The Kingdom Discovery project brings together young people from various nations and denominations to discover the faith heritage of our ancestors and become inspired by the diversity of the Christian faith as it is expressed through the many different traditions.
Kingdom Discovery begins locally in various places in Europe and ends each summer in the middle of Germany at the grounds of Camp Knüll near the village of Schwarzenborn in Hessen with a International Youth Festival.
Kingdom Discovery Projects
We are not a travel agency. We exist to build bridges not only between young people, but between generations. The KD Projects are meant to bring different generations together. Some projects are ready to be implemented with dates and details, others are waiting for leadership teams to take on the challenge, while some are still in a dream phase. The Kingdom Discovery projects are the face and future of this mission, the front wheels of the Karavaan of Bridgebuilders, a new mission for a new generation.
A pathway to Ontario, Canada, to discover – and perhaps uncover – the roots of the slave trade and the fight of slaves to gain their freedom. The recent movie of Harriet is a good illustration. Harriet is from Saint Catharine’s in Ontario. Our mission is to frame these historic events into a youth exchange with an educational and spiritual purpose. We want to bring youth from Ontario and Zeeland in contact with each other using the bridge of history. First Ontario comes to Zeeland, then Zeeland youth come to Ontario. Our common heritage is facilitated by the fact that there are many immigrants from Zeeland living in Ontario and the role Zeeland had in the slave trade many years ago, a fact of history we are not proud of.
Due to our network in New York, a lot of bridges are possible with this unique city. The town of Freeport is the start of this bridge. Are you interested in building a human resource and mission bridge to and from this city to Europe? Do you want to get acquainted with this network or help build a management team with young adults on both ends of the bridge? Basketball, music and dance are the methodology for his bridge.
A team is presently being formed with participants in the UK and Europe, to organise a youth pilgrimage to Canterbury at Easter 2024 and 2025. This year is a preparatory journey to lay the basis for a larger team next year. This team has a special task, to prepare and organise a petition to the Archbishop to continue with the special Youth Service at the Cathedral from 2025 onward. This Youth Service ended several years ago much to the dismay of many travelling young people. It is good to be inspired together about our common spiritual heritage.
A youth exchange project between two villages. In the village of Neukirchen (German province of Hessen) young people are interested in developing an exchange with youth from a village in another country. Their village is the fairy tale village of Germany, home of Little Red Riding hood. They are ready to host a team of youth to show them the places where these various fairy tale characters were born and grew into world famous stories. Which village will take up the challenge? We expect this exchange to be supported by local churches.
In this land of beautiful castles and rivers lies a deep and unresolved despair created by centuries of religious strife and political uncertainty. The tragedies of history have not changed the beauty of the land and the character of its inhabitants. Today there is a need for a new mission for a new generation. A team of young Czechs lead the way to show the unique and beautiful places and horrific events that took place across the land. Join our international discovery team that will work together with the Czechs, first on-line, then meet.
Kempen is a small German town just across the Dutch border at Venlo. It is the place where Thomas á Kempis wrote his famous ‘Imitation of Christ’ around the year 1450. Does this monk from the MiddleAges have anything to say to us today? A weekend long (Saturday and Sunday) we take the path Thomas walked imagining what this coud lead to. Life in a modern monastery perhaps? Young people from the various churches in Kempen show us the way.
The indescribably suffering this city experienced at the very end of WWII has become a symbol for reconciliation and world peace in a world that continues to suffer from wars. Dresden is often called the City of Innocence. With your team you vsit this city in the third week of July or at another time during the year. You will be hosted by the youth of the young adulls of the Mennonite church and they can tell you everything about their city and Mennonite background and church.
Only a few yesrs ago lots of young people came to church in the mountaintwon of Thalheim, a small town in East Germany, close to the Cech border Today that number has decreased significantly. The Lutheran church is searching for new ways to approach and connect young people to the Christian faith, but they have to reckon with a time period of exhausting communist domination. In this beautiful Saksen region, the beauty of the land with the many mountain trails hide a deeper need for birdges to be built. Both in our region of The Netherlands and Saksen, new bridges to youth are needed. But who will build them? It starts with the YouthWork Fatory training of how to build a bridge.
The Dam Square of Antwerp is the focus of a variety of activities for different ages. Sports and games are the glue, but that is not all. These games are built so that all aspects related to the core values of the Grey Cat youth organisation are facilitated. Faith, bringing different cultures together and serving the less fortunate are what this 77 year old organisation has made a good name in the region.