A vision to empower, to discover and to activate
“WE believe that we have a vision to empower young people to fulfill their God-given mandate.” So said Pastor Winston Assanah as he described the Asssemblies of God in Guyana recent International Youth Conference at the National Stadium on May Day last.
The Youth Conference was organised by the combined Assemblies of god Churches as they sought for yet another year to bring thousands of young people in one place to worship and praise their God
Pastor Assanah is the Youth Director of the Assemblies of God in Guyana, and also has responsibility for youth at the First Assembly of God Church on D’Urban Street, where he is the Youth Pastor.
He explained that the May Day experience was a blessing to the some 6,000 young people who turned up, including AOG members from the country’s ten administrative regions.

In an interview with this publication, Pastor Assanah explained that coupled with all the other objectives of the conference, one could safely say that it was mainly an avenue for the church to fulfill the critical mandate of assisting young people not only to discover their God-given talents, but also to activate them.
He explained that one of the ongoing works of the Assemblies of God in Guyana is encouraging young people to spiritually find themselves.
He said that the Word of God, the Bible, has been proven to be the ideal tool to bring understanding to those who encounter it, as well as to change the
Another method being used by the churches to address the issue of youth ‘finding themselves’ is the involvement of young people in activities that allow them to become positive role models, boosting their self image. Besides the role played in this process by living in tune with God’s Word, a wonderful tool to boosting young people finding themselves is taking part in the performing arts.
The morning session of the day’s activity took the form of an address by international motivational speaker and Senior Pastor of First Assembly, Reverend Raphael Massiah.
In his address, he challenged the young people to recognize that they are beacons and charged them to identify the things for which they have a burning passion.

The second half of the programme saw a demonstration of the gifts referred to by Reverend Massiah, in the form of music and dance and drama.
The person who was adjudged the best performing artiste has won for herself an opportunity to record her winning song at a local recording studio. In addition to that, there will be several other opportunities for those who performed exceptionally well.
He pointed out that some of the faces on stage will soon be a part of several recording programmes soon to be produced in the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown.
The Youth director stated that the young people will also be guided in the direction that will see them even further exploring their talents, with the hope of creating a groundswell of creativity that will see Guyana moving to that place where Guyanese production for the creative arts will no longer be frowned upon when offered to the masses both locally, regionally and internationally.
All in all, in addition to discovering and empowering young people, the local body of the Assemblies of God hopes to develop young people to the place where they can make themselves internationally ready for the assignments that the Christ is arranging for them.