Last Updated (Wednesday, 29 June 2022 15:29)

Ground-breaking Ceremony and Thanksgiving Service held for the new Headquarters of the APAY

On 9th June 2022, at the Korean YMCA campsite in Jeju Island, South Korea

↑ Soil temping performance on the spot where the APAY new Headquarters will be built

Organized jointly by the NCY-Korea and APAY, a historic, ground-breaking ceremony and thanksgiving service was held on the 9th of June 2022 at the campsite of the NCY-Korea - the International Youth Centre. Around 80 participants, including key leaders of the Korea YMCA, from the national YMCA board members, trustees, past presidents, local YMCA general secretaries, and leaders from ecumenical partners such as the NCC(National Council of Churches) of Korea and like-minded NGOs, were present at the ceremony. From the APAY-the immediate past, President Babu Markus Gomes was officially designated by President Chen Chin-Seng to represent the APAY in the ceremony. Treasurer Rev. Shin Dae-Kyun, Dr. Han Meerah, Chair of the Gender Equity Committee, Ms. Mili Gomes, Gender Equity Committee member currently serving as Chair of the Gender Justice Policy Task Group, and GS Nam Boo Won were also present.

The ceremony started with thanksgiving worship led by Rev. Prof. Chang Yoon-Jae, Vice President of NCY-Korea. Dr. Rev. Ahn Jae-Woong, Chair of the Trustees, NCY-K, delivered the sermon on “our march towards new hope”. In his sermon, Dr. Ahn envisioned “The Jeju Headquarters playing the role of “YMCA mill” that becomes a house providing life-giving foods to the people of this region by polishing all the grains of the programs produced by many YMCAs in the Asia Pacific region. He further narrated that it will become a blacksmith’s workshop, grinding all the program gemstones belonging to the diverse YMCAs in our region. As the Biblical Magi had visited the stable in Bethlehem, the headquarters will become a famous locus where diverse program participants will visit and stay, including YMCA families”.

↑ Dr. Ahn Jae-Woong giving his thanksgiving worship sermon

He concluded by saying, “This place will be a beacon hill, shining lights towards the world. Borrowing St. Paul’s words, he said, “it will shape itself as a ‘mission station’ for our contemporary missional journey forward”. Therefore, while warmly welcoming the relocation of the APAY headquarters to Jeju Island – an island of peace which will bring a new ‘wave of life’ and ‘wind of peace’, I sincerely hope and pray that the YMCA motto “That they all may be one” is realised and. The headquarters will play a role in making our world a fair and harmonious world where justice, peace, life and love prevail. In the end, he reminded the participants of the teachings of Jesus Christ from Matthew 7:24 -25, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock”.

A brief report on the development of the office construction was presented by Mr. Lee Chang-Hyung, Chair of the Ad hoc Committee for the construction of the office building after the worship. That was followed by thanksgiving remarks by Prof. Song In-dong, President of the NCY-K and Mr. Nam Boo-Won, GS of APAY. After that, congratulatory remarks were made by Mr. Babu Markus Gomes, former President of the APAY; by Mr. Ko Young-kwon, Vice Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province; Rev. Dr. Lee Hong-Jeong, General Secretary of the NCC-Korea; Mr. Park Sung-Chul, President of YMI Korea Area; Mr. Lim Hun-jo, Secretary to the President for Civil Society and Communication, Office of the President; Mr. Carlos Sanvee, Secretary-General of World YMCA and Mr. Tom Valentine, Vice President, International Group of YUSA through video messages.

In his congratulatory message, Mr. Babu Gomes conveyed warm greetings and thanks from Prof. Chen Chin-Seng, President of APAY. He mentioned, “The whole leadership of APAY, along with the leaders of the 24 national movements and even the World YMCA family, has a high expectation on the future of the APAY as a Regional Alliance with all the potentials and possibilities, which will be brought by being based in Jeju, South Korea. I believe that the new APAY Headquarters, based in an ecologically rich locus known as an island of peace, will play a significant role in enabling and supporting the collective movement plan to be realized in relevant ways with meaningful impacts”.

After the ceremony, the 80 participants joined in a soil-tamping performance symbolizing the start of the construction.

↑ Babu Markus Gomes former President of APAY in his message of congratulations	↑ Participants of the groundbreaking and thanksgiving ceremony