The Living Truth - YESS Community Yogyakarta

YESS Community is a community of single adults, college students, and teen brothers and sisters that holds an event every month. YESS stands for Young Excellent Smart Spiritual.

At first, the name of this community was DISCIPLE COMMUNITY. The purpose of forming this community was so that we could connect with Christian young people, whether single adults or university students, without carrying the name of any church denomination. Around January 2017, our name changed to YESS Community, with the same purpose. We hold an event once every month. In essence, YESS Community is a community we formed so that disciples can share the gospel more freely.

This month YESS held a praise and worship event with a live acoustic performance concept, and we called it YESSCOUSTIC. The theme of this event was "THE LIVING TRUTH." The event was held at Hotel De Laxston on Thursday 14/9/2017. We chose this theme because last month we celebrated independence, so this month YESS Community learned to fill that freedom with truth and to take Jesus as the living truth. We hope this will awaken us to realize that we are not people who only believe in the truth, but that our lives become that truth itself.

This was the first event that YESS held with the concept of live music performance, so preparations for this event had been underway since 3 weeks earlier. The event began with the opening video and opening song. After the praise, our new brother Finsen welcomed the participants and led the prayer. After the welcome the music team performed several songs interspersed with readings from Psalms. The participants looked enthusiastic in worshiping God, and the music that was played made the atmosphere calmer. Before the lesson, the music team encouraged the participants to be eager in listening to the teaching by leading the song "Yesus Kau Dasar Yang Teguh".

The teaching was delivered by Pastor Hendra Purnama. The main point of the teaching with the theme THE LIVING TRUTH was that following God does not make our lives rigid; rather, following God makes us free. The freedom meant here is a condition of not being bound, yet being aware of boundaries. People often misunderstand the word 'free.' They assume that freedom means living without rules and boundaries. Freedom in the Lord is the ability to do all things because the Spirit of the Lord is in our lives.

After the teaching, the music team came forward again to play while the offering was passed around. Brother Rendi closed the event with announcements, and then the music team returned to the stage to lead the final song, "How Great Is Our God".

Praise God, this event ran smoothly from beginning to end and received many positive responses from the brothers, sisters, and invited guests. Total attendance at this YESSCOUSTIC event was around 80 people, dominated by singles and university students.

This event has given new enthusiasm to the GKDI Jogja congregation and encouraged the church to have a complete music team and a community for young people with extraordinary potential.