Hochstetler ('10) Values Crosscultural Connections.

“Being part of multicultural worship and learning to know other young adult Christians from around the world was amazing,” said Bethany senior Leanne Hochstetler, who was one of more than 700 young adults who joined together for the second Mennonite World Conference Global Youth Summit in Asunción, Paraguay, July 10-12. Alita Yoder ('09) also attended the Summit, Luke Hostetter (10) and Jared Schwartzentruber (10) attended Mennonite World Conference with their families, and Luis Lopez, a Bethany senior from Asunción served as a volunteer worker, translator, and musician (playing guitar in a Paraguayan music group).

Leanne first considered attending the conference when Sarah Thompson (’02), a member of the Summit planning group, spoke in chapel last year. When Bethany took up Thompson’s challenge to financially assist in sending a participant, Leanne applied for that opportunity. She says, “I had never been to a Mennonite convention of any sort before, and since I was going to be in Paraguay for a school language trip, I thought this made a lot of sense. Plus I enjoy learning to know people from different cultures.”

Indeed that has been the case here at home. At Bethany Leanne has interacted daily with friends of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (25% of students have a different ethnicity than she—more than one-third of those a different nationality). Additionally, her church, True Vine Tabernacle, has a diverse socio-economic and cultural makeup as well as a non-traditional approach to worship. Though these connections sparked her interest and helped prepare her for the crosscultural gathering, the Summit still surpassed her expectations.

At the Summit Leanne experienced a rich diversity of worship expressions as each morning and evening different continental groups led worship on the theme: “Service—Live the Difference!” During an afternoon workshop on different kinds of worship, she heard young adults from various cultures share what they find meaningful in worship. Leanne says, “After participating in that workshop I realized how much culture can impact worship styles.”

Leanne also values the relationships she formed with other young adults as she socialized in free time or in breakout activity groups during the worship sessions. She says, “I found it fulfilling to be able to both encourage others in their faith and be encouraged by them.” Through email and Facebook she still maintains contact with some of the new friends she met there.

The Summit also provided a way for Leanne to continue improving her Spanish. After two weeks of traveling as part of Bethany’s Spanish language trip in Brazil and Paraguay, she spent the next two weeks living with her host family in Asunción until the conference began. She realized how much her Spanish had improved over the previous month when she was able to participate in a worship activity group at the Summit in which everyone spoke Spanish! She says, “I am much more confident in speaking Spanish and am deeply thankful to everyone who helped give me these opportunities.”

Sarah Thompson, who was honored to help plan the Summit, was excited that Bethany took up her challenge and sent Leanne to participate in the Summit. She says, “To contemplate what discipleship means in a cross-cultural context necessitates taking into account our interconnectedness on this planet in crisis. The spiritual, financial, and mental connection of young people from the Global North and Global South is a crucial aspect for the church to flourish in the 21st century.”