|
Asian Institute of Youth Studies
Transforming the Future by Training Leaders Today!
There are over 300 million junior high, high school, and
university-aged  youth in the Asia Pacific Region. Their significance
does not go unnoticed by the world. This can be clearly seen
by the priority the secular media and marketers place on
them. So how much more must the Church prioritize youth?
The Asian Institute of Youth Studies (AIYS) is designed
to train Pentecostal youth workers who can effectively
reach
and disciple these youth for Jesus Christ. As the church
raises up workers to reach this strategic people group,
we have the God-given opportunity to dramatically affect
the
destiny of nations.
Participants and Program
AIYS is cosponsored by Asia Pacific Campus Challenge (APCC)
and Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS). The first
AIYS was held in 1996 and again in 2000 and 2004. AIYS
2009 eclipsed
the previous attendance records with 123 participants
from 14 nations.
This year, four simultaneous training tracks were offered:
•
Institute of Youth Ministry
•
Institute of Campus Ministry
•
International Church Youth Pastors—ministry to cross
culture kids (CCKs)
•
OneHope AP Leadership Team
Training Leaders
A priority strategy of APCC has been
to sponsor at least three members of the national youth committees
from developing
nations in Asia Pacific. The opportunity to learn and
grow together as a national team greatly increases the
effectiveness
of their youth department once they return home. 
Through the generosity of many Assemblies
of God churches across the U.S.A., many of these leaders
received scholarships
from APCC, other youth-focused AP missionaries, or AGWM
field fellowships.
Aside from youth ministers and campus pastors, National
Youth Directors and/or National Youth Committee members
attended
from Fiji, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines,
Taiwan, Japan, and Mongolia. These are reproducers who
return home to cast vision and train others.
APTS
We were also blessed to have two visits from the new APTS
president, Yee Tham Wan. He gave powerful and affirming
challenges to these emerging Asian leaders. What a great
example he
set! Hopefully a few students were recruited to further
their studies at APTS.
Prayer
A highlight again this year was the time spent in prayer—from
the opening night to the Friday prayer for the nations as
well as prayer walks on nearby campuses, to spontaneous prayer
during class sessions, and the commissioning service on the
last day. The impact of these times was highlighted over
and again in the AIYS evaluation forms.
OneHope
During the second week of AIYS, 38 OneHope (formerly Book
of Hope)  staff members from nine Asia Pacific nations
participated in training and planning meetings. Since
the beginning
of the partnership between APCC and the OneHope ministry
in
1998, over 52 million students in AP have received/viewed
the story of Jesus. Plans are in motion for 2010 to share
the story of Jesus—face-to-face—through OneHope
and The GodMan film with over 10 million more children and
youth. This is accomplished by training Asian volunteers
in local churches and student ministries.
After AIYS
With an intentional emphasis on practics and application,
what happens after AIYS is a strong indicator of what really
happened at AIYS. That’s why we were happy to receive
this report from a national youth leader:
" I learned so much in AIYS that
I can use. Next month I will be meeting with all the district
youth leaders to
begin sharing
with them the things we can apply from what was taught."
That’s what it’s all about!
|
