What a great day we had at the inaugural PY Encourage Sydney! We had just over 60 people come along, with two even driving all the way from Port Macquarie to be at Christ College in Burwood for the day.
Attendees reflected that…
💭 “We need to pray earnestly for our youth to come to know Jesus.”
💭 “Partnering with parents is crucial to effective youth ministry.”
💭 “As youth leaders, we are examples whether we like it or not, so we need to be godly examples.”
💭 “Improving accessibility is important for all youth, not just those with disabilities.”
Bringing youth leaders across NSW together
As someone who didn’t come from a Christian home and met Jesus for the first time at a youth camp as a high schooler, Koh Saito has a particular heart for those who have had no exposure to Jesus.
As a result of Koh’s heart for youth ministry, he has often found himself reflecting on how to develop the youth leaders entrusted to him. Koh’s forward thinking led him to connect with Dave Phillips (General Manager of PYNSW) through his Minister at Ashfield Presbyterian, Dave Balzer, who is also the Convener of the PY Committee.
Dave Phillips presented Koh with the opportunity to be part of the Working Group for PY Encourage Sydney (PYES).
“It was a no-brainer really. There’s a real niche that I think we can tap into, something that can be leveraged in bringing youth leaders from different churches together for training and networking purposes.”
When reflecting on the planning and decision making for PYES, Koh says, “We wanted it to be useful. We wanted it to be edifying. We wanted it to be encouraging. There are a million ways that you can do that, but what’s the particular aspect of it that we wanted to highlight? We really came down to two conclusions – training and networking.
“This then became the metric of how we decided to run the day. We would say, ‘Is this going to be helpful for training or networking or not?’ If the answer was no, it didn’t make it into the schedule for this event. If the answer was yes, we strategically worked the timetable to facilitate it”
Training
The main training input of the day that Dave, along with Koh and the rest of the Working Group were keen to equip attendees with, was a session by Bec Baines, Accessibility Ministry Advisor for Youthworks, called ‘Introduction to Disability Ministry’. The area of accessibility and disability is one of increasing prevalence and discussion not only in Christian ministry, but also society as a whole. As such, the Working Group wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to benefit from this training in session #2.
The training sessions surrounding this were designed to be more specific to certain people considerate of their context, experience, and circumstances.
Training session #1
- Beyond youth group: connecting with parents, church and community (John McClean – Vice Principal, Christ College)
- New to Youth Group leading? Here are the basics! (Koh Saito – Pastoral Assistant, Kids and Youth, Ashfield Presbyterian)
- You can read more about this training here.
Training session #3
- The Why and how of engaging in small group ministry – through God’s word and relationally – Martin Fong, Student minister and youth leaders trainer, Chatswood Presbyterian
- Church, Youth and School – improving connection through lunchtime groups and SRE (Scripture) – Roslyn Deal, SRE Director, PYNSW
Networking and next year
The atmosphere of PY Encourage Sydney was described by one attendee as “an atmosphere of wanting to grow”. Both the new and existing connections between attendees cultivated this naturally and then only flourished more in the sessions.
Koh reflects, “I particularly loved getting to meet people from churches of all different sizes. It was encouraging to hear about the varying circumstances that people find themselves in at their churches and also considering ways that we may be able to partner together more as we seek to help our youth ministries to be more effective.”
Dave and the team at PYNSW are excited to consider how they may continue to improve PY Encourage Sydney in the years to come.
It was a great joy to gather with like minded leaders across NSW to share experiences and the many ways that God has been working across the state – a real lived out expression of gospel love and relationship.
