About the European Young People’s Conference
What, where, and when is the EYPC, and who can register?
Please read the information on this page to find out more about the European Young People’s Conference (EYPC) and who can register.
If members of your family also intend to join the European Family Conference (EFC), then please see About the EFC.
For more information about what to expect at both the EYPC and EFC, please see What To Expect at the Conference.
What is the EYPC?
The European Young People’s Conference (EYPC) is a 5-day, full-time residential conference specifically intended for young people (ages 13 to 19) from Europe. The burden of the EYPC is to constitute the young people in Europe with the truth in the Bible so that they are encouraged to love the Lord and the Word of God, to pursue Him with one another, and to be built up together in His Body that they may become pillars for the Lord’s move in Europe and for His coming back.
Where is the EYPC held?
The EYPC takes place in Małe Ciche, a small mountain village near the Tatra Mountains in the southern part of Poland. The EYPC takes place in the same village and at the same time as the EFC (European Family Conference). Specific parts of the village are designated for EYPC activities, and the two conference schedules are different.
When does the EYPC take place?
Both the EYPC and EFC take place in the summer, typically during the last week of July leading into August. Please see the home page for the specific dates for this year. The conference begins on Lord’s Day evening with dinner at 5:45pm and the first meeting at 6:45pm and then concludes on Saturday after lunch at 1pm.
Who Can Register: Young People
There will be two separate conferences based on age. The Junior Conference will be for young people aged 13 to 15, and the Senior Conference will be for young people aged 16 to 19.
All young people will be clustered with others in their age group as well as a serving one and will stay together in the same room for the duration of the conference.
Registrants from North America
Each year, we invite a limited number of young people from North America to join us to be blended together with the young people in Europe. All registrants from North America for both the EYPC and EFC are required to pre-register and be pre-approved by the SCYP Office.
Once registration opens on this website, you will also need to complete the registration form and pay before the deadline (or be subject to late fees). More information to help registrants from North America complete the Conference registration form can be found here.
Registrants from outside of Europe or North America
If you are from a country outside of Europe or North America and would like to participate in the EYPC this year, please get in touch with the Country Coordinator for the ‘Other’ region in order to fellowship concerning your request.
Please note that there is a limit to the number of saints we can receive from other parts of the world, and a separate conference fee applies. Please initiate fellowship with your local and/or regional leading ones early if you have an interest in joining the EYPC this year and include them in your communications with us. The approval of your registration is subject to receiving a letter of recommendation from your elders or responsible ones.
Please refrain from buying a plane ticket before being approved.
Who Can Register: Helpers
Who Can Register: Serving Ones (Shepherds)
There is a need for shepherds to care for the young people. Any brother or sister aged 23 and above who has a burden to serve in this way can register to attend. Serving ones will be assigned to a group of young people to care for and shepherd them in all the activities of the young people’s conference and will stay in the same room as them for the duration of the conference.
During the week, there is a one-hour serving ones’ coordination at 6am every morning before the young people wake up.
Some experience of serving with young people is preferred but not necessary. It would be helpful to contact your Country Coordinator to have some fellowship about the time.
Important: There needs to be one shepherding serving one for every three young people.
In addition to directly shepherding the young people, some serving ones may be asked to be House Coordinators and Team Leaders.
House Coordinator (HC) Responsibilities
During the conference, there is a need for one person in each house to help coordinate and facilitate practical matters that may arise throughout the week. This service is usually not too heavy, but it is invaluable for the shepherding care of the saints and maintaining good communication between each house and the Conference Office.
The main responsibilities of a HC are as follows:
- Regularly check the WhatsApp HC Announcement group for messages that may require your attention.Please let the saints in the Conference Office know if you are asked to be a HC and do not have WhatsApp or mobile data during your stay as this may limit our ability to communicate with you.
- When needed, pass on announcements to those staying in your house or to specific individuals.Meal-times are often the best time to make announcements or find the saints in your house.
- Act as a liaison between those in your house and the EYPC/EFC Office.If there are concerns from either the host or the saints regarding the accommodations, please fellowship with the saints serving in the Conference Office.
- If instructed, take care of practical needs such as disinfecting surfaces, passing out meal tickets, coordinating meal times/ushers (to avoid congestion in larger houses), posting departure lists, etc.
If you are asked to serve in this way and feel that you are not able to, please fellowship with the Conference Office so that another saint in your house can be assigned.
Team Leader Responsibilities
During the conference, a Team Leader is responsible for a team of 15-20 young people to help with team communication and participation during activities. There will also be other serving ones and helpers on the team.
The main responsibilities of a Team Leader are as follows:
- Regularly check the WhatsApp Team Leader Announcement group for messages that may require your attention.Please let the saints in the Conference Office know if you are asked to be a Team Leader and do not have WhatsApp or mobile data while you are in Poland as this may limit our ability to communicate with you.
- Keep your team together and follow the team’s activity schedule, helping everyone to participate.Your goal as a team leader is not to push your team to ‘win’ in the competitive activities but to provide a shepherding environment for all team members to participate. This may include going at the pace of the slowest team member in some activities such as orienteering and the hike.
- Facilitating translation and communication, making sure no one in the team is left out.The teams are composed of a few clusters of young people and serving ones, who may be of different ages, come from different countries, and who speak different languages. Try to quickly assess the language abilities of those in your team and coordinate with those able to translate so that language is not a hindrance but rather a blending opportunity!
- First aid on the hike.You will be required to pick up a first-aid kit before the hike and return it afterward.
If you are asked to serve in this way and feel that you are not able to, please fellowship with the Conference Office as soon as possible so that another saint can be assigned.
Who Can Register: Practical Serving Ones
There is also a great need for brothers and sisters aged 20 or older to register as practical serving ones. Practical serving ones will work in teams to help to carry out the practical services necessary to run the conference. No prior experience of serving with young people is required; although, the ability to coordinate with others is necessary.
It would be wonderful for a good number of parents (especially dads) and others come to serve in this capacity. You are welcome to attend the conference meetings as your service schedule allows.
Below are descriptions of the practical service areas that take care of both the EYPC and the EFC.
Audio
This is a full-time service for the duration of the conference. Those who serve on the Audio Team will be assigned to serve on one of three dedicated teams for the Junior Conference, Senior Conference, or Family Conference. The responsibility of the Audio Team is to manage and record the audio during the conference meetings. Experience is recommended but not totally necessary.
Check-in/Arrivals (Registration and Ushering) - arrival day(s) only
If you are planning to arrive early to the conference, please feel free to sign up for this additional service. It involves welcoming the saints when they arrive, giving them their conference materials (handbooks/T-shirts), and directing them to their accommodations. This service will take up the majority of the arrival day(s).
You will need to be available to participate in some coordination and training over Zoom in the week or two before the conference.
Facilities - brothers only
We ask brothers only to sign up for this service. This service has both day-shifts and night-shifts. When you register, you can indicate if you are only able to do one or the other.
The Facilities day-shift involves:
- Working in teams of three to keep watch over the conference tent and equipment to which you are assigned during the day
- Helping with chair arrangement and securing additional seating if needed
- Help maintain a comfortable environment by monitoring and adjusting air conditioning units as needed
- Support cleanliness by managing waste disposal and keeping trash bins in order
The Facilities night-shift involves:
- Serving alongside another brother for one or two nights in one of the conference tents to watch over the equipment (a mattress, sleeping bag, and flashlight/torch will be provided)
- Securing the tents and activating the alarm system for the night
First Aid
If you are a certified physician or nurse, you may want to join the First-Aid Team. The First-Aid Team will provide care for those who become unwell and those who sustain any injury (not for routine medical check-up) during the camp. The First-Aid Station will be open and staffed at scheduled times in coordination with the other saints you are serving with.
Hike
The Hike Team will coordinate together to select and confirm the hike route for the young people’s conference as well as suggest and provide information about a family-friendly hike/walk suitable for those with buggies/prams/strollers as well as older children. The Hike Team will also help to coordinate for the bus loading and transportation to and from the hike location, provide ushering and check-in at the entrance, and oversee the checkpoints en route.
Street Stewards - brothers only
This service would be for brothers to be stationed at particular points in the village with safety gear to help guide the saints to their homes at night after the meetings finish, especially the ones staying in Lichajówki. It would be wonderful if some of the dads in the EFC are able to join this service.
Transport
The Transport Team is responsible for assigning the pickup and drop-off transport between Krakow Airport and Małe Ciche based on the travel information supplied by the registrants. This includes determining when and how many coaches are needed. On arrival days, this team is responsible for receiving the saints at the airport and guiding them onto their pickup transport. During the week, the team will make sure the proper arrangements are made for everyone who booked departure transport and will help to ensure the saints board their correct departure transport (with their passports!) after the conference.
Below are descriptions of the EYPC-specific practical service areas.
Activities
Activities are an important part of the EYPC. Activities are carried out on four different days after lunch and before the evening meeting. The activities typically include forest games, a team project, orienteering/treasure hunt, and a hike. You will be coordinating with a large group of saints, and you will be responsible for setting up and running a specific activity during the week.
Baptisms
There is the need for some brothers to take care of both the spiritual and practical aspects of the baptisms in the young people’s conference. This will include having a fellowship meeting with those who have a desire to know more about baptism and setting up the baptismal and a suitable area around it so that other conference attendees can participate by seeing and praying during the baptisms.
Room Inspections
You will be coordinating with a group of saints to check the cleanliness of the young people’s rooms according to the provided criteria. This will be done three times during the week during the morning meeting.
Tent Ushering
This team will be responsible for checking badges to ensure only authorised individuals are allowed entry into the meeting areas.
Who Can Register: Day Visitors from Poland
Saints from Poland have the option of attending the EYPC as Day Visitors. The saints in this category must also register. The registration deadline is the same for Day Visitors as for all other registrants.
The registration fee for Visitors increases slightly after 1 June 2025 to encourage early registration. We ask those registering in this category to complete their registration as early as possible to support the arrangements for the conference, including printing materials, allocating tent space, and managing other administrative needs.
Please be reminded that for those registering as Visitors:
- Accommodation and meals are NOT arranged by the Conference. If you register in this category, please do NOT expect the Conference to help with your accommodation in any way, including communicating with your host.
- It is NOT possible for someone of YP age (13 to 18) to attend the conference in this way; all young people in the village must be fully registered in the EYPC.
- You will need to purchase your handbooks and T-shirts on page 4 of the registration form as they are NOT included in the Visitor fee.
- You may request transport as part of your registration; however, please remember you are subject to the same transport deadlines as every other registrant.
Guidelines for Visitors
To maintain a safe and orderly environment, the following guidelines apply to all Visitors within the conference:
- Badges must be worn at all times while within the conference village.
- Entry to any conference meeting requires a valid badge.
- Visitors must sit in the designated Visitor sections within EYPC tents. Seating is limited and subject to availability, as priority is given to full conference registrants.
- Visitors are only permitted in public areas such as dining and fellowship spaces of Conference-designated houses.
- Visitors are not permitted in sleeping areas or accommodations of Conference-designated houses in order to respect the privacy and security of those staying onsite.
Who Can Register: Other Visitors
In the rare event that a practical serving saint would like to participate in the EYPC but make private accommodation arrangements, you would need to follow these steps:
- Email your Country Coordinator to enquire about registering as an ‘Other Visitor,’ along with an explanation of why you are requesting to participate in the EYPC in this way.
- If your Country Coordinator feels good about this, then you will need to complete page 1 of the registration form, and let your Country Coordinator know when you have done so.
- Your Country Coordinator will contact the Registration Team on your behalf with your request to participate in the conference as a Visitor from a country outside of Poland.
- The coordinating team will fellowship about your request.
- If the response is to approve your request, then:
- The Registration Team will change your attendee category to be a Visitor.
- Your Country Coordinator will be informed and let you know when this is done.
- You will then need to return to your registration form and continue to register from page 2 onwards.
- If the response is to decline your request, then:
- Your Country Coordinator will be informed.
- You will need to decide whether to register as a full-time attendee or to cancel the registration you started (if you started it) and plan to attend the EYPC another year when you are able to participate fully.
The availability of this attendee category is not guaranteed and would still be subject to the same registration procedures and deadlines. The registration deadline for Visitors is the same as for all other registrants.
The registration fee for Visitors increases slightly after 1 June 2025 to encourage early registration. We ask those registering in this category to complete their registration as early as possible to support the arrangements for the conference, including printing materials, allocating tent space, and managing other administrative needs.
Please be reminded that for those registering as Visitors:
- Accommodation and meals are NOT arranged by the Conference. If you register in this category, please do NOT expect the Conference to help with your accommodation in any way, including communicating with your host.
- It is NOT possible for someone of YP age (13 to 18) to attend the conference in this way; all young people in the village must be fully registered in the EYPC.
- You will need to purchase your handbooks and T-shirts on page 4 of the registration form as they are NOT included in the Visitor fee.
- You may request transport as part of your registration; however, please remember you are subject to the same transport deadlines as every other registrant.
Guidelines for Visitors
To maintain a safe and orderly environment, the following guidelines apply to all Visitors within the conference:
- Badges must be worn at all times while within the conference village.
- Entry to any conference meeting requires a valid badge.
- Visitors must sit in the designated Visitor sections within EYPC tents. Seating is limited and subject to availability, as priority is given to full conference registrants.
- Visitors are only permitted in public areas such as dining and fellowship spaces of Conference-designated houses.
- Visitors are not permitted in sleeping areas or accommodations of Conference-designated houses in order to respect the privacy and security of those staying onsite.
EYPC & EFC 2025 – Save the date!
27 July – 2 August 2025
Registration will open soon!
EYPC & EFC
27 July – 2 August 2025
Registration is now open!
The registration deadline is 1 June 2025.
The registration deadline has now passed.
The registration deadline was 9 June 2024.
The travel edits deadline has been extended to 24 June 2024.
To complete or update your travel information, please log in and do this before the deadline.
After this point, changes must be emailed to transport@ypconference.eu.