Gelnhausen, Germany – Forty-four young people from the Zaanstad Church of the Nazarene, in the Netherlands, visited Gelnhausen Church of the Nazarene, Germany, 1 to 4 September, with the aim of supporting the Gelnhausen youth group.

Every year, the Zaanstad youth group, aged 15 to 25, embarks on an international mission trip to encourage another Nazarene youth group.

The Gelnhausen church has had a few U.S. Work & Witness teams visit, but never a youth ministry team like the one from Zaanstad, said Christoph Nick, youth leader at the Gelnhausen church.

“The goal of these annual trips is to support other NYIs [Nazarene Youth International] in their efforts to reach out to their neighborhood and the young people in their city, by participating in those efforts and not just doing our own thing,” said Dennis Mohn, the youth and associate pastor at the Zaanstad church. “The dream is that as NYI Zaanstad does this, they will encourage others to do likewise.”

The focus of the trip was to exchange ideas and experience to boost Gelnhausen’s quarterly Saturday night service called “m.a.X.PERIENCE,” which is their outreach ministry to local youth.

Special guest Brian Fentress, an American choir and worship leader working as a missionary in Poland, provided choir training to the combined youth groups. The choir performed during the two weekend services, which saw 180 and 240 youth attend, respectively, and another 50 people followed the service live on www.nyiunited.com.

“The group only had a few hours on Friday to practice and learn the four new songs, but they sounded amazing,” said Zaanstad youth member Richard Bronkhorst. “I think if you stay in your group of comfort, it's difficult to learn anything because your friends often agree with you and even think like you. That's why it's important to keep trying to step out of that group, meet new people and see what they are like.”

The choir performances provided an opportunity for members of the groups to exchange audio-visual tips and training.

“It’s always great to see how our people discover again that we are blessed with a lot of talent and it is even greater to see how they love to share their gifts with others to be a testimony,” said Mohn.

Besides the collaboration on Gelnhausen’s youth service, the youth groups worked together in community service projects. On Friday, the youth formed several outreach groups. One group went to a local school to make contacts and friends, participating in class and having conversations with the students. Another group went to a special needs school where they played games with the students and had a picnic in the park.

Others worked with Helping Hands Germany, a Nazarene affiliated non-profit that is active in development and disaster response. The young people cleaned up its storage area, sorted through food, stacked clothing and relief kits. Some painted and renovated the Gelnhausen church youth room, while another group assisted a church couple with gardening and others went into town to collect trash.

“It was a great experience for our young people to see youth from Holland who paid their own money and took vacation time to come and serve us,” said Gelnhausen lead pastor Hans-Günter Mohn. “It was overwhelming.”

In the past two years, the Zaanstad NYI group has also visited Northern Ireland and Denmark.

To view videos and pictures of the event (drama, choir, services), please visit www.nyiunited.com