A pioneering project took place in December last year when a local Christian youth group opened up the way and hosted a national youth conference in Mauritius.

“The conference was a great success, taking into consideration that the entire venture was very pioneering in nature. There is room for improvement with regard to future projects, but in general we are overwhelmed by the results of this very first Mauritian Youth Conference,” said Pastor Marcel van Niekerk of the Agapé Christian Centre in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), who headed up the conference. The other conference speakers were Pastor Grant Clifton and Pastors Sam and Dalene van Niekerk of Agapé, and they were accompanied by a group of 28 local young people.

“Both the Mauritian and South African young people benefitted greatly from this conference. The team from Agapé gained a lot of perspective about the global church. Their eyes were also opened to the many privileges we should be grateful for as South Africans. Valuable connections have been established between the young people from the two different nations and we trust that these relationships will be sustained over time,” Marcel said.

The conference stretched over two-and-a-half days and around 150 Mauritian young people from 10 congregations attended. The conference was hosted in the city of Curepipe under the auspices of the ISAAC (International Strategic Alliance of Apostolic Churches) network.

The general feedback that was received from the Mauritian youth was that it was their first time to be exposed to young people who serve the Lord with so much commitment.

After the conference, the Agapé group also experienced three days of sightseeing. They described it as a wonderful opportunity to see, taste, hear and feel the Mauritian culture.

“After being away from 6 to 14 December, each one of us returned home with a sense of accomplishment, spiritual enrichment and gratefulness. We are looking forward to future ventures that will help us to break out of our personal comfort zones and result in building and establishing God's kingdom,” Marcel said.

The Mauritian outreach demanded a lot of work, finances and effort. The Agapé group would like to thank every individual who had contributed to making the outreach possible.