Theme of the Programme:

"Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare depends your own." Jeremiah 29:7

No. of Participants: 28 , Male: 19 , Female: 9 , No. of Days: 1
Region/Country: Andhra Pradesh
Venue: Sathyodaya retreat house, Secunderabad.
Programme Co-coordinators: Eabin Antony & Rodney Pereira

Main Sessions

Resources
100% commitment to Jesus and his kingdom - Tomas Michael

Fellowship groups - Rodney Pereira & Adolph Goldwyn

Jesus Youth in Hyderabad – initiatives, challenges and dreams
Rodney Pereira

Inspiring events/insights/incidents:We could feel God’s grace from the time when we dreamt about this program.

The way we got the venue, the resource person everything was a miracle…
We thought of a venue first which turned out to be expensive, in our search for a cheaper venue we got in touch with Fr.Pakiaraj S.J who helped us to get a venue at a cheaper rate than its usual rate. We gave him the International newsletter to introduce Jesus Youth; it was our news letter that helped us to introduce Jesus Youth.

Also we were in search of a resource person. We heard that Bro.Fritz is in the city for some other programme.So we dreamt about getting his help. But he was too busy those days so we didn’t get him. Then we came to know that Tomas chettan from Thiruvananthapuram is in the city for some official purpose. It was by the grace of God we got him. And his sessions touched all of us. He came and put the fire in our hearts to work for Kingdom of God.

Brief Description of the programme:

The aim of the programme was to bring the first line of Jesus Youth in the city together at one place, to dream, plan and pray for the Jesus Youth activities in the city. We aimed at spiritual nourishment at individual and group level along with it.

We started of with music on 2nd Friday evening at Sathyodaya, Secunderabad.After initial introductions and sharing Prakash gave the key note. Then we had a time of spiritual input from Tomas chettan. Slowly we were led to a mood of prayer followed by Eucharistic adoration.

On 3rd morning we started praising and worshiping our dear Lord, Vijay Anthony lead us.
Then Tomas chettan shared the message of 100% commitment to Jesus and his kingdom. He shared his own experiences. His testimony and message put all of us back on fire. We all could feel that we need to be more committed in building in His kingdom.

Then we split into Emmaus groups to share our personal God experience and our spiritual needs. Then we had a session on Fellowship groups, their importance and how do they work by Rodney Pereira. It was followed by a time of intercession before Blessed Sacrament for various needs of Jesus Youth in the city and state. Fr. Bhaskar celebrated Holy Mass for us, with the touching sermon on how important it is for us to be touched by our Master.

Afternoon we had a time of understanding the initiatives in the city and planning. Everyone felt a need of such family gatherings. We decided to focus on following areas in the coming months.
1. Intercession (Prashanth took the responsibility)
2. Fellowship groups
3. Ministry building
4. Formation of Leadership

We decided to have a retreat for all the Jesus Youth in the city soon as the next step towards achieving these goals for the Glory of God.