On June 29–30, the International Online Conference “Youth Ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church: Experience and Prospects” was held. The forum, aimed at bringing together the experience of youth ministry in recent years, took place with the blessing of the chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Seraphim of Istra, at the multimedia center of the Russian Orthodox University of St. John the Theologian.
Taking part in the section “Strategy for the Development of Ministry to Orthodox Youth in Russia and Abroad” was the head of the Youth Department of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Priest Julian Ryabtsev, who thanked the organizers for the opportunity to participate in such a large-scale international event and spoke about the ten-year history of the youth mission born at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York and the desire to involve, as far as possible, all the Moscow Patriarchate parishes in the USA and Mexico in this work.
On the second day of the section’s work, the final document was discussed. Taking part in the discussion was the president of the Russian Youth of America society and head of youth programs at the Patriarchal Cathedral in New York, Igor Kochan, who proposed adding a point on the importance of such an aspect of missionary work among young people as participation in secular events and holidays, as well as organizing such events in parishes to attract unchurched youth.
The final document was adopted by 91% of the conference participants, while 9% felt the document needed further work.
Delegates from 22 countries took part in the forum. The number of participants and the geographic reach of the conference made it the first international online congress uniting bishops, heads of diocesan youth departments, spiritual fathers of youth associations and Orthodox young people.