Expecting 500,000, Ages 15-35. They want to keep the attendance down since the country itself is only 2 million.....But in the past they have far exceeded 1-2 million. It was begun by Pope John II in 1984. He imagined the youth encountering Christ, being introduced to Christ, and and learning from Christ how to be "bearers of the Gospel".
The Jesus Film will be represented during the conference as a tool for sharing the Gospel.
History
Perspective:
An outside glance of an international World Youth Day would spark a bystander’s curiosity as massive crowds of young people flood the city streets. Some might cringe at the thought of those words, wondering what delinquency is in store, but to witness this gathering would end those fears. The happenstance observer would witness not angst and malice, but smiles and joy, singing and dancing young people, culture upon culture and nation upon nation, proudly holding their flags high (or wearing them), greeting one another in peace, trading their tokens, humbly realizing how small they are in a world of people, and strengthened to witness so many who share their convictions. How did it all begin?
Beginnings:
In 1984 at the close of the Holy Year of Redemption, over 300,000 young people from around the world responded to the invitation of His Holiness John Paul II for an International Jubilee of youth on Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s square. Looking out to the crowds who answered his invitation he said, “What a fantastic spectacle is presented on this stage by your gathering here today! Who claimed that today’s youth has lost their sense of values? Is it really true that they cannot be counted on?” It was at this gathering that the Holy Father entrusted to the youth what is now known as the World Youth Day Cross, to be carried throughout the world as a symbol of the love of Christ for humanity.
First WYD:
The following Palm Sunday, coinciding with the United Nation’s International Year of the Youth, Our Holy Father took the opportunity to welcome the youth of the world to Rome again. Later, announcing the institution of World Youth Day on December 20, 1985, and the first official WYD was held in 1986.
International WYDs:
The following year brought about a new tradition when the second event and first international WYD took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Every Palm Sunday has since been designated as a World Youth Day, alternately celebrated at the diocesan and international levels. There have been 12 International World Youth Day celebrations, where the youth continue to answer the invitation of the Holy Father in staggering numbers and carry home the message received there to be Christ’s light to the world. While these events are organized by the clergy and laity of the Catholic Church, youth of all faiths are invited to attend and encounter Christ, making this gathering truly universal.
Reflection:
In Toronto, the last International WYD in which JPII was present he told the 800,000 gathered with him at the vigil, “When, back in 1985, I wanted to start the World Youth Days… I imagined a powerful moment in which the young people of the world could meet Christ, who is eternally young, and could learn from him how to be bearers of the Gospel to other young people. This evening, together with you, I praise God and give thanks to him for the gift bestowed on the Church through the World Youth Days. Millions of young people have taken part, and as a result have become better and more committed Christian witnesses.”
John Paul II left a legacy for the youth in his institution of World Youth Day, which Pope Benedict XVI has faithfully continued, carrying on the hope of His predecessor for the youth of the world, inviting them and commissioning them as Christ’s disciples to be faithful living witnesses.
More: http://worldyouthday.com/
Let’s pray for this huge gathering of young Catholics that they may encounter Jesus Christ Himself through what happens there and for the Jesus Film team that will be reaching out to them.
UPRISING Global: Jakarta, Indonesia - January 23-26, 2019 (WYPA)
http://unitedprayerrising.com
World Generation
Jakarta, Indonesia, January 23-26, 2019
Please pray for and consider taking part in this world youth prayer assembly in January. Here is a video and details to register. You will want to forward this to younger generation believers but anyone is welcome.
GO 2020 is a global vision to activate the whole Body of Christ – millions of individual believers, churches and large global ministries - to pray and share the Gospel all over the world in a joint effort of evangelism during the month of May 2020.
THE CALLING
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Mt 9:37
The Great Commission is not an “optional assignment” for the Church. Yet 93% of church members never share the Gospel with others. GO 2020 aims to turn those numbers upside down … to pursue the following:
VISION
To activate and train every Christian believer, everywhere to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through a unique partnership effort involving many different denominations and parachurch organizations, this massive moment is meant to train and inspire every believer to live a lifestyle of evangelism.
GOALS
Mobilize 100 million Christians to share the Gospel during May 2020.
Reach 1 billion people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1 million new churches, faith communities and small groups.
Disciple 20 million new believers and integrate them into existing and new churches.
HOW?
Through a strategic partnership network built over nearly a decade, GO 2020:
Encourages ordinary believers to share the Gospel through personal conversation and to demonstrate God’s love through prayer, caring, and sharing in numerous different ways.
Equips Churches with training and materials in evangelism, discipleship and church planting (see Resources).
Promotes Kingdom partnership as churches, denominations and ministries from many different backgrounds work together to reach the world (see Partner).
Invites every church to be part of a church planting initiative during the year 2020. Every church is planting a church – together we can establish 1 million new faith communities.
Makes the Gospel visible through thousands of “Jesus Celebrations”, GO 2020 Events, March for Jesus and more.
GO 2020 is a special edition of Global Outreach Day, which has been taking place every last Saturday of May since 2012. On this day, every year, believers worldwide have stepped out together in faith to share the Good News.
25 million believers have already participated in Global Outreach Day. To see what God has done, view Global Outreach Day testimonies.
«Every believer is a witness and a disciple maker – Every church is planting new churches»
More at:https://www.go2020.world/explained
Prayer Points Suggested for GO-2020:
- Pray that as the call to GO-2020 goes out, every believer wakes up to fully seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, realizing the time is short. (Rom. 13:11-14; Luke 19:13; Psalm 90:12)
- Pray that every follower of Jesus is BEING a disciple who fully follows Jesus in loving God, loving others and making disciples that make disciples. (Acts 1:8; Matt. 22:37; Prov. 11:30; Matt. 28:18-20)
- Pray that believers see the hearts of those the Holy Spirit has prepared to hear and that they share in a way that can be understood and responded to. (John 4:36; John 6:44; 2 Tim. 4:2)
- Pray for every people group with little gospel witness to be adopted for prayer and outreach then engaged with a Kingdom multiplication strategy, so that there will be no place left without gospel witness in every tongue, tribe and nation. Currently ¼ to 1/3 of the world has little to no gospel witness (Unreached people groups) and 401 people groups over 500,000 in population have less than .1% Christians among them (these represent 88% of the remaining task. (Matt. 9:37-38; 2 Cor. 10:16; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 7:9)
- Pray for access to the entire Word of God in every language since at present only 7% of the world’s languages have a full Bible and only 1 in 5 Bible Translation Projects focus on translating the Old Testament. (Matt. 9:37-38; Heb. 4:12; Rom. 10:17-21)
- Pray for the Body of Christ to recognize our call to see His Kingdom coming and His will being done (not building our own kingdoms) and that we work together in the unity of the Spirit keeping the bond of peace for His glory among the nations. (Matt. 6:10; Eph. 4:3; Matt. 12:22-26)
'I can't believe this is happening'
Many thousands of Christians came to Melbourne for ‘Awakening Australia’, as part of a mission to bring 100,000 Australians to Jesus. Leaders spent the weekend preaching the gospel, leading people to Christ, and commissioning them to share the love of Jesus with others. Participants included Bethel Music, Todd White, Heidi Baker, Jake Hamilton, Daniel Kolenda, and Bill Johnson. ‘Hundreds were born of God as they responded to Jesus. There is truly something remarkable happening in Australia! There is an Awakening, a sound in God's people here, that will shake the nation’, said Ben Fitzgerald, leader of Awakening Europe. The weekend saw powerful moments of freedom, deliverance and salvation, followed by mass baptisms for those who gave their lives to Christ. Thousands proclaimed the gospel in the streets. ‘I can't believe this is happening in Australia,’ Fitzgerald said.
Canopy of prayer over Europe
There are men and women who pray in the European Commission, even though it adopts a neutral position towards all religion and any display of it. However, this does not mean that religion and beliefs are banned from Commission buildings. About 175 staff members, from different denominations and nationalities, take part in one of the seven prayer meetings that gather on a weekly basis on Commission premises. Numbers vary as many can only take short breaks because of their heavy workload. Each prayer group in principle is independent of the others, although there have been some joint events in recent years.
Scotland’s intercessors: ‘united we stand’
‘As believers in Almighty God we have the authority to call for divine order in the Government, in Brexit, in the economy, and in every section of society. This is a “Daniel” moment when God's people can come before Him, crying out for His mercy and forgiveness as we confess our sins as a nation and call for His will to be done, in these crucial days. On 30 November Christians across Scotland and the nations will be united in prayer for the Prime Minister, Cabinet, MPs, Scottish First Minister, her Cabinet, and MSPs. We are praying for wisdom, clarity and unity. We can add our voices on that day, and in the coming days pray for our MPs by name. We must avoid being influenced by anger, fear, confusion, criticism or division, and instead lift our eyes to the One with all the answers, confident that as we do so it's not our battle, it's His battle!’
Irish church leaders pray together for Brexit
Representatives from the Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, and the Church of Ireland met in Belfast on 22 November to discuss the Brexit challenges and pray. In a joint statement, they said that relations between people in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and between the Republic and the UK, had 'improved and deepened over the past thirty years’, and that the message of Jesus to 'love your neighbour' was guiding their response to Brexit. They added. 'We pray at this time that the tensions which the Brexit negotiations entail will not be allowed to undermine the good relationships and mutual understanding which are so important for us to work together for the common good.' They pleaded with people in positions of leadership to ‘keep the debate around Brexit civil, to speak with grace, and to weigh their words carefully’.
Iranian refugees entering UK
Many Iranian families settled in London after fleeing the former Shah and later fleeing his overthrower, Ayatollah Khomeini. 2001 brought fresh asylum movements of Farsi-speaking refugees, from Western Europe and Eurasia. Now there is a new wave of asylum seekers. In November, 78 of the 100+ refugees rescued in the English Channel were Iranian families. They were rescued by UK and French border force vessels from unsafe dinghies, or when entering the port of Dover on stolen French fishing boats. Some have been apprehended clambering up Folkestone’s rocks. The Home Office said, ‘We have stepped up deployments of our coastal patrol vessels along the south-east coast. However, this is not an issue that can be resolved by maritime resources alone.’ Iranian migrants in northern France said that they are determined to take whatever risks necessary to enter Britain. See
Lambeth Conference: proclaiming good news
The Archbishop of Canterbury has set out his vision for the next once-in-a-decade meeting of the bishops of the Anglican Communion, in 2020. He said, ‘The world needs the good news of Jesus Christ; it needs to see it in our actions, envy it in our love together, and hear it in confident proclamation of the good news of Jesus.’ He acknowledged the ongoing disagreements over sexuality and the interpretation of Scripture. ‘We have very important differences, but we must show that we respect each other as sisters and brothers in Christ, and that we learn to disagree in a way that demonstrates that we love and value each other. Whatever views we come with, we come to be under the authority of Scripture, and inspired by the Spirit.’ He is currently sending invitations to every active bishop (and spouse) in the Anglican Communion.
Trans guidance for Scottish schools ‘harmful’
Rev David Robertson, former Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, said new guidance on transgenderism sent to Scottish schools is 'harmful and totalitarian'. The document, 'Supporting Transgender Young People', was partly funded by the Scottish government and created in partnership with LGBT Youth Scotland and the Scottish Trans Alliance. It says that teachers should not inform parents of a child's desire to change gender unless the child agrees, and allow children to use whichever toilet and changing room facilities they prefer, adding, ‘If parents voice concerns about their child sharing toilets and/or changing rooms with a trans learner, they should be reminded of the school's ethos of inclusion, equality and respect'. The guidance also recommends gender-neutral dress code options and allowing students to compete in sports according to their gender identity.