Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life; No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

With this verse, God invites His children to follow him, and to receive life eternal by his grace. Yet the modern (or rather: postmodern) world sees this truth in relative terms, rather saying: “There is no one truth,” or, “One person’s truth isn’t necessarily another person’s truth.” Add to that our multicultural society that demands a great measure of tolerance, and that requires that nobody be offended in any way! This is the world that proclaims that one can believe and follow whatever one wants. The postmodern world would rather have Jesus say in John 14:6, “I am a way and a truth and a life; through me one can also come to the Father.” One can thus see that the topic of this year’s youth retreat wasn’t just appropriate, but also very important!

Thanks to the pastors, the 90 attendees spent the week drawing strength and finding courage in their faith in Christ Jesus. The entire program pointed to Christ, yet remained diverse and varied and full of energy.

We had a great time listening to the presentations by the Pastors Michael Ahlers, Helmut Paul and Tobias Ahlers, singing with Bernhard Böhmer, and taking part in various workshops and working groups. A big thank you to our organiser Ralph Schroeder, Ronell Lilje from the Wittenberg Hostel, and the Wittenberg Congregation. We look forward to next year’s retreat!

David Weber, Durban