Emmaus Youth Village

General information

The Youth Ministry Team (YMT) was set up at the request of Bishop Ambrose Griffiths back in 1993. The main purpose is to communicate the Gospel using various creative means to the young.

We gather young people from all over the world to live a community lifestyle for a 10-month volunteer programme, which includes training in various ways of communicating the Gospel. Each team member receives full board, accommodation and monthly allowance along with training in creative evangelisation such as drama, mime and effective communication.

We are a new, radical and prophetic organisation working with young people. With the use of drama, mime, music and up-to-date multimedia equipment we present the Gospel in a lively and effective way. We are also involved in retreat and area development work and are committed to implementing a fully integrated strategy that brings young people through a process of evangelisation to a place of “belonging” and “Church”.

We begin this process through initial proclamation, whereby, the team carry out various activities such as school missions, outreaches, and monthly events. It is in these activities that we present the Gospel in an interesting and radical way, through drama, dance, music, and multimedia – a language that is most effective and appealing in today’s youth culture.

Recognizing evangelisation as a process, we follow-up the initial proclamation with Retreats, Summer Schools, Youth Camps, and other regular events. These then will enable the young people to share common faith experiences, grow in faith together, and develop relationships with God and each other. The strength of our strategy not only lies with our capacity to reach out to young people but also to those involved in youth ministry.

It is in the third stage of our strategy that we gather them together to belonging and Church. This is achieved through development and support of local groups (parish, pastoral area, and deanery), regular contact, and responding through ministry and service.