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. “Shesaid 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.”