Hosheto Achumi, Transport Commissioner, Nagaland addressing the 67th WSBAK youth annual conference. (Photo Courtesy/Jonah Achumi)
Dimapur, January 14: The 67th Western Sumi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu (WSBAK) youth annual conference that commenced on Friday evening at Hovukhu village under Niuland sub-division on the theme “Khristo Lono Akikili” (Transformed in Christ) concluded on Sunday afternoon.
Speakers of the conference were Rev. S. Vitoshe Swu, Executive Secretary, WSBAK, Rev. Dr. Hevukhu Achumi, Senior Pastor, Thilixu Baptist Church, Rev. Ikuto Jimo, Secretary, Youth Department, WSBAK and Abokali Jimomi, Entrepreneur, Organic Nagaland.
On the inaugural service, Rev. Ikuto Jimo preached on the theme of the conference and challenged the youths to be rooted in Christ. He also spoke about the usage of social networking site especially Facebook by youngsters and its implications on relationships. He said many young people are turning to Facebook in search of easy relationships and said, “Anyone who wants shortcuts in getting things done will have their lives cut short. Life should be a process”. He said “From beginning till today the holiness of God never changed. Our lives should not be changed by unsuitable trends of post-modernity”.
Hosheto Achumi, Transport Commissioner, Nagaland in his exhortation spoke on the importance of living a transformed life in the likeness of Christ. Reminiscing on the educational aspects of Sumi Naga, Achumi said, “Sumi people have been contributing qualitatively towards betterment of Naga society since we know. However, a large-scale transformation has taken place amongst Sumi tribe within last fifty years. Today majority of us are educated and many people from our tribe are holding good position in different fields. Let us continue the trend in line with the advancement of the world”. Encouraging young people to be open-minded and adventurous Achumi said, “The Nagaland Government cannot provide jobs to all the people, so we need go out of Nagaland and attempt to make livelihood. This means sometimes we need to leave our comfort zone”.
Abokali Jimomi, Entrepreneur, Organic Nagaland speaking on “Youth: influences of peer pressure” stressed on the nature of human being, which is marked by peer group. Dwelling on the negative aspect of having a circle in a society, Jimomi explicated that the pressure from friends and peers force especially young people to buy unnecessary gadgets and follow unfavourable fashion trends though and individual or a family cannot afford.
On the final day, Rev. S. Vitoshe Swu, Executive secretary WSBAK delivered message on “Supremacy of Christ in our life” while Khehovi Yeptho, Chairman, WSBAK Council exhorted the congregation. Rev. Dr. Hevukhu Achumi, Senior Pastor, Thilixu Baptist Church spoke on “Transformed through touching Christ”.
Other highlights of the three days events were competitions on discipline, handicraft, annual report, stomp, and creative drama. Altogether around 5000 youth from 138 registered churches under WSBAK attended the annual youth event.
The host church acknowledged the assistance of GREF camp Ralan and 29 AR at Nihokhu town for providing water tanker and supplying water throughout the conference. The organizers said they initially prepared the conference hall and chairs to accommodate 4000 people but with more people turning up for the service than expected they added another 1000 chairs by taking down the side walls of the conference hall. Around 140 churches with more than 4000 young people attended the first service.
The next edition of WSBAK Youth Annual Conference will be hosted by Pihekhu Baptist Church.
