Communion in Action
- PZ
- Mar 25
- 5 min read
This past Sabbath was Global Youth Day. Global Youth Day is an annual effort by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists that aims to get youth worldwide out into their local communities, showing God’s love through acts of service. This article will show how Wisconsin participated this year, in various locations. It will also share a little about the history of Global Youth Day in Wisconsin.
JAHWI
This year, the Global Youth Day theme was Communion in Action, and nowhere was that more evident than in Milwaukee. Nearly 150 youth and young adults (as well as youth leaders like those involved in Pathfinders) gathered together for JAHWI’s annual Global Youth Day event. After attendees registered for various service opportunities, JAHWI president Ricardo Colindres gave a brief worship thought and then groups were sent out across the city.
One group visited the local St. Vincent De Paul Society, preparing sandwiches and bags that would be handed out to the food and housing insecure later that weekend. Another group led out in a praise service and visited with the folks at St. Anne Health and Rehabilitation Center. A large group posted up at the busy intersection of Miller Park Way and Lincoln Avenue intersection to hold up signs expressing Jesus’ love, and asking drivers to “Honk 4 Jesus.” There was rarely a moment void of honking or shouts of delight. Many young adults, and local Pathfinders (primarily North Milwaukee Panthers, looking sharp in their yellow scarves) cleaned up trash in West Milwaukee and Jackson Parks and passed out El Centinela magazines to passersby. Adullam Outreach was another destination, and a group helped to organize and clean their facilities where they invite housing insecure families to stay. There were also groups that visited individuals who were either presently too sick to come to church or who hadn’t been to church in a while. The feedback about these visits was encouraging. For those who were feeling more creative, and less enthusiastic about going out and about: there was a station for making cards for people who need encouragement.
At 1:00 pm, all groups gathered back at the Milwaukee Seventh-day Adventist School for lunch and reports. This was a beautiful example of what an intentional effort between churches in an area can look like when they want to participate in a day of service like Global Youth Day. It also bears mentioning that many of the young adults who came to participate are individuals who hadn’t been to a church service for a long time. Organized community service has a way of drawing people back in, even if they’re presently not as connected with the church in a formal worship setting.
Milwaukee Central
The Milwaukee Central Church has a regular schedule and a long history of a variety of community service initiatives. On Global Youth Day, they hosted a community meal for individuals who are food and housing insecure in one of Milwaukee’s most impoverished areas. Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z church members all came together to help in service.
Green Bay
The Green Bay Church also regularly has a group, called Street Team, who go out to minister to the housing insecure. This group generally consists of three families and their children. On Global Youth Day, they visited three different locations around the city to pray and share the Gospel with individuals at three different locations. At one location, there were 20 men experiencing homelessness. They prayed with them individually over their various needs: employment opportunities, a place to safely rest at night, freedom from anxiety and stress, and even freedom from demonic harassment. Street Team also gave all of the food they prepared away.
Madison East/Madison ACF
The Madison East Church, and its local ACF group at UW-Madison, took a different approach to Global Youth Day: they started with in-reach, hosting a lunch with local young adults and strategizing how to better involve those who are not typically gettin involved. Later in the evening, they hosted a bowling event for local college students that built bridges, fostered friendships, and gave an opportunity to invite them to future campus ministry activities and groups.
How Wisconsin Got Started
Pastor Cid Leopoldino, of the Milwaukee Northwest Church, shared with us about the origins of how Wisconsin began participating in Global Youth Day. Back in 2015, Pastor Cid was serving in Beloit, and they were the first church to start participating in an organized way. The next year, he proposed that JAHWI would benefit from planning to participate in Global Youth Day. Since then, the movement has grown every year. 2026 marks 11 years since Wisconsin has been participating in Global Youth Day, and 10 years since JAHWI made it an emphasis in their ministry. It’s been exciting to watch Global Youth Day pick up steam in the Wisconsin Conference, and we praise God for the impact that involvement like this can have on our local communities.
Planning for Next Year
The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists recently revealed in a social media post the theme for next year’s Global Youth Day: Designed for Mission. “The 2027 Global Youth Day theme is rooted in [identity]”, the post says, “a reminder to Adventist youth worldwide that mission isn’t just a calling, but a part of who they are.” In Wisconsin, we believe we have a true mission field that needs Jesus. Pew Research shows that Christianity is significantly on the decline in Wisconsin, and it has consistently ranked, among New England, as one of the least religious states in the country. If there’s a time to start encouraging our young people to treat their neighborhoods as a mission field: it’s now.
We are encouraged to see the participation in reaching the community across Wisconsin on Global Youth Day, and we hope to see even more in the future. We want to invite you, your church, and your young people right now: make a plan for next year. Mark March 20 on your calendar and be intentional about it. It doesn’t take reinventing the wheel: if your church is already doing community service activities throughout the year, simply schedule one of those outreach days on March 20, and encourage youth to be involved (if they aren’t already). If your church doesn’t regularly do community service, involvement can be simple. Last year, one church bought bags of oranges and handed them out to passersby, reminding them that Jesus loves them. How will your church participate in 2027? Pray about it! We can’t wait to report next year about how God has blessed our Wisconsin communities through our youth, as they realize their identity: that they are Designed for Mission.
