More than a Festival

Here are a few examples of the programs for this year’s Starpoint: Lóci játszik, Platon Karatev, The Biebers, Magidom, Pál Feri, Annamária Kádár, Marvel quiz night, video and design workshops, a living library and castle siege, as well as arts and crafts.

“Starpoint is for strengthening the church’s congregational youth work,” said Rev. Péter Bedekovics, head of the Youth Office of the RCH, who also serves as a university chaplain in Budapest. He said that the purpose of the festival is to give young people the opportunity to meet each other and God and to show them that it is possible and worthwhile to follow Christ in the 21^st century. “I believe that we can and must say what we think – this is the strong message that gathers the young people to Starpoint,” said the youth officer.

“Starpoint is more than a festival, it is a community. We meet every two years and, together, we take part in various programs,” added Péter Bedekovics, “During these few days we experience at Starpoint that the Christian faith is not outdated, but God’s Kingdom is present and all around us. This includes prayers, devotions and time with God, and several other programs targeting a variety of scientific, cultural or artistic interests as well.” Through these experiences and observations, young people return to their homes and back to their local communities with a strengthened spirit, “With this, we encourage young people to join the church by showing them the diversity of our church. Our purpose is a Christ-centered Starpoint.”

Organizers of the festival want to emphasize the balance of spiritual and pop-culture programs. In the mornings, participants can choose from a variety of devotions, and we also encourage the young people to have time for individual reflection as well. There will be a lot of emphasis on small group discussions and worship music, and the renewed structure of the keynote will also help participants to receive the message easier. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, instead of a one-hour lecture, there will be a 20-minute keynote, testimony and an artistic performance. The artistic presentation will also help participants to understand the topic of the day. In addition, of course, there will be lots of entertainment options -- the full program is available on the Starpoint website.

“We are happy that at Starpoint, we are able to gain insight into a community that is important to us, especially because our drummer and keyboardist are Reformed as well,” said Lóci Csorba, lead singer of the Lóci Játszik band. He also shared that the band created a special tracklist for the Festival.

The theme: What Surrounds You

At this year’s Starpoint festival, the organizers want participants to learn how God’s Kingdom surrounds all of us, even if we do not feel or know it yet. In relation to the theme of the festival, Márton Járay, theologian, professor, counsellor, and this year’s Starpoint main speaker said, “Sometimes it seems to me that university students feel that they need to conform to this world, to be successful. I, however, wish that our see young people would rather think about how to shape our world so that it may look more like the Kingdom of God. Let them ask questions, let us think together, and form our surroundings.”

Márton Járay admits that it is important to ask ourselves every day, how should we live as Christians? “The main though of the Starpoint’s keynotes, which is the Kingdom of God, is a near and a very complicated concept at the same time. We can research together, how we are connected to this personally, how it is present in us and in our communities, and also how we can sense it in the world that is surrounding us.” The main speaker emphasized that he will invite the participants to a creative common thinking: “We will sow seeds during the morning devotions, and we hope that the seeds will grow in the small group discussions.”

Edina Prikryl, the coordinator of Starpoint, added, “I hope that all the young people will go home with the recognition that God’s love surrounds each person and that he/she is a part of a upholding community.”

At the press conference, the Starpoint band played the songs they wrote for the Festival.

At the five-day long festival, in order to protect our created world, we will have selective waste collection, use reusable cups, and reduce the quantity of used papers by creating a shorter program guide and printed song book ordered to the exact amount needed.

reformatus.hu

Translated by Jázmin Milcsevics

Photo from László Szarvas