YOUTH SUMMER CAMP FROM THE DIFFERENT CHURCH COMMUNITIES IN HIMMELSFELS

by Georges from DR Congo

If youth knew, if old age could. However, young people can, but they do not know. This is why young people from different church communities here in Germany were invited to take part in a camp which was organized in Himmelsfels by old sages in exchange for experience.

On a certain Sunday, dated 01.08.2021, we had traveled for a summer camp from 01 to 05 August 2021 in Himmelsfels, here it is in the North of Hessen. When we arrived, we had first of all passed to a registration on a paper, sort of an identity document (Reisepass) and a piece of paper on which we wrote the first name, and this we often wore like a badge, to facilitate knowledge of names quickly because there were so many of us.
Afterwards, we had moved on to a demonstration of the rules to follow in the form of theatrical plays, prohibiting smoking and alcohol in our various dormitories and also not leaving any leftover food in our dormitories, because these could attract us insects like flies, mosquitoes etc.

Every night before dinner, we did a little bodybuilding sport with THIAGO in front of a room we had called Israel. And also after dinner, we always met in front of the same room for praise and worship also preaching by Pastor JOHN from Berlin. Just, the first day after all that I have just specified above, we had to share one thing that I had really found very important to me. This thing was a game that I also named „Game of the organs of the human body“

Before starting this game, we were first given cards on which are drawn the different organs of the human body, namely: the eye, the ear, the heart etc.

And then we were asked a question to choose among all these organs which each one finds very important compared to the others and to say why it is more important. After choosing, we had formed groups, I had chosen the heart and automatically I was in the group of all those who had chosen the heart. Our moderator was VERENA. Here, we detailed the importance of the heart, a few minutes after the moderators came to present the report of the different groups.

At the end of the presentation of all the moderators of the groups, also after JOHANNES’s explanation, all the groups realized that they were wrong to choose one organ and leave the other. The good thing, then, was to choose all the organs and leave nothing, because all these organs make a connection for the construction of any human body.

„For as the body is one and has many members, and as all the members of the body, despite their number, are but one body, so also is Christ“

„If the whole body were the eye, where would the hearing be? If it was all the hearing, where would the smell be?“

So from my part I took this game of the organs of the human body, as an illustration of a church, where they simply wanted to show us that the church is a body built by the members who are its faithful Christians considered as the organs. Which all have a higher value, which is why it is not really good to distinguish them from one another. For proof of truth, this was justified by a verse from the Bible, in 1, corinthians: 12.

This illustration was a great blessing to me which I have found that many African evangelists seem to ignore it, because they keep running only after the faithful they find rich in their church with unscheduled visits. Saying that the coming of Christ is near and therefore we must be regular in prayer. However, if you can see correctly, it is not for the prayer that they come but rather for the envelope that they are given each time they have finished.

During our summer camp, everything went well, only that during these five days the atmosphere did not look like summer but rather winter, because there was always a tendency of small rains because we were on a high hill and we wore jackets all the time.

This camp was also an opportunity for us to do a meditation, and a prayer together. We even participated in different cultures through songs and dances, because the last night of 04.08 was a special night of cultural dances. So Espérance and I also formed a group and then we danced Congolese dance together. Here, one thing that surprised me a lot and made me more happy is that, there was a group that sang a song in Lingala when they were all German. So before the band sang they were asked if the song was written in what language; suddenly, I had answered for them, and JOHANNES directly asked me to translate the text and well I had done my best. After the group sang.

Finally, I will not stop saying a big thank you to the youth of the Lydia community: coordinated by VERENA, BARBARA and JUSTIN, who had thought of inviting us and participating in this great youth event together; may God the Almighty still give them such opportunities not only for our favour but also for others who may come after us.