Last June 27 officially marked two years since the very first meeting of the DCBC Youth Fellowship. Back then, seven young people got together to show their desire to serve the Lord and support the idea of doing so by establishing a youth group in Diliman Campus Bible Church.

Humble Youth
It was a very good idea since DCBC didn’t actually have a Youth Fellowship or a youth service catering to the needs of high school students (the teenage members of the English and Tagalog congregations). So when we met and prayed on that 27th of June 2004, the Lord definitely listened and started to move in our hearts. That stirring resulted in a year of building, planning, worshipping, singing, listening, praying, and serving through the DCBC Youth Fellowship—something that used to be just a dream.

Our hearts were filled with joy every time we met on a Sunday afternoon and since the first meeting, more and more people joined us as we fellowshipped with each other and, most importantly, with the Lord. It has always been our prayer at the executive committee that the Youth Fellowship would grow not only in quantity but also in quality. In other words, we were praying for a spiritually mature Youth Fellowship.

At each meeting, our advisor Kuya Mark Gicain would lead us in a simple warm-up activity, then prayer. After several months, we decided that it was time we established a body of leaders composed of able students. We elected the officers of the youth group, otherwise known as the executive committee of the DCBCYF.

The votes were cast and counted and there emerged six officers and four committee heads. I was elected President, and Lissa Caceres Vice President. Monique Rocha took on the role of Secretary, while Gabriel Villa, Josh Simon, and Hannah Portugal were elected Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, and PRO, respectively.

We formed four committees: the Sports and Fun Committee headed by Adi Bersales, Bible Study Committee with Sam Simon at the helm, Evangelism and Outreach Committee with Melvin Laurio as head, and the Special Events Committee led by Eloisa Colvera. These officers weren’t appointed but elected because Kuya Mark thought it important that the people who will lead the fellowship were picked by the members themselves.

We had an overnight planning at the IVCF Building. That night, we determined our activities for the next months. We assigned which committees would be in charge of the activities for each Sunday of the month. We also drew up a special event for each month. Some of the special events such as the Youth Retreat in October, Christmas party in December, Love Talk for February, and a Sending-Off event in March were successful, while others weren’t planned well enough and were cancelled altogether.

Growing Pains and Stunted Growth
Our excitement was cut short however when, soon after our first anniversary, we started to lose track of things. Several months later, the fellowship stopped holding meetings every Sunday. Many people wondered why this happened to the DCBCYF. Many people were even confused as to how something like that could have happened because we seemed to be going very smoothly. Sadly though, no one, not even I could give a clear-cut answer.

But when we did think about it, we thought to ourselves that maybe somehow the absence of Kuya Mark was the difference maker. We wondered if that could be the reason why we were having so much difficulty. (Lambs without a shepherd?) At that time, Kuya Mark had to attend to more pressing matters outside DCBC, which was why we had to operate without him.

Renewed Youth
It was only last summer when I, along with Kuya Mark, felt the urgency of reviving the fellowship. And so we started to meet once again. We wanted to start things the right way so we devoted one whole month to praying for the Lord’s direction for us. Throughout that month it became very clear to us that the Lord was leading us to bring the Youth Fellowship back to life.

Now that the Fellowship is starting again, we at the ExeCom are certain that problems will face us sooner or later. As the leaders, we might have difficulty particularly in re-adjusting to our roles, while the fellowship as a whole might have difficulty in getting more people to join.

Problems are indeed inevitable, but we want to take things in stride, step by step, and in prayer so that we can see where God is really leading us. We had a whole day’s planning where we drew up our year’s activities. This time, we wanted to be more hands-on by giving clear distinctions in the role of each leader. By doing so, we hope to be more efficient leading the Youth Fellowship.

Our year’s schedule is somewhat different from the one before. We still have four committees: The Bible Study Committee now headed by Lito Cesario, the Evangelism and Outreach Committee with Adi Bersales as head, the Special Events committee co-headed by Hannah Portugal and new Execom member Azriel Chelluh Valdez, and the Prayer Committee led by Joy Pecaña.

This time, we wanted to be soaked in God’s word more, so we thought that it is best to hold bible studies twice a month. So during the first and third Sundays of the month, the BS Committee will be in charge. Second and fourth Sundays will belong to the Evangelism and Outreach committee and the Special Events Committee respectively. The Prayer Committee will be in charge of once-a-month prayer meetings. Special events are still given much importance like before. We still drew up one special event at the end of each month, examples of which are the Sports Fest, Praise Fest, even an Amazing Race!

During the planning, we also made some changes in the ExeCom: the new PRO is Sam Simon, new Treasurer Josh Simon, new Secretary May Pecaña, new Vice President Monique Rocha, and old President (in a manner of speaking) Monci Rocha.

When we were just starting, one member wrote this as his vision for the DCBCYF: “I want us to be a group that is ever thankful of God’s blessings, sincere and completely self-giving in worship, loving and encouraging, and fearless in sharing and reaching out. I pray that we all grow in faith as we make our humble contribution to the unstoppable growth of God’s kingdom.”

Growing Up
Looking back at past events has made me personally thankful to the Lord for showering the DCBC Youth Fellowship with His blessings and faithfulness, even though we are at times unfaithful. Going through what happened in the past has certainly made us grow as we learn from our mistakes and capitalize on the gifts that the Lord has bestowed upon us. This is our humble contribution to that unstoppable growth of the Lord’s kingdom: the DCBC Youth Fellowship.

It’s a whole new chapter for us at the DCBCYF and you can just expect that you’d be disturbed once again for requests coming in various forms, for speaking engagements, fundraisers, chauffer service—and food! (Have I mentioned food yet?)

Right now, we are busy raising funds to subsidize the participation in the DCBC Family Camp this November of deserving DCBCYF members. We’ve already held two fundraisers—a bake sale (chocolate mallows) the Sunday of September 17, and an ulam sale (pansit palabok) the Sunday of September 24. We have named this ongoing fundraising effort “BOSO”—“Buy One, Send One!”

We excitedly look forward to making ourselves useful citizens of God’s kingdom and of DCBC. Not content with being on the receiving end of your kindness as our Ates and Kuyas, Titas and Titos (and, of course, Moms and Dads), we want to help out in the work of the church! We plan to spend time with the Sunday school kids (the next DCBCYF generation), to go out and give love to homeless kids, and so on.

We hope that you will be with us constantly in prayer as we rebuild the walls of the fellowship and re-establish the youth community in DCBC. You heard it right, folks… We’re back!