Special worship was held in YMCA Jeju International Youth Centre (IYC), where the APAY new office is being built

Last Updated (Tuesday, 30 August 2022 12:28)

“Once More, YMCA Movement” was the theme for the annual summer retreat of the Association of YMCA Secretaries (AOS) of the Korea YMCA was held in Jeju Youth Training Centre. 95 AOS members participated in the retreat from 25-27 August 2022. On the second day, special worship was organized in YMCA Jeju International Youth Centre (IYC) in the middle of Halla mountain, seeking God’s special blessing in constructing the APAY new office. GS Nam Boo Won of APAY, along with NSG Kim Kyung Min of Korea YMCA, was invited to the worship to briefly explain the office move and the plan of operation of the APAY office in the coming future.

↑GS Nam giving welcome remarks in the worship	↑Opening Ceremony of the AOS summer retreat

The IYC is a youth campsite of Korea YMCA on Jeju Island, where the new HQ of the APAY will be in the near future. The construction of the HQ building started after a tedious process of getting formal permission for the construction from the Jeju local government. The construction is expected to be completed at the end of December 2022, so the APAY office will start its operation in the Jeju HQ in January 2023.

Along the APAY new office in Jesu Island, Korea YMCA is planning to renovate the existing facilities of the IYC into a ‘Global Peace and Ecology Center’ (or GPEC, a temporary name) focusing on training and empowering young people of Asia and Pacific region around the YMCA priority movement agenda of climate change and peace-building. The Korea YMCA, along with APAY, is seeking regional and international collaboration with like-minded national YMCAs not only in raising funds for the construction of the GPEC but also in future collaboration for planning and implementing various programs on youth empowerment.

By Nam Boo Won
GS, APAY