{"id":9247,"date":"2026-09-25T13:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/?page_id=9247"},"modified":"2026-09-25T13:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:12:43","slug":"we-are-all-teens","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/we-are-all-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"We are all teens"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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When <\/span>Logos Hope<\/em> announced a stop in his home country of Spain in early 2026, <\/span>Abel<\/strong> was beyond excited. \u201cI wanted to be on [an OM ship] since I was a kid, so I finally fulfilled my dream by joining the programme in Malaga,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>

Volunteering in the ship\u2019s Book Fair combined two of Abel\u2019s passions \u2014 books and meeting new people. He particularly enjoyed recommending books to people as he got to know them. For himself, Abel purchased more than 20 books, \u201cso I had to have someone take the books [home] for me because they didn\u2019t fit in my suitcase,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>

While onboard Logos Hope, <\/em>Abel met members of the Spanish OM team and asked if there were any summer volunteer opportunities available. Hearing about his years of experience as an English teacher for young people, they answered: join us at TeenStreet!<\/p>

Small group leader<\/h3>

TeenStreet helps teenagers discover their potential and empowers them to make Jesus known to those who have not heard the gospel. With annual events and year-round activities across several continents, TeenStreet partners with churches and communities to motivate, equip, and walk alongside teens, helping them build a real friendship with Jesus and reflect Him daily in their world.<\/p>

Every year, TeenStreet Europe runs a week-long event for teens from across the continent. In 2026, the theme was PATHS, Wisdom\u2019s Call and the event was held in Offenburg, Germany, from 1-8 August. Around 1,800 teens were encouraged to have fun, go deep and be bold as they explored what it means to walk in wisdom and to make choices that shape who they become and how they live in the world.<\/p>

Around 1,300 volunteers ensured the week ran smoothly, with people involved in areas such as catering, the food court, communications, cleaning, security, sports, music, the Prayer Zone, the Art Zone or \u2014 in Abel\u2019s case \u2014 leading a small group.<\/p>

Small groups are at the heart of TeenStreet year-round and a vital part of the TeenStreet Europe event, where each teen is placed in a small group with others of the same gender from their country. The small groups meet daily to delve deeper into the main session topics and check in with each other.<\/p>

In preparation for the event, Abel participated in a small-group leaders training in Spain with around 20 others. \u201cIt was very good,\u201d Abel recalled. \u201cLots of good input and advice on how to deal with teenagers; how to ask them the right questions and get them talking.\u201d<\/p>

Though he had never met the five teens in his group before the event, they became fast friends as they journeyed together during the week. The biggest takeaways for Abel was the need to really listen to teens and that adults and teens are not so different. \u201cTo be heard \u2014 this is something that all teenagers want,\u201d explained Abel. \u201cI want to matter. I want someone to care for me. I want someone to listen to me, even though my problem is not an adult problem, but it is still my problem; it is my world. <\/em>And especially in relationships with God and with the rest of people.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m 54, so you know, a grown-up, an adult, but you never stop learning,\u201d Abel continued. \u201cIn some ways, we are sort of teenagers for all our lives, even though our problems are not teen problems. But our quest to be heard, to be understood, to be part of a group and to be useful to the Lord is the same quest that teenagers have. We are all teens.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Logos Hope announced a stop in his home country of Spain in early 2026, Abel was beyond excited. \u201cI wanted to be on [an OM ship] since I was a kid, so I finally fulfilled my dream by joining the programme in Malaga,\u201d he said. Volunteering in the ship\u2019s Book Fair combined two of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":9256,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9247","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9247"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9259,"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9247\/revisions\/9259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teenstreet.life\/eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}