this last weekend, Adam and i were in paris for The Youth Cartel‘s event called Open Paris. these “Open” events have been adam’s birth-baby, shaped by this short manifesto of vision. but each Open event is completely unique, since there’s a high level of ownership given away to the local organizing team.
i’ll admit something here: while i thought the vision of doing one of these in paris was fun, i was a tad skeptical that it would actually work.
but i was wrong. 100%.
50 youth workers from 7 or 8 countries came. by most event planning metrics, that’s not a win. for this event, it was totally a win. the event had a relational dynamic as a result. we learned from each other; but we also hung out together. like: i have new youth worker friends now who live in germany and holland and england and france.
so, Open Paris in 5 words: LOCATION WAS HARD TO BEAT
Open Paris in 4 words: OUR HOST WAS AMAZING
Open Paris in 3 words: FELLOWSHIP TRUMPS PROGRAM
Open Paris in 2 words: CURIOSITY WINS
Open Paris in 1 word: LIMINAL*
* a thin place, often used to describe a spiritual thin place. in this case, a place where the kingdom of god and the world of humans overlapped.