Youth work in Turkey

BACKGROUND - The Lord’s work in Turkey has a very troubled past. Despite the heavy presence of ancient Christian communities like the Syriac and Armenian Orthodox Christians by 1960 little of their influence remained. The first modern missionaries arrived in Turkey in 1961 and started meeting with contacts across the country. Most of the early believers were converts from an orthodox tradition. By 1980 some Turkish Muslim-background believers began to emerge. Still despite all the focused attention by missionaries, the church grew very slowly. By the late 1990’s there were only a dozen or so churches across the whole of the country comprised of less than 1000 Muslim background Turks. In the past decade the Turkish church has experienced an remarkable growth spurt. Now there are roughly 90 church fellowships, most of them home groups, across the country and there are an estimated 3,000-5,000 Turkish believers. Still in a country of 75 million this is only a fraction of one percent. From the beginning the government was very opposed to the work of the gospel but in recent years, especially with EU accession talks the Turkish Government has taken a more lenient stance towards Christians. YOUTH WORK - The youth work in the country has been in motion for almost 15 years with a number youth camps across the country. However in the past couple of years youth ministry leaders from around the country have made a more concerted effort to come together for fellowship, sharing and networking. This has resulted in more concerted efforts to establish healthy youth ministries and share information using the internet. We currently have a webpage where youth leaders can acquire and share lessons, games, activities, songs and other material. http://tghizmetleri.diyarbakirkilisesi.com/ For the past several years we have had a yearly Youth Leader Retreat in which about 50 youth leaders from across the country have gathered to hone their vision and share their experiences. Currently we have a representative leadership body (TGH – Turkish Youth Ministry) that organizes such events and continually seeks to enhance cooperation. I am currently the chairman of this group. At the moment there are a number of active youth ministries and a yearly youth camp in Istanbul the largest city of Turkey. Izmir (ancient Smyrna) is also home to a number of youth ministries and a yearly camp. In Antalya there is a vibrant youth group. Adana also has a growing group of youth. In the East we have led the youth group for 9 years now. We have also had a yearly youth retreat for the youth of the region as well as a camp in the summer. Another very encouraging development has been the monthly Youth Revival Meetings that started in Istanbul 3 years ago. These have spread to other cities as well. There site is: http://www.uyanisgencligi.com/ As the church in Turkey gains footing the youth work has become a very critical element in spurring the work forward. The young generation of Turkish believers are catching a vision to reach their people and extend the gospel to the other nations of the Middle East. We believe that for the Turkish church to ultimately be an effective witness in the region the youth will play a key role as the future leaders.

Below are some picturess of youth group activities arount the country:

Youth Retreat in Antioch - February 2011

Youth Camp in Anamur - August 2010

Youth Group at our home in Diyarbakir - June 2011

Youth Outing on Tigris River - 2010

Youth Group Leaders Seminar in Akkoy, Istanbul - April 2008

Youth Camp Akkoy, Istanbul - November 2008

Youth Camp in Arvalya, Ephesus - November 2010

Revival Meeting Istanbul - 2010