How do you begin Jesus Youth in a new place? (BJRE026)
How do you begin Jesus Youth in a new place?
(By Edward Edezhath - Published in Kairos Magazine in 2019)
A few months back, I was busy with a class, and there was a call on my cellphone. It was my bishop. “Can you come over here?” I was in class. “The matter is this. Here is a bishop visiting from another country who has a lot of questions about Jesus Youth. And I said I will connect to the most suitable person.” So finally, I agreed to go to the bishop’s house in the evening. Later, I had a long chat about the movement with this bishop. And it all led to the most important question, ‘I want to have Jesus Youth in my diocese. How can it be done?’
I have been part of a few other organizations. When someone asks you to start a unit in their place, the answer is quite clear, and often, there are a few simple steps to start the organization in that place. However, in the case of Jesus Youth, it is not so simple. For instance, when this bishop asked me to initiate the movement in his diocese, I immediately asked a few Jesus Youth from another city in the same country to contact the bishop. I also asked the bishop to send some young people to be part of a Jesus Youth conference organized in another part of the same country. In short, I was not immediately starting a group but initiating some contacts so that some strong relationships would be built up slowly. Somehow, starting Jesus Youth in an area is not directly starting its unit there but building some contacts and slowly developing some people with a distinct vision and commitment.
Some remote preparation
One family member of our JY small group recently migrated to another continent. Benson, Suma, and their three kids had to do a lot of preparations for this complete relocation. Both were quite active in the movement, and their greatest difficulty in connection with the migration was losing that loving and caring ambiance of Jesus Youth in their hometown. So, even before asking about a job or a house, they enquired how to have a Jesus Youth group in their destination city. They soon realized that there was no JY group in that part of the world. This led them to some preparatory steps.
Invariably, the first step is earnest spiritual preparation. You and your friends start offering that place to the Lord, asking for his intervention there. We met many times, discussed possibilities in that new place, and offered it in prayer. The second step is making connections or networking. Benson and Suma sat with different leaders, got a picture of the local situation, and collected contacts for possible support from nearby places. Before they left, they had already enlisted some support when they reached there. “Do you have some materials to introduce Jesus Youth to some new people,” they asked me. And that was the third remote preparation to start the movement.
Immersion leads to strong friendships.
Starting Jesus Youth in a new place is not primarily an organizational step; it is all about building joyful relationships there. It can be so beautiful and yet challenging. Over the years, the movement has spread far and wide, sometimes in the most unexpected places, mainly due to men and women who went here to join a new course of study, to work in that new place, or to migrate there as a family. JY gets planted and grows in fresh places most naturally. But as in the case of any seed sprouting, there is a lot of unseen dreaming, struggling, and creative effort to build ‘His Kingdom’ there.
Going to an unknown place can be immensely stressful. Still, for many active Jesus Youth, as they have an evangelistic intent, the new exposure transforms into an adventure. Like most other active JY in a new place, my two friends also started getting immersed in the social life there. Every now and then, when they called, they had a lot of good news: ‘We went to the local parish and got to know the pastor there; he introduced us to the key people in the parish council’; ‘They have invited us to a family gathering’; ‘They have a weekly rosary group and dinner, and we are going there’; ‘someone from the next parish is contacting us.’ Within a few months, our friends were well-acclimatized and ready to start a group.
Now, the actual work begins. With the help of the authorities, a one-day session will be arranged for those interested. Later, there is a weekend retreat at the end, at which a weekly group is announced. A few begin to come regularly. After some months, there is a JY training in another city, some of which are sent from this group. Slowly, they became part of the network of Jesus Youth. At this point, a Jesus Youth team is connected to the Jesus Youth Council. In this journey of a few months somewhere in between, Jesus Youth gets started in that new place.
The bishop of this new place asked our friend, “When does a person enter Jesus Youth?” A very difficult question. Is it when he or she comes in contact and starts the journey? Or when one enters a JY fellowship? Or, after some training, renew one’s baptismal vows in the context of the movement? Or when completing the formation process takes a formal commitment and enters the committed phase? At all these points, one enters the movement especially. Like most things in Christianity, Jesus Youth is about a deepening relationship and a journey toward holiness and mission. Surely, each of the above steps is a significant immersion into this world of joyful friendship.
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