wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Rockin' role

[Deeanna Alford <dalford@CTR.PCUSA.ORG>]

04337
July 29, 2004

Rockin' role

Triennium allows teens to be themselves while encountering God

by Evan Silverstein

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - Jennifer Ross, 18, of Naples, FL, said she learned
about the Presbyterian Youth Triennium when she was a freshman in high
school.

A member of her youth group at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples
waxed rhapsodic about the high-voltage spiritual extravaganza, and said
attending with thousands of other teen-age Presbyterians had transformed
her life and strengthened her faith.

"She really learned a lot and grew a lot, and thought that would really
help me," Ross said. "She said her faith grew so much."

That was all the recommendation Ross needed to attend the Presbyterian
Youth Triennium, which is held once every three years to bring Presbyterian
young people together with international guests for worship, Bible study,
recreation and global awareness.

Ross first attended in 2001. She was back for this year's event, which
brought about 5,800 Presbyterians between 15 and 19 to Purdue University
here. The six-day Triennium opened on July 20.

Ross said she wasn't disappointed with either event. The native Floridian,
who plans to major in biology this fall at Presbyterian-related Rhodes
College in Memphis, TN, said the Triennium has been "an opening into the
Presbyterian Church for me."

"These things are just so amazing," she said. "It really brings you closer
to God. It helps your own spirituality by meeting people your own age and
finding out what other people believe and how they look at the world. It
just opens your mind so much."

The Trienium, whose theme was "No Longer Strangers: Members of the
Household of God" (Ephesians 2:14-19), invited participants to explore and
share their faith in a multi-sensory, multimedia spiritual trip through
rock 'n' roll-driven worship, sun-drenched recreation, passionate sermons
and riveting small discussions.

The hugely popular Triennium has been held every three years since 1980.
Most participants are affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), but
this year's event was co-sponsored by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC), a longtime Triennium co-sponsor,
did not back this year's program or send nearly as many delegates, instead
funding its own youth event.

The enthusiastic revelers couldn't wait to pack Purdue's 6,000-seat
Elliott Hall of Music for the start of the ninth Triennium, which kicked
off with a rousing injection of "energizers" and worship, singing and
skits.

The music hall became a sea of teen-agers clapping hands, stamping feet,
shouting and dancing, as recreational leaders Beth Watson, Mark Rackley and
Omayrah Gonzalez burst onto the stage to lead dance- and song-filled
energizers, grooving to the music as their images were beamed onto large
screens.

"It's fun," said Chris Flint, 15, a member of PC(USA)-related Roland Park
Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, MD. "The campus is huge. We do a lot of
walking. But I think I'll have a lot of fun."

Participants cramming the music hall's first floor and two balconies
performed the "wave." Many dressed in matching T-shirts representing their
presbyteries, including Nicole Carver, a member of St. Mark Presbyterian
Church in Dallas, TX.

The 17-year-old Texan from Grace Presbytery donned a green T-shirt that
said: "Texan by Choice, Presbyterian by Grace."

"This is my first one, and it's really cool," Carver said of Triennium.
"Right now I'm getting sort of chills from all the people. It's just really
cool. I mean there are so many people here that have the same faith as me.
I haven't been in this sort of situation before."

Then the Triennium's official worship band - a group from Mission Bay
Community Church, a Presbyterian new-church development in San Francisco,
CA - belted out contemporary Christian music and worship tunes.

 The energy-charged worship impressed Sarah James, a 21-year-old adult
adviser and member of First Presbyterian Church in Falls City, NE.

"I think this helps a lot of youth realize what it means to be
Presbyterian," she said. "It's a little different from our (typical)
churches, and helps them see that there is another side - that you can be
open in worship."

The Rev. Sharon Huey, the opening-night worship speaker, echoed the
event's welcoming theme by urging participants to tear down societal walls
that divide people and cause brokenness.

"If Christ has torn the walls of hostility down and made reconciliation
possible, then don't you think that Christians ought to have friendships
with each other?" asked Huey, a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church and an associate pastor at Christ Community Church in San Francisco.
"Don't you think it's a strange thing that at the very heart of our gospel
is God doing this outrageously bold thing, breaking down the walls and
loving his enemies, and our friendships don't tend to look anything like
this?"

Global partner, Fabian Clavairoly, of Paris, France, reminded the audience
that as Christians "we must accept that we are not the center of all life
... there is something more important than us."

After opening worship, Triennium participants poured onto the Purdue
campus for "Howdy Strangers," where youth and adults mingled, took part in
energizers, embarked on campus tours and played giant board games during
the gathering. It was just one of a variety of recreational events, most of
which were held on an outdoor campus mall.

That venue prompted Frisbees, hula-hoops and even the Hokey Pokey. Some
sat in the grass eating ice cream and other snacks while taking in the
Christian sounds of Drive, a Miami Youth Praise Band that performed on a
bandstand on the mall.

Other opportunities like "Fusion," the Triennium "World's Fair," and
global partner forums allowed international delegates to share their
cultures and talk about global issues.

There was also a visit by Rick Ufford-Chase, newly elected moderator of
the 216th General Assembly of the PC(USA), who challenged participants to
work together to change the world.

The youth program attracted a diverse crowd. There were teens wearing
oversized hats, colorful wigs and fuzzy pink antennas.

 Second-time Triennium-goer Michael Rubenaker boasted his usual Mohawk
with a Scottish kilt and a belt secured with a buckle portraying a skull.

At Triennium you can be yourself "while encountering God," said the
18-year-old from Bellbrook, OH, near Dayton.

"It changed my life the first time, and it's doing the same right now,"
Rubenaker said. "I enjoy seeing all these diverse different kinds of people
that I usually would not be able to get to know back in my hometown. I
obviously don't dress like the normal person, and a lot of people are
scared away from me. But then you come here and it's completely different.
People will point you out and come over and introduce themselves. It's so
uplifting."

Rubenaker was speaking with Kendelle Matheny, 18, of Los Angeles, CA, who
said the youth program should inspire all Presbyterians.

"I think it's just a good experience at any age to see this many people in
one place, all here for God, all here for the same thing," said Matheny,
whose wardrobe included a blue and green wig; knee socks embroidered with
fuzzy dice and pink Cadillacs; mirror sunglasses; fuzzy pink antennas; and
a pair of rainbow-colored star-shaped earrings.

Another teen-ager said the spiritual experience of Triennium helped bring
her Presbyterian background into clearer perspective.

"For sure, because my church is very low-key and I've never been to
anything outside my church like this," said Jen Vos, 17, a member of a PCC
congregation in Ontario, Canada. "Just to see all these people really helps
you grow in your faith, in knowing that there are other people like
yourself out there."

Jessica Helmers, 18, of Scottsdale, AZ, said she came to Purdue looking
for an encounter with God.

"I definitely think I will grow closer to God and become more familiar and
more wrapped up and more filled with the Presbyterian faith," said the
member of Mountain View Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, AZ.

Triennium was created by the former United Presbyterian Church in the USA,
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in Canada as
a leadership-development program. The first was held in 1980 at Indiana
University in Bloomington. The event moved to Purdue in 1983.

Organizers said the approximately 5,800 participants were almost entirely
from the PC(USA), with the exception of  270 from the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church.

The crowd also included about 50 participants from the Presbyterian Church
in Canada, along with 76 "global partners" - international students from a
variety of countries - who came to tell of Christianity among young people
in their homelands.

However, planners said 37 other global partners invited to Triennium were
unable to attend because they were denied visas by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security.

"I think Triennium is important because young people tend to exist in
their own little world - their house, their neighborhood, their school,
their group of friends, their congregation," said Gina Yeager, associate
for youth ministry in the PC(USA)'s Congregational Ministries Division.
"This is really and truly the greatest picture of the breath of the
Presbyterian Church. You really get a picture of the diversity, of the
wonder, of the creativity when you step onto this campus."

Many said they particularly appreciated the event's international flavor,
such as Ian Bova, 17, who was sporting a fuzzy oversized blue hat that
looked like something out of an Austin Powers movie.

"Coming together as a whole church, as a global community, is really
helping tear down walls, especially in my life," said Bova, who lives near
Toledo, OH. "I'm becoming more open to different cultures.  It's exposing
me to things that I've never been exposed to before. And I'm also meeting
new friends from California to New York, Canada and Texas, China, Japan and
Korea."

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