WILLS POINT, TX — Under 30s are being invited to “detox from their phones and gadgets” in order to “experience God in solitude and silence” and discover his purpose for their lives.
Popular speaker Francis Chan and mission pioneers K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan) and George Verwer will headline GFA World’s first-ever Set Apart 2022 retreat (http://www.gfa.org/press/SetApart) June 20-26 – an event that will invite 18-30 year olds to “exchange the constant pinging of their phones for a week of enjoying God’s presence in life-transforming solitude and silence.”
Immersed in a manic media culture, 18-30 year olds – a group fast disappearing from America’s churches – desperately need to “experience the living Christ” in quiet, says Chan, author of the bestselling book Crazy Love and a hugely popular speaker with 67,000 Twitter followers.
Nearly two-thirds of 18-29 year olds who grew up in the U.S. going to church have dropped out, according to faith-based research group Barna, citing boredom and a feeling that God is “missing.”
Escaping the Craziness?
“Some of you, your minds are going so fast,” Chan said. “You are on that phone, you are on all these gadgets, and it’s so important that you learn to just be silent so your soul can create a bond with God.”
Set Apart 2022 is a chance for young people to “detox from all their gadgets for a week and truly connect with God,” says Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), a faith-based global mission agency working among the poor in Asia and Africa.
He hopes young people coming to the one-of-a-kind retreat at the organization’s campus near Dallas, Texas, will have their lives transformed. “I see this week of young people gathering here as the wardrobe in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series, where their eyes are opened at last to see the real world of Christ and His incredible invitation to find true meaning in life.”
Yohannan and Chan will be joined by Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization, one of the world’s biggest evangelical mission organizations.
People can learn more about the event at http://www.gfa.org/press/SetApart.
