The church in Bulgaria has a history of organizing summer camps for its youth. However, this year’s youth camp was the first of its kind. The reason – it took place at the seaside resort of Golden Sands near Varna. More than 50 young adults, aged 21-35, attended the 4-day event organized by Adventist Youth (AY) – Bulgaria (youth department of the Bulgarian Union) in collaboration with the Sabbath School department. The motto of the camp was “Dive in Verse”.
“Our team listened to the voice of the youth – many of them had indicated that they would like to attend a camp by the seaside, in a survey we held last year. All previous summer camps have been organized outdoors near different mountain huts, so our team quickly realized the challenges that we would need to overcome when organizing a camp at a summer resort during peak season for the first time.” – shares Julia Krumov, the leader of the team within AY – Bulgaria devoted to young adults (21-35).
The other unique aspect of this camp was the active involvement of the Bulgarian Sabbath School department. The active collaboration between the 2 departments started last year when the inVerse Bible Study Guide (youth sabbath school lessons) was introduced to the church in Bulgaria.
“Since then, the AY team invites us to every event they organize as they are actively promoting the inVerse methodology. Designing the summer youth camp together with AY was yet another opportunity to showcase the benefits of personal Bible study time and share methods and techniques for efficient and involving group discussions during Sabbath School with young people from Bulgaria.” – comments pastor Stoyan Petkov, head of the Bulgarian Sabbath School department.
The agenda included 4 workshops targeting different aspects of the Sabbath School and closely related to the challenges that young people face. All workshops included time for practical tasks and work in small groups. The first workshop was named: Stop reading the SS lesson! It stimulated the attendees to realize the difference between reading and researching the Bible text and lesson. The next workshop – You are not being paid to be a teacher! – provided useful techniques to facilitate the group discussion during Sabbath School. The third workshop – An old book for young people – demonstrated a method for analyzing a Bible text and finding its contemporary application. The last workshop was entitled “Who cares?” and was devoted to the importance of the second goal of the Sabbath School – fellowship.
“I praise God for providing us with this fantastic opportunity to promote the inVerse methodology and help the young adults in Bulgaria find the meaning of Sabbath School for them.” – rejoices Miroslav Milkov, a youth leader and a volunteer in the Sabbath School department. “It was surprising for me to see so many youths attending the workshops instead of being at the beach. I was inspired that our work to have the inVerse lessons available in Bulgarian really matters when hearing so many devoted and motivated young people sharing amazing stories about God’s work in their lives and churches,” adds Miroslav.
The most special element was the first (of 3) sermon that Pastor Stoyan Petkov shared on Friday night at the beach. Inspired by the motto of the camp – Dive in Verse – Pastor Stoyan arrived at the place where the youth were sitting on the beach, surrounded by torches, in a boat. He asked the congregation to imagine they are sitting, not at the coast of Black Sea, but rather at the coast of the Sea of Galilee. His question was, “What are we going to Jesus for – fish and bread or His Word”. He invited everyone to list something that is preventing them from being closer to Jesus and burn it in the fire.
“Dive in Verse” allowed the young people in Bulgaria to reflect and make decisions for Christ. The summer youth camp also stressed on the importance of the Sabbath School as a tool for Bible study, fellowship and mission which is much needed for the young adults more than ever.
