In view of the coronavirus pandemic, I am grateful to our God that we were spared such a catastrophe last year. Imagine if we would have had to cancel the Youth Convention shortly before and all the preparations would have been in vain.”
Therefore he asks the youth to be grateful: “When we think back to the International Youth Convention now, let us do so in gratitude to our heavenly Father and intercede for all people who are currently suffering in many different ways from the coronavirus directly or from its impact.”