Cooling Down the Summer with Books: Shincheonji Bucheon Church Launches "Vacation Reading Campaign" for Youth

As record-breaking heatwaves sweep across the Korean peninsula, traditional summer vacations are finding new life in quiet, reflective spaces. Embracing the popular concept of "Book-cance" (combining 'Book' and 'Vacance'), the Bucheon Church of the Bartholomew Tribe in the Shincheonji Church of Jesus launched an engaging street literacy campaign in the Wonmi-gu district to help local youth discover the joy of reading.

Under the inspiring slogan, "A Book-cance into the World of Stories: Head to the Cool Library This Summer," church volunteers set up interactive booths designed to show students that reading does not require overwhelming effort—it simply begins with a single captivating sentence. 


Interactive Stations Sowing Seeds of Empathy and Values

To make literature approachable for teenagers and young adults taking a break from school, volunteers curated key sentences from popular children's and young adult books. These quotes were carefully selected to highlight essential human values such as empathy, respect, imagination, solidarity, and sharing.

The campaign featured three main community-engagement activities:

  • Literature-Based Initial Consonant Quizzes: Interactive game stations using famous literary quotes to spark curiosity and friendly competition among passersby.

  • Customized Quote Postcards: Beautifully designed postcards gifted to participants, encouraging them to handwrite their favorite sentence and keep it as a personal reminder.

  • Heatwave Relief: Free cold bottled water distributed to citizens braving the summer heat, combining cultural enrichment with practical community care.

Voices of Youth: Finding a Lifelong Friend in Books

The positive atmosphere at the booths resonated deeply with local youth, who expressed how the event inspired them to re-examine their relationship with reading.

Choi Sun-woo (19, resident of Wonmi-gu) shared her excitement: "There is a famous saying that 'a book becomes a lifelong friend.' I want to have more experiences that bring me closer to reading. I love books, and I plan to write my favorite sentence on the postcard I received so I can read it often."

Another participant, An Soo-hyun (20), noted: "I recently started getting interested in reading books. Encountering various sentences at the booth today made me feel even more curious and motivated to pick up a book."

Transforming One Sentence into a Lifetime Habit

Representative organizers from Shincheonji Bucheon Church emphasized that the initiative aims to offer a refreshing mental sanctuary for students during their summer break while building a sustainable culture of literacy within the neighborhood.

By meeting the community on the streets and translating literature into tangible, joyful experiences, Shincheonji is demonstrating that genuine youth outreach starts by listening to the needs of the next generation—one sentence, one postcard, and one warm gesture at a time.


Source: https://vo.la/RjWg6Gi

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