Austria

As a church we have been supporting Gianni and Angela Gaeta who pioneer a church planting movement called Vision For Austria [website is in German]. Gianni and Angela moved to Austria in 1986 and have so far planted 9 churches throughout the nation.  Their vision is to plant churches in every region of Austria.

In August 2010 a team of young people visited not only City Church Vienna but were also involved in their annual youth camp ‘Extreme’.

It was held over 5 days with over 250 young people attending, it included; fun, games, great worship and inspirational messages.

Part of our role was to organise and lead games each day for 1 hour, from decorating ridiculous team mascots to messy water relays. We also enjoyed getting to know and making friendships with both the young people and leaders, and got a chance to really mix in with them. That involved playing some pretty violent card games, having great conversations and attempting to participate in their volleyball tournament which they hold every year. Austrians take volleyball really seriously!

Whilst over there we were really challenged to step out of our comfort zones and consider it a privilege to go and wholeheartedly serve both the church and at Extreme.

It was a great opportunity to take what we had learnt from serving on Fire Academy throughout the 3 years, and go and make a difference in a completely different country. Also, through us taking part in the week we were able to show them that we were simply 5 young people who love God and share their passion to see breakthrough amongst the young people in Austria.

We hope to send another team in August 2011.

Kirsty Brooks, Team member

Austria 2010 team: Amy Jorden (Team Leader), Kirsty Brooks, Joe Kirk, Lucy Mansfield, Emma Curzon and Jon Jarvis.