What began as a cost-saving effort — a shared 15-hour, two-day bus trip — for two groups trying to get to Leipzig, Germany, for the Baptist World Alliance youth conference resulted in a unique time of fellowship for youth from diverse backgrounds.
The 14-member Latino youth missions team from Fredericksburg had never met the 22-member Roma choir from the Gandhi School in Pecs, Hungary, until they boarded the choir’s rented bus in Budapest on July 28. The Virginia group, led by CBF field personnel Greg and Sue Smith of Fredericksburg, had just finished leading Bible clubs for Roma children in Hungary the week before.
The Gandhi School choir, led by CBF field personnel Glen and Clista Adkins, headed to Leipzig to perform at the BWA conference. Romany people are often discriminated against in Europe, and the Adkins said the youth were anxious about how they would be received.
“When the Latino students boarded the bus carrying guitars and wearing smiles, a line of communication opened up that set the course for the rest of the trip,” said Clista Adkins, of Greenville, S.C. “Within 20 minutes, the two groups were singing songs to one another, then with one another. Most of our students speak little or no English, but the music and the friendly acceptance of the Latin American students gave them the courage to try.”
The BWA’s World Youth Conference, which the groups from Virginia and Hungary attended July 30-Aug. 3, included times for worship, concerts, Bible study, fellowship, networking and cultural exchange.
More than 6,000 youth from nearly 90 countries — including many others from Virginia — attended the meeting, held at the Leipzig Congress Center.
The choir from the Gandhi School performed at the youth conference in Leipzig, Germany.
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“At the BWA conference, it seemed that all the participants had an appreciation for all the cultures represented,” said Glen Adkins. “As groups from around the world performed in various ways through music and dance, the audience was always attentive and expressed appreciation, even if the verbal language was not understood. Even though we have heard it many times before, music truly is a universal language, and at the BWA, when there were people gathered from as many as 80 different countries, music was the primary means of communication.”
The Gandhi School choir performed three times at the conference, and the Virginia mission team was present at all three of their performances.
“The fact that the two groups hardly understood each other’s language didn’t seem to make a difference,” said Greg Smith. Larry Jimenez, team pastor of the Virginia missions team, and his wife, Katherine, agreed. “We used the language of friendship and the language of Christ’s love [to communicate],” they said.
The power of music in worship moved many of the young people. In the words of Daniela Jorge, a 17-year-old high school student from Sterling, and a member of the Smiths’ team, “The best part of the conference [was] the worship. It would just touch my heart every single time I sang songs during that time. I could just feel the Holy Spirit working in me.”
“Although our students understood few of the words they heard at the conference, they understood love and acceptance,” said Clista Adkins. “We think that they left with the picture of the family of God — that believers in the family of God have every skin color, speak every language; come from every country and ethnic group.
“They were amazed by the fact that dark-skinned and fair-skinned people were mixing, talking, laughing, praying, singing, and worshiping together. Truly, the conference was a living parable for the Gandhi students, just as we had hoped.”