Kindness.
Community.
Belonging.
Acceptance.
Teenagers and young adults attending Presbyterian Youth Triennium 2025 shared their dreams with 1,800 other high schoolers and their adult advisors during the July gathering, which re-convened after a six-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time in its 45-year history, the event took place in downtown Louisville at the Kentucky International Convention Center, just down the street from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) headquarters.
The voices of young people making connections, trading pins, tossing balls, dancing in the halls, and worshiping filled the massive 200,000 square foot convention center each day of the four-day conference. More than 220 volunteers helped stage the event with the theme, “As If We Were Dreaming.”
Forty-one American states plus the territory of Puerto Rico were represented. International participants came from Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, South Korea and Mexico. In addition to the evening worship, the youth played and talked and studied Scripture in both community and interest groups. They also met in smaller affinity clusters with like-minded teens.
The event, which has historically focused on middle school and high school students, included a dedicated young adult track for the first time ever. Eighty-five young people ages 19 to 25 chose between a learning or service path at the event.
The heart of Triennium pulsed in the voices of the youth, who were asked to share their dreams for the church. Jaelynn Cote, 14, of Otisville, New York, said her dream for the church is “everyone joining the community of God.” Her friend, Hannah Zahaykevich, 14, of Greenville, New York, wished for “more kindness to be shared around and more unity with other churches.”
Some youth longed for belonging and affirmation. Jaden Argall, 17, of Fargo, North Dakota, said his dream for the church is to “not judge anybody.” He added, “We may not agree with everyone’s gender or sexuality, but everyone should be able to be part of the church.” His peer, Sadie Painter, 14, of Hobbs, New Mexico, shared, “I would like to see everyone feel like they belong and are accepted.”
“I would like to see everyone feel like they belong and are accepted.” — Sadie Painter, 14
Others saw Triennium as a call to action beyond the walls of the church. Ainsley Gale, 16, of Memphis, Tennessee, said her dream is that the church “shy away from political stuff and focus on what God wants us to do.” She hopes for more outreach into the world. Favour Kumilonde, 15, of South Bend, Indiana, dreamed of a church that “supports people in need,” while his brother Warren, 16, added, “My dream is for the church to provide more infrastructure in communities.”
“My dream is for the church to provide more infrastructure in communities.” — Warren Kumilonde, 15
These dreams came to life during worship. Triennium kicked off on Monday evening with Tony Larson and Cece Armstrong, co-moderators of the 226th PC(USA) General Assembly, bringing official (and not-so-official) greetings from the denomination. Youth waved colorful streamers in the air and shouted for joy during the Scripture reading of Psalm 126.
Armstrong read from Acts: “Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams (2:17).” She told the crowd, “Triennium is a revival so we can be revived and have an awakening. Believe that you were born to dream.”
“Believe that you were born to dream.” — CeCe Armstrong
Tuesday night’s worship featured a welcome from PC(USA) Stated Clerk Jihyun Oh, the first Korean American to hold this position and the second woman to serve. She said the gathering would show the world that “Jesus still matters.” Samuel Son, slam poet and PC(USA) staff member, urged the crowd to imagine a “world without boundaries.”
That same evening, the Haus of Us dance troupe from Bronx, New York, brought the large crowd to their feet with rousing cheers for their expansive performance. Former PC(USA) GA Moderator and author Bruce Reyes-Chow challenged youth in his sermon to not feed “into the terror of the world” and instead to dream together to “create wholeness and healing in the world.” He urged youth to be a blessing to others by having “a deep and abiding dream for someone else besides ourselves.”
By Wednesday evening, the voices of the youth and the voices from the pulpit harmonized into a single message: God’s dreams are for all of us. P. J. Craig, a Cumberland Presbyterian Church minister in Germantown, Tennessee, reminded teens that God doesn’t erase the pain of life’s nightmares, but “God uses the pieces to bring us together.” She invited the crowd to communion, saying, “Black or White, gay or straight, doubting or believer…the Lord invites all y’all.”
“…the Lord invites all y’all.” — P. J. Craig
Attendee Leila Simpson, 16, of Sturgis, Kentucky, echoed Craig’s message when she defined church as “family.” She said that at her church, Mt. Sterling Cumberland Presbyterian Church, no one is a guest or a visitor. “Everyone is welcome into the family.” She dreamed of spreading the love of her little church into all the world.
On the closing morning, Jerry Cannon offered final words of encouragement: “You are the church, and you are somebody. The time is now, and the moment is now to wake up and live out your dream. God’s dreams for you are bigger than your own.”
