Adam isn’t ethnically Chinese himself, but he absolutely loves his role as Youth Pastor at Chinese Presbyterian Church (CPC) in Surry Hills.
“The church members are very lovely, very hospitable — they’re very proactive in ministry, which is really refreshing,” Adam reflects. “It’s a very vibrant place for ministry, culturally and spiritually.”
A unique approach to youth ministry
One of the things CPC does differently to a lot of other churches is that they don’t hold a youth group on a Friday night. Instead, they run their youth program straight after the Sunday morning service. At first Adam wasn’t sure about it, but over time he’s been converted.
“It means the youth are not segregated from the rest of the church,” Adam points out. “If we have people who are non-Christians that come to our youth program, they then can see the church in full swing. Whereas on a Friday night, none of the church is around. So in terms of a gospel witness, it seems to make sense.”
Strengthening faith and fellowship
As part of his role as Youth Pastor at CPC, Adam went along to his first PY Encourage Express (PYEE) at Chatswood Presbyterian Church earlier this year. PYEE is a chance for those in youth ministry to connect with others in similar roles, hear from a guest speaker (informed within the youth culture space), time for Q&A, small group discussion and prayer together.
The event Adam attended was focused on apologetics, aiming to build up youth leaders in their faith within a world that objects to Christ. The training explored different objections to Christianity that youth face, and looked at answering these objections within the framework of the Bible, worldview, doctrine and the life of faith.
Adam believes the topic was highly relevant. He found the training to be practical enough that he could take it and repeat it with the youth leaders at CPC.
“I think it’s good for youth leaders to think through apologetics, as well as anybody who calls themselves a Christian,” he explains. “We need to be people who are able to critically think and evaluate the things in front of us. I thought it was really good not just as a topic to be trained into, but as a practice to be able to defend oneself against spiritual and intellectual attacks.”
More than 30 people attended the Chatswood PYEE, and Adam shares that it was encouraging to meet other people in a common ministry space. He enjoyed chatting with others and hearing their stories.
Breaking the silos
Adam recognises that when people are working in different churches it’s quite easy to start operating like a silo. He is grateful for the way PYEE changes that.
“Sometimes we don’t take advantage of our denominational networking,” Adam says. “So I thought it was a really good night where you can link up and share ideas and share thoughts and resources as well.”
When asked whether he would recommend the event to others, Adam’s answer is an unequivocal yes.
“I would encourage any Presbyterians who are wanting to upskill — or at least grow and connect with people — that it’s a great place for them to actually do something like that,” he says. “The danger is we can silo into our own congregation and not support one another from church to church.”
Find out more about PY Encourage Express on our Events tab here.
