Young Adults Need Community too

I have been blessed to be apart of many communities since I was young

well been tons of communities, South Asian Group, A dance group, reading clubs and etc. Two main groups that i have been apart of most of my life have been Syro Malabar Community (DYA) and Jesus Youth (JY)

Growing up i was somewhat active in Syro church/DYA and JY in different areas. I helped out with different projects, events, programs to help spread the love of Christ

All of those projects were mostly centered around people my age at the time (teens and college kiddos) which was fine and i was apart of it. So when i graduated college, i felt this desire to help out with teens prayer, and help lead the youngness towards Christ in whatever way that I could. I help start doing that when I was 22 , (I’m 28 now for better reference YIKES)

When i started at that age, i was just trying to help the teens, and college kids in whatever way that I could. We had weekly prayer groups, calls, plans, Saturday hangouts, trying to help them receive a similar love and care I had when I was there age, but give them even more

At some point i seem like I got lost in this ministry trying to help people grow in faith, that i intentionally neglected my own faith journey, and my own passion, life of Christ. I felt like someone along my faith journey was missing and that i needed a change

Well just so you know it, there was a Jesus Youth Program called Amoris Chrisi (the love of Christ) ((ironic right)) which was a one year commitment to build my own prayer/faith life in order to serve Jesus and the church in what I am called to do. That one year, i spend with 6 other young adults - Geoff, Alex, Ashin, Dhivya, Navya (those are people officially in the program but all the adults and elders helped with the process)

Not that i haven’t grown with other young adults , talked to my peers about faith and etc but there was something beautiful of sharing a journey with other people around my age. Us sharing our different conflicts when it comes to prayer, or even our personal life. Being honestly, having arguments, laughing, different events, and overall being in each others presence.

that has totally changed me to who i am today - I thank God for allowing me to join something like this

This program was in Florida , after it was over I moved back to Philly

Jesus Youth/Amoris Christi young adults that I walked with, laughed with, fought with, spend time with, were no longer with me in my day to day life. There was some time of transition of trying to figure out how to go about life without those people that help become who I am today. Then i started to seek more of other young adults that were also on this passion to serve the church, and seek the love of Christ

Must I say, i was given more than what I can bargain for , when i started to look, there was nothing but young adults seeking the will of God and trying to become saints in there day to day life, i was overwhelmed and couldn’t believe the passion and love theses people had for Christ

Groups like - CCYA (Catholic Community Young Adults) , PHILLYFRASSTI, CLM(Christian Life Movement), OYM

Moments' like - Regum Christi, Encounter Minisities, Vagabond, Culture Project, Mission Youth,

With so many groups, It was hard to attend them all, or even go to a couple with other ministry and life commitments

I was able to meet some amazing people at the Drexel/Penn Newman Center, with the CLM , they have a weekly young adult gathering group called ALIVE,. With 5:30pm mass, adoration , then time of prayer/fellowship

Just hearing and spending time with theses people gave me that same kinda hope, same kinda faith formation that comes from being with ones peers, it was truly life giving

As i attended these meetings for the year, I felt this calling in my heart to reach out to more of my friends, who want to also receive the love of Christ, but might not be able to come to the city (yes these meetings are in the city), not willing to meet more people, or even want to join anything new

Seeing all theses different groups, different charisms, and different ways, the Lord helped me see that there is a room for another young adult group, that can also connect with theses Catholic Young Adult groups in the city, and help all our faith lives grow stronger

With that, I had a convosation with one of my chechi(elder sister or mentor) her desire to start a young adult group to reach people, it all was apart of God’s plan for us to have that convosation because then we brought back to life, JYYA(Jesus Youth Young Adults) ((Ignite Mission)) Group

The group hope and goal is to spread the love of Christ and mission, with the overall Catholic Church and different communities above that i have listed. As well as the churches in the Philadelphia area

So yea, just some thoughts on why Young Adults still need community, sometimes i feel like when we become young adults ( or even adults) we can do things on our own, and that we don’t need anyones help. That has young adults we have to take some form of leadership.

This past year showed me the important of community and how wrong that line of thinking is. What a beauty it can be to grow with each other, learn, fight and to love.

So even if your can’t come to this group, i encourage you to be apart of some community (a positive uplifting one) that you may be called to who God has called you to be

Amroris Christi Group - Time After Mass

EXTRA EXTRA MEDIA GOODNESS

For fun - Here are some tv shows that have a great sense of YOUNG ADULT COMMUNITY

Young Adults Need Community too

Makes You Wonder