On Loving Jejemons and the Rest of the Filipino Youth
Wednesday, 2nd of June 2010 at 04:50:37 PM
A GYMN Level 1 Youth Strategy Training was held last May 28-30, 2010 at the Child Evangelism Fellowship Center in Antipolo City. This was hosted by YouthRED of the Lord Jesus Our Redeemer (LJOR) Church. Twenty-three participants from different parts of greater Manila area attended the training. This was the first GYMN training after the trending of a new Filipino youth culture popularized by the Jejemons- a group of young Filipinos who has a different and often difficult to understand system of writing text messages. Like the Jologs before, Jejemons have also widened their identity with the jejecap and other accessories. When the youth leaders were asked to describe the Filipino youth of today, the Jejemon was a highlight among the common descriptions.
The three-day seminar started with the discussion of the need for youth ministry. The participants devised purpose statements that will lead the young people in their local churches to know more about God and live a Christian life worthy of imitation by the younger generation. The participants agreed, as seen in their goal setting sessions, that it is good to create an atmosphere of love and acceptance in their youth ministry. A youth group that would make Jejemons and the rest of the Filipino young people feel loved and accepted for who they are.
This seminar was very special to me because: First, this was my first time to handle four sessions in a training, I usually handle two sessions only. Second, the participants gave us a warm welcome and the camaraderie among the youth leaders was very heart-warming. Third, the venue was in sunny Antipolo but I felt one of the first rainfalls of Amihan on the first day. Fourth, this was the first partnership of LJOR with GYMN Asia and I hope this will be the first of the many more trainings to come. Lastly, some participants were just so sweet- aside from writing good comments and testimonies in the evaluation sheet, they wrote letters for the trainers. Some participants suggested ways in how we can improve our teaching, some made notes of appreciation and some just made funny remarks like I looked like one of the characters from the TV series “Heroes”.
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Here are some highlights of the training:
A jejemon’s point of view on what is a disciple
Kris, one of the participants, attached an origami along with his letters for us.
The Young leaders of LJOR YouthRED
