Looking back on the year 2024
We invite you to take a look back at our ministry over the past year.
The year 2024 saw the handover of the leadership of Josiah Venture Czech from Dusan Drabina to the new director, Jakub Vejmelka. Naturally, with the change of leadership comes some changes, but what definitely remains is our mission of training young leaders and supporting youth. We have had the opportunity to provide this in different intensities and forms – through personal accompaniment, outreach programs, and a wide range of educational offerings, emphasizing building a missional culture among youth. KAM’s work was carried out in synergy with the denominations, which we developed both bilaterally and through joint projects. We also appreciate the annual opportunity to participate in many denominational events and, traditionally, in the UNITED festival.
In 2024, we provided personal accompaniment to 226 youth and church leaders from 98 local churches. This one-on-one support focused on the leader’s specific needs and youth development, emphasizing the creation of a missional culture in youth communities. It is great to see communities of young people genuinely opening up.
One of our missionaries invested in young leaders by inviting three students to Ukraine for a summer trip. The students had the opportunity to help and gain experience and inspiration at a camp organized by a church from Lviv.
Our missionaries, whose primary focus is on the personal accompaniment of young leaders, also devoted part of their capacity to help in many events organized by denominations, such as Infusion, Impulse, Wells, Watch&Follow, Impulse, and OS Isachar conferences. We are delighted with the deepening inter-denominational cooperation, which often brings inspiration and good fruit.
The main training project for 2024 was preparing a more significant interdenominational event, Summit 2025, for youth workers and church leaders with a mental health theme. The event will occur in Brno in early 2025; we expect over 600 participants. The issue of youth mental health was also the focus of the Recharge training sessions for youth teams, which we held in 14 locations across the country and brought together over 196 youth leaders.
We have developed a new resource for youth and adolescent leadership teams called 360°View of Youth/Adolescent Ministry. This tool assesses the ministry’s current state and develops action steps toward building a missionally open community.
We published 19 new Unfinished Business podcast episodes, which were further developed as social media content (KAM Facebook and KAM Instagram). An e-learning course for youth leaders, developed in collaboration with the youth ministry, is available in the Youth Leadership Resource Directory.
Our Education missionaries have also worked with several evangelical denominations on their youth conventions (Multicamp, Kristfest, Encounter, Brodfest, BJB Youth Convention, and others).
Worship. ko – training worship leaders and their teams
In 2024, we provided these educational and training activities to develop worship in Czech churches:
- online study with one praise team,
- intensive 2×2 trainings with three bands,
- a drumming workshop with Terl Bryant in Prague,
- praise training with musician Petr Zika
- a series of workshops for two praise teams and their preparation for ministry at the Brodfest Youth Convention,
- the first Creative Weekend for about 20 people to encourage them to create.
We also served at several conferences that we co-hosted:
- Praise and Worship Conference in Brno,
- the Hledámboha.cz (SeekingGod.cz) conference in Prague,
- the 13+ Connect youth conference in Nejdek near Karlovy Vary,
- the 24/7 Prayer Conference with Pete Greig in Prague.
We also supported the denominational event Impulse and two local churches with our development activities.
Regular contact programs
In 2024, regular youth outreach programs were operating in 25 locations:
- Fusion Choirs were offered in 10 locations nationwide last year, with 224 participants. We have developed a set of e-learning materials to facilitate Fusion’s work.
- Seven youth groups organized Sports EDGE Ultimate Frisbee Clubs for 152 young athletes in partnership with Josiah Venture Czech. They could meet together during four tournaments we organized for them during the year in Brno, 2 times in Slatiňany and Pardubice.
- Six youth groups tried Experience Quest clubs, with 76 participants in total. In addition, we had the opportunity to present experiential contact activities within the framework of Kemperence in Montenegro for lecturers at Immanuel Center and Brodfest.
- We also piloted the first EDGE Gaming Club, with 16 participants who met in person to play different games (computers, consoles, mobiles, board games, etc.).
- One of the innovations of the past year was the Motion program, which consisted of students and leaders working together to conceive, prepare, and implement a service project. This club was piloted with one local church, where eight students managed to prepare a project combined with a performance at the Retirement Home and the Children’s Home. At the Lecturers’ Conference, there was space to present this program, which was primarily developed as a follow-up activity to the lecturers in the schools.
Fusion, EDGE, Quest, and Gaming representatives met at the Central Highway Camp during the summer. As we do every year, we hosted an Improve fall training event for all the regular contact program teams, with 62 young leaders joining. All four of these programs also had the opportunity to participate in the Brodfest program, where Gaming, for example, hosted a successful game night.
Other clubs have been formed following the newly offered contact program The Chosen Clubs created in the wake of The Chosen series. An amazing 130 churches from across the country have expressed interest in the program, and about 40 clubs have been launched. We had the opportunity to present the program at the UNITED festival and Kristfest in the form of workshops in the summer and at Brodfest in the fall. For leaders and those interested in organizing a club, we prepared a complete package of materials for its realization and, at the same time, offered help and advice in its organization.
One-off contact programs with follow-up activities
In the summer of 2024, local youth hosted 14 camps in partnership with Josiah Venture Czech, with 530 students, 130 volunteers from the U.S. and Ireland, and five interns. 100 additional participants from across the country gathered at the Central Highway Camp, designed for teams from local churches with some sort of regular outreach ministry (EDGE, Fusion, Quest) and representatives from congregations considering starting some kind of regular outreach ministry.
At the end of the year, we cooperated with local youth and volunteers to organize an EXIT Tour in one city. Together, we visited four schools, where we received excellent feedback and had the opportunity to reach around 900 students. Students can use the local EDGE sports club or the English club as a follow-up activity.
Farewell to the School for life
In 2024, we said goodbye to the Josiah Venture Czech department dedicated to lecturers’ and teachers’ work, the so-called School for Life. This department has been helping the Christian Teachers Network, which has been running for 14 years, support Christians in schools since 2016. The School for Life is now ceasing its activities, and only the Teachers’ Network will continue with a base at KAM. More about its activities in 2024 here.
The “Respect for Life” tutoring work with pupils in schools and training Christian teachers and tutors, especially regarding ethics and character, will continue in the Ethics and Character Education established by KAM, where Vít Pospíšil is the new director. The Via Comenia Foundation, with Denisa Mouchova as director, will continue to support the creation of new Spiritual Heritage materials and invest in training and mentoring Christians in education, Christian clubs, and schools.
We look back with gratitude at the milestones: 2010 Ethical Education o.p.s. and Christian Teachers Network (SKU) founded – 2011 God Yes Church No Conference – 2012 Ethical Education textbook – 2013 Bible for Schools – 2014 Portal Najdilektora.cz begins, and the Daniel movement is born – 2015 First Lector Academy, programs on Huss – 2017 Certification of lector preventive Respect for Life program – 2018 Centenary Roots program – 2019 Komensky EU grant – 2020 Komensky 2020, Lectors Schools for Life – support managed by Josiah Venture Czech in cooperation with F-foundation – 2021 Changing the World for the Better with Komensky competition – 2023 Motion clubs and support for club work – 2024 Oasis – prayer space in school.
We are grateful to all the staff involved in this work of God.
At the Malenovice Conference Center, we created facilities for various events, whether organized by Josiah Venture Czech or international churches, Christian organizations, or secular organizations. We are glad that the Malenovice campus could serve as a base and space for mental and spiritual recharge for all these types of programs. The total occupancy of the Conference Center in 2024 was 17,821 person-nights.
During the peak season, the conference center hosted 23 local churches, ten youth camps, 34 educational events, 13 schools, and 119 individual retreats/tourists. Twenty young people worked part-time assisting with operations, and the experience was an opportunity to grow in responsibility and diligence.
This year also opened the door for the Volunteer Program for young people ages 18-25, or even older youth workers who want a break from the overwhelming aspects of ministry to get their priorities in order and have time for development or a reboot. Several youth workers took advantage of this opportunity this summer.
We also hosted several work teams who blessed us with 730 volunteer hours.
Our goal is to continue to grow our services despite the economic fluctuations while keeping our prices at a sustainable level. After 23 years, the hotel’s furnishings have seen their best days. Donations in recent years have allowed us to enlarge and renovate the restaurant and patio, and by the end of the year, we will renew the carpets, beds, and mattresses. You will have a better rest with us.
I am thankful for all the churches and youth we partnered with in 2024. Thank you to all the supporters and partners for standing behind our missionaries, programs, and projects. I greatly appreciate your part in forming young leaders and healthy youth in the churches of the Czech Republic.
