March - April 2020 IntraSyd

MAGAZINE

intrasyd MARCH - APRIL 2020

Think tank 2020& Church vitality, p8

Greater Sydney

Features: New education director & Where to go for COVID-19 updates

FROM THE PRESIDENT Terry Johnson

The words of this EG White quote disturb me: PRESIDENT Terry Johnson terryjohnson@adventist.org.au

Editor Joyce Taylor joycetaylor@adventist.org.au

Graphic Designer Lynda G. Abreu lyndagomes@adventist.org.au

Other Contributors Linda Ciric Simon Gigliotti Julia Heise Katrina Jorgensen (Graphics) Beryl Landers Daniel Lavaiamat Ruth Powell Luke Vodell

Next content deadline 01 MAY bit.ly/intraSYD

“The Lord does not now work to bring many souls into the truth, because of church members who have never been converted and those who were once converted but have backslidden. What influence would un-consecrated members have on new converts?”

Are you and I the reason why so few at this time come to know the blessed truths of Scripture?

Ellen writes, “The new birth is a rare experience in this age of the world. This is the reason why there are so many perplexities in the churches.

Many, so many, who assume the name of Christ are unsanctified and unholy. They have been baptized, but they were buried alive. Self, did not die and therefore they did not rise to newness of life in Christ.”

This is an indictment of our condition. Could it be one reason why people don’t feel safe when they come to our facilities? We should be striving to make our churches, schools and Aged Care communities, places of refuge. A harbour from the terrible storms of life. All should feel safe and at home when they enter the doors of our facilities. Unjudged, cared for empathically, irrespective of what their lives are encountering; poor health, sexual orientation, mental health, financial matters, marital strife, worry and fear, to name just a few.

Jesus said in John 3:5 that “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Clearly the need for the sanctifying Holy Spirit in my life and yours is vital to sharing the Good News in love which creates a place of refuge!

In this time of earth’s history when people are crying out for hope because of the fear they’re

experiencing we have comfort, peace and hope and we have it in abundance. What are we to do? Hoard it and keep it for ourselves? Tragically that is exactly what we’re doing, if we are being completely honest with ourselves.

Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have trouble and suffering, but have courage, I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33) God is in control of the destiny of this planet and He foretold it in Scripture. He invites us, “Come unto me, all you who are burdened and loaded down and I will give you rest.”

Whatever our anxieties, worries and trials, spread them out before the Lord. We need to be pleading for the in-filling of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, renewing our dependence on Him, replenishing the power we need for the pressures and trails of that day and asking that He give us the boldness to share in faith.

I believe that as we grow in Christ, we will be more humble, gentle and dependent on Him and then our churches will become places of refuge for a sin-sick, worried world to find rest from their heavy loads.

I conclude with this: “If you will seek the Lord and be converted every day…all your murmurings will be stilled, all your difficulties will be removed, all the perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved. I want us in Greater Sydney to become churches of Holy Spirit filled, sanctified people that God can send seeking souls to find Him and be delivered from their oppression.

Ellen G White texts: EGW Testimonies to the church vol 6, (1901) p. 370.3 EGW Testimonies to the church vol 6, (1901) p. 189.4 EGW Thoughts on the Mount of Blessings p. 101

Terry Johnson

@SydneyAdventists

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT

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ISSUE FEATURE

April 2020

UPCOMING EVENTS

ADDRESS Shannon Bldg,185 Fox Valley Rd Wahroonga NSW 2076 PHONE (02) 9868 6522 EMAIL GSCComms@adventist.org.au

SUNSET TIMES

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11-04 / Hope Channel 18-04 / Local Church Budget 25-04 / Local Church Budget 02-05 / Adventist Record 09-05 / Local Church Budget Read more at bit.ly/2nL4CtY

Church Vitality

Dr Ruth Powell: "While a closer study of denominations shows that Catholic and Mainstream Protestant churches continue a pattern of overall decline, other Protestants have experienced moderate growth." Page 09

ARTICLE

Save the Date

Due to the fast spreading Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Greater Sydney Conference has postponed or cancelled ALL conference events until May 3, 2020. Stay tuned for updates.

Get the 2020 cal at bit.ly/2R1A9cT

NEWS

Pathfinders & Adventurers

Programs aimed at eaching the awareness of joy in serving others and the understanding of opportunities within community needs and developing skills in outdoor and environmental issues. Page 14

ARTICLE

Staffing Changes

Mr David Hobson named Executive Director of Education for Greater Sydney, a Year 11 MVAC student placed first in the NSW Gymnastics State Trial and more! Page 10

NEWS

Growing Together Summit

One of the major concerns that was recognised at this Summit was that we are losing a lot of young people from the Adventist Church in Australia. We see them grow up in Pathfinders, and then they leave. Page 18

INTRASYD

International Women's Day

Adventist Women around Sydney took up the challenge to use the IWD20 as an opportunity to connect and bless with women in their various communities. Page 12

OCTOBER

2018

3

EDITORIALS General Secretary

Cheonneth Strickland We are living in unprecedented and unpredictable times. In spite of this, we serve a God who doesn’t change and is in control all the way!

During this Coronavirus crisis, the Conference Office is still OPEN for business, but with variations. In light of the health and safety of our staff and to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading, we have given the Departmental Directors and office staff the option of working from home or in the office from March 17 onwards. Most staff have opted to work from home.

Unfortunately, we do not know how long this arrangement will be, but will notify you in due course.

Please note: If you are planning on seeing someone in the office, please ring or email them direct to confirm that the meeting is still on. We are discouraging face-to-face meetings, in preferance of utilising technology like Zoom where appropriate. Reception will continue to be open for your phone calls, emails and drop-ins. We would like to thank Nerise Fehlberg

Chief Financial Officer

Eva Ing We’ve started 2020 with a disastrous bang.

First there were the bushfires and then when had the floods.

Now there is a super-virus that has affected not only us here in Australia, but literally the rest of the world.

To prevent the spread of disease and protect the most vulnerable amongst us, the church made the appropriate decision to close our places of worship for a time. The impact of closing our doors is unknown. However, the risk of keeping them open would be equally great, if

and Rebekah Rankin who have agreed to do this.

Please keep social distancing when attending the office. If you are feeling sick or been in contact with someone who has tested positive to Coronavirus, please stay away from the office at this time. See https://sydney.adventist.org.au for updates.

We thank you for your understanding.

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LAST FEW MONTHS:

• We have had many positive comments from those in attendance to Think Tank. It gave local churches an opportunity to strategise and plan projects. Keep these conversations are active, even if taking place in home groups or online.

• New legislation about mandatory reporting and reportable conduct came into effect on 1 March 2020 as it relates to protecting children and vulnerable people.

• In 2022 and 2023, the AUC are wanting evangelism to be the focus as a nation. Do you have any ideas of how we can impact our communities?

• Mr David Hobson has been appointed as the new Executive Director of Education for our schools. David is a former teacher, principal and WHS and Return to Work Consultant. He has been heavily involved with our schools during this crisis.

• The redevelopment project at Kings Langley Aged Care is progressing well. We expect completion by May 2020.

• We are exploring the possibility of providing Home Care for elderly on Lord Howe Island.

• The new Conference website is well under way and is expected to be completed shortly. See page 05.

not greater. We do not want to be contributors to the spread of COVID-19, as other faith-based communities overseas have.

There is no question that the longer our doors closed, the larger the impact. Will we still remain faithful as a community of believers? What can we do?

For now we need to look after each other, carefully. Sometimes virtually. We need to continue to worship together. Thankfully in this era we have the technological means to do so. Many churches are live-streaming their services, and simply put: if your church doesn’t, it should! eGiving also needs to be an essential part of worship. With the new eGiving App, giving has never been easier. Simply download the app through the iTunes Store (Apple) or Google Play Store (Android). If you’re unable to access the App, the eGiving website (http://egiving.org.au) is a trusty alternative.

Please don’t forget to create an account so that it’s easy to give each and every time.

God bless you and keep you during these troublesome times.

Maranatha.

COMING SOON

CHURCH@HOME OPTIONS

Options for returning to God:

eGiving website. Set up a schedule on pay day. eGiving App. Set up a schedule on pay day.

Credit card/Debit Card direct giving.

Phone payment. Call Administration & Resourcing Centre on 07 3218 7777 Direct bank transfer. Seventh-day Adventist Church (South Queensland Conference) Ltd. Bank: Westpac.

BSB: 034-002. Account: 672-519.

Personal deposit delivery direct to Administration & Resourcing Centre.

Mail donations to Seventh-day Adventist Church, Administration & Resourcing Centre, PO Box 577, Spring Hill, QLD 4004

South Queensland INTRASYD

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2020

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LOCAL NEWS NEWS

the community interest in planting a church. I was expecting around a hundred people to turn out with at least fifty people signing up! In actuality, we had around twenty people turn up, four of which were our conference leaders. Out of the mission rally we had five people sign up.

We then began meeting every week in my house to pray and seek God's guidance. Eventually we decided to start house church twice a month. After some months the group outgrew our living room so we decided we needed to find another venue.

I pretty much door-knocked every school, church and hall in the Camden Valley area. Every single place had said no. Just when I thought the situation was hopeless, the last place on my list of places—an old primary school down the road from my house in Elderslie—

T

he outbreak of COVID-19 has raised global concerns that will have both shortterm and long-term impacts.

It continues to be an evolving situation, changing by the hour.

The Greater Sydney Conference will continue to monitor the situation and act accordingly. For what's happening and what's next, livestream links and more, visit http://bit.ly/ GSCcovid19. Note that the website will be updated shortly and links may change. In that event, head to the site directly.

Have exHave anything news or aexciting story toor share? traordinary share? Email us Email us at to GSCComms@ at sydney@adventist.org.au. adventist.org.au.

gave us a two big thumbs up.

00

01. CAMDEN VALLEY CHURCH PLANT FLOURISHES

BY PR ANDERS SVENSSON Some of you may have heard news in the last couples of years of a church

plant beginning down in the South West of Sydney in the area of Camden/Narellan. In this article I wanted to share some of the ways God has been blessing the mission field down in the Camden Valley region and how faithful God is in His equipping, calling and guidance.

We began in 2018 by running a mission rally in the centre of Narellan.

The object of this rally was to gauge

There was, however, one catch. He was very adamant that we were only allowed to use the school hall and none of the classrooms were to be used.

This was a big problem for us because we decided from the beginning that we wanted to be a church that had a focus on families and kids ministry. If we didn’t have any facilities for the kids ministry then our plans would not work.

We decided to commit this as a church to prayer for the next few hours.

Straight after our time of prayer the principle called me and said, “it’s your lucky day. The librarian has just agreed to give you the whole library for your kids club”.

What a blessing that news had been for us as a church. Now we could have

a hall and a library to have church and

ers, humble Director and patient parents,

kids club. God didn’t stop there with

we could not have accomplished what

the blessings of this school. He also

we did in 2019. With Him, all things were

provided us a sound system, air-condi-

possible.

members meeting in their larger

playground, signage space, storage,

Today we thank God for his patience,

and even a space where we can have

strengths, and constant mercy especially

our baptisms!

when we fell short many times. For 2020 we request of God to be before us in our

The church now has a flourishing kids

meetings, in our understandings and our

ministry with around twenty kids.

planning.

run our first seminar reaping event.

It’s been two years since we first began meeting in our house as a small group

space

02 Pr Anders Svensson baptising new member, Milena

02 The 2020 Pathfinder club at

We’ve had four baptisms and are At the end of this year we’re looking to

CAPTIONS/CREDITS 01 Camden Valley church

tioning, a screen and projector, a stage,

continuing our regular church service.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Blacktown. The group received

Have exciting news, a or an extraordinary story to share? Email us at

the 2019 Gloria Kench Award.

GSCComms@adventist.org.au. See

bit.ly/intraSyd for dates and deadlines.

to pray. Two years of challenges and blessings, seeing God at work, and at times wondering where He is moving. But, the greatest lesson from this church planting experience that I’ve learnt so far is that if we have a deep faith in Him, we will see Him work in deeper ways.

02. BLACKTOWN PATHFINDERS CELEBRATE 2019

BY VIONE BEYERS Last year, 2019 the Blacktown Pathfinder

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01

club received the Gloria Kench Award which was also received many years ago when this award was first introduced.

Along with this award, the Pathfinder of the Year award was also presented to the club. Both awards were gladly and excitedly received. The recognition certainly encouraged many tired teachers and staff to continue in this rewarding ministry.

03

All that was accomplished during the Pathfinder year was all to the Glory of God. Without God, our dedicated teach-

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Think tank 2020 Pics by Luke Vodell

Church Vitality: a review of trends over time

by Ruth Powell In a changing and challenging context, how is the Australian church faring? Are there signs of health?

The NCLS Research team has access to a unique data source that allows us to map changes in the Australian church landscape and church vitality. This article shares some key features of a review of trends from the past few decades.

The NCLS Research team have held the role of ‘mission researchers’ for the Australian church. This national survey is for attenders (including children) and local church leaders. In 2016, around 240,000 individuals from 3000 local churches in 20 denominations and over 7000 leaders completed surveys.

Six features of the Australian church landscape Before we talk about what we want to see happen and how to get there, we need to face the confronting reality of what is happening in our surrounding culture and Church right now.

1. Church attendance has begun to plateau - It is old, and often repeated, news that the Australian church has been declining over recent decades. However, we have observed that since 1990 the rate of decline of monthly church attendance has slowed. This data comes from self-reported monthly attendance at religious services from national sample survey. In addition, using church estimates of ‘head counts’, the decline in weekly church attendance has now plateaued.

2. Protestant churches are growing - When considered together, Protestant churches are growing in numbers. While a closer study of denominations shows that Catholic and Mainstream Protestant churches (e.g. Anglican, Uniting, Lutheran) continue a pattern of overall decline, other Protestants have experienced moderate growth between 1991 and 2016. Pentecostal movements have experienced high growth. The net effect of these different patterns is net growth for all Protestant churches.

3. The size order of the top five denominations has changed In 1991 in terms of churchgoers, the top five denominations in order of size were Catholic, Anglican, Uniting, Baptist and ACC (AoG). By 2016 this order had changed to reflect the differing growth patterns of attenders: Catholic, ACC (AoG), Anglican, Baptist and Uniting.

4. Inflow of new arrivals has been largely stable - People can join churches having previously been in other churches or they can come from outside the church community. Considering all denominations together, the inflow of new arrivals into churches between 1996 and 2016 has been largely stable.

5. Local church leaders believe they are effective in their roles -The 2016 NCLS Leaders Survey enabled local church leaders to reflect on their roles and experiences of ministry. By ‘local church leaders’ we mean the local minister/pastor or lay leader in a senior leadership role. While ministry can be a demanding role, when asked how they would rate their effectiveness in their

current role over the previous few months, most ministers rated their effectiveness in their role highly or very highly.

6. Current attenders are more likely to be positive about church than previously - Healthy churches help people in their relationship with God, with each other and with the wider community. They also have vital leadership and directions for the future. Based on the responses of church attenders, a range of indicators of vitality were all higher in 2016 than previously, including: • • • •

Faith: Growth in faith Worship: Inspired during worship services Service: Informal acts of service & in church-based service groups Faith-sharing: Look for opportunities to share faith and involved in evangelistic groups • Vision: Commitment to the church’s vision • Innovation: Agree church is ready something new has increased Vitality trends and some strategic responses Our review of different aspects of church vitality found signs of health are stronger than before and a sense of collective confidence is increasing. Overall, we see a consolidation across church life. The reality of a changing context has largely been accepted. While the ageing profile of the church and increasing ethnic diversity will be key drivers for the future of the church, attention has turned to sharpening clarity about the core practices related to mission, discipleship, service and worship.

The Church is calibrated for a world that no longer exists.

Based on research findings, we make some suggestions for strategic responses.

Keep Jesus at the centre 1. Help families share faith with family members.

2. Invest in worship services as a core mission activity.

Give ongoing attention to helping people belong 3. Provide newcomers with ways to meet people.

4. Build relationships in multicultural churches across groups.

Pair action with witness 5. Encourage inviting others.

6. Volunteer in both church & community groups.

7. Help people find words to express why they act.

Build a culture of collective confidence 8. Clarify vision and align all activities around it.

9. Start new initiatives.

10. Equip and empower lay leadership.

Do we take an optimistic or pessimistic view of the future?

Perhaps they can be held in a creative tension: staying honest and hopeful, realistic and courageous, focussing on the immediate issues, and yet remembering the much longer story of the Church in mission across history. www.ncls.org.au

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EDUCATION DAVID HOBSON NAMED GSC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION On January 28th, 2020, the GSC Appointments committee met and deliberated on who to appoint as Executive Director of Education for GSC. That decision was ratified by the GSC Schools Board of Education on the 29th of January 2020.

"It gives me pleasure to introduce Mr David Hobson as Executive Director of Education. We believe that he will do a wonderful job in this new role,� said Terry Johnson, President of Greater Sydney Conference.

David comes to us from the North New South Wales Conference. He is a highly experienced educator with over 29 years in the field. David taught for 15 years as a classroom teacher and has 14 years in executive leadership (Deputy, Principal, Manager of Operations to name a few).

David is married to Megan and has two adult sons.

MVAC Student stands out in gymnastics Gabriel, a Year 11 student of Mountain View Adventist College, recently placed first in the NSW Gymnastics State Trial 2, Level 7 competition.

Competing against 22 other competitors, Gabriel trains 20 hours a week and is also actively involved in school music as well as his regular studies.

Gabriel competes in all of the gymnastic disciplines and his favourite apparatus is the pommel horse.

Hurstville Primary School Students sharpen leadership skills We took our student leaders from Hurstville Adventist School to Grip Leadership Conference. They were encouraged in their role as leaders and have already been discussing activities that they can run in our school to make a difference, to help our students and to give back to the community. We are very proud of them!

Mountain view college celebrates grandparents There was excitement in the air amongst students in chapel and in class as our special guests joined us for a day in school.

It was great to see students having grandparents in classrooms.

They made other students whose grandparents weren’t available feel just as loved. – Staff member Mountain View College

Macarthur Adventist college hosted year 9-12 day of worship Connecting over food and worshipping together is the purpose of the event. Our speakers were inspiring for the kids.

Darlene Mene shared her gift of creative movement, Janice Fereti shared her passion for spoken word while, and Cassie Wallace shared her gift of singing.

Pastor Alexis said, “It was an awesome two days where students connected with their peers and where inspired to pursue Gods leading in their lives.”

Big Takeaway: God Dares you to be all that He has created you to be. – Daniel Lavaiamat

Hills adventist college students help clean up australia Some of our Junior School students recently participated in the annual ‘Clean up Australia Day!’ initiative.

Time was taken thoroughly to tidy up and sort any rubbish found around our campuses. This activity also complimented our current geography unit which is about looking after places that are special to us. Students really enjoyed using their hands to help! #servingothers #adventistschools

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LOCAL CHURCH WOMEN CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IS A GLOBAL DAY CELEBRATING THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF WOMEN.

“It was fun and what a delight to see the smiles on the faces of many women as they received the cookies (for free). All we did was greet them with a 'Happy Women’s Day' and hand them a free cookie with a smile. We really Held March 8th this year, Adventist enjoyed the experience!” says leader Women around Sydney took up the Minerva Sindac-Lebmeier. challenge to use the International Women’s Day as an opportunity to connect and bless with women in their various communities. These are some of their stories.

Parramatta women used International Women’s Day to gather their church Despite the panic of the Corona Virus women and launch Women’s MinisFreshwater and Cabramatta Women’s tries afresh in their church, sharing the Ministries teams took to the streets in opportunities ahead for connection their respective locations. with each other and also to reach the women in the community around the church. It was a beautiful experience Cabramatta Women’s Ministries lead- getting to know each other and coner Su Lawi was overjoyed by the sup- necting. The leaders felt encouraged port of her women as they braved the and excited by the response! rain to to hand out 250 scripture cookies to the women at the Cabramatta Train Station. She believes that this will become an annual tradition for their church.

Freshwater Women’s Ministries connected with over 300 women in the Manly Corso distributing cookies and chocolates. These were graciously received by the women passing by and brought smiles to many.

Bankstown Women’s Ministries used the Day as an opportunity to honour and celebrate the grandmothers in their church with a special lunch.

The men and pathfinders escorted the women into the hall, serving and cleaning. Leader Meleofa Fifita-Tovo praised God for the godly women of Bankstown and the church family.

Wahroonga women’s Ministries gathered their women to build community and foster friendship.

It was very encouraging to see the Women’s Ministries leaders of the local churches around Greater Sydney taking up the challenge, using the International Women’s Day as an opportunity to connect with their local communities and emphasize the value of women.

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WHATS NEW

IN PATHFINDERS & ADVENTURERS

PATHFINDER OPEN HOUSE Pathfinder Open House is an new event in the Pathfinder Calendar. It is an opportunity for Clubs to open their doors to the community to experience Pathfinders for a day/evening.

Cabramatta West Pathfinders was one of the Clubs that held their Open House event on February 22. “We had a first aid stall, knots and lashings demonstrations, and a campsite display. Seven new Pathfinders joined our club, one of which was non-Adventist,” says Brian Pichinte, Club Director.

ADVENTURERS LEADERSHIP AWARD The Adventurer Leadership Award (ALA) is a BRAND NEW Award for those wanting to develop their knowledge and capacity as a Leader in Adventurers. The course covers various topics including: Adventurer Administration, Leadership, Programming, Resource Development and more. The Greater Sydney Conference will be commencing their first training session on March 14-15. For more information about this Award, please contact: gsc_youth@adventist.org.au.

Other Leadership courses that are currently available include: • Master Guides • Pathfinder Leadership Award • Pathfinder Specialist Award

SERVICE DAY The Pathfinder and Adventurer Service Day is another new event. It will be replacing the Drug Free Walk for this year. Serving others is a massive part of what it means to be an Adventurer and Pathfinder. This will be an important experience for the children, and for showing our communities and city what the Seventh-day Adventist Church is all about.

Local Clubs will work together with their District Directors to organise a service activity for their region. Each individual child will be able to partcipate in the service activity. If you have any great ideas for your regions service activity, please let your District Director know soon.

To keep in the know about Pathfinders & Adventurers, please subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter. Visit: www.sydneyadventistyouth.com.

Stay in the know!

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Summer Camp 2020 highlights

S

ummer Camp was an amazing time! Close to 300 campers and 110 staff from around Greater Sydney came together for three weeks of laughter, worship and action-packed fun at Crosslands Youth and Convention Centre!

This year the theme was "Dare to Be". The Campers were encouraged and challenged to stand up for God and Dare to take risks for His Kingdom. Pr Sean Tavai, Pr Bernard Doejee, and Pr Eddie Hypolite were the keynote speakers.

God blessed them powerfully as they shared inspiring messages each evening.

The thing that really blew us all away were the decisions for Jesus that the young people who attended made: Junior Camp - 102 attendees: - Commit my life to Jesus: 82 - Bible Studies: 76 - Baptism: 62 - Serving in local church: 62 Young Leaders Camp - 95 attendees: - Commit my life to Jesus: 47 - Bible Studies: 37 - Baptism: 19 - Serving in local church: 55 Teen Camp - 97 attendees: - Commit my life to Jesus: 71 - Bible Studies: 67 - Baptism: 42 - Serving in local church: 67 We want to give a huge thanks to each and every person that served at Camp and made an impact in the lives of our young people for eternity. Can’t wait to see you all again in 2021!

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GROWING TOGETHER Growing Together. It’s started. On February 22-23 and February 29 - March 1, close to 600 people from approximately 90 Churches across Australia gathered to look at how we can Grow Together as local Adventist Churches. The Summits that facilitated these gatherings were held in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne.

You might be wondering why there is a push to ‘Grow Together’. Here’s some background - in 2018, the Australian Union Conference held a Summit that looked at Youth Engagement. One of the major concerns that was recognised at this Summit was that we are losing a lot of young people from the Adventist Church in Australia. We see them grow up in ministries like Adventurers and Pathfinders, but for some reason we can’t spot them in Church life in their early twenties. Maybe you know someone like this?

We all know it’s not supposed to be this way. Ellen White once famously said – “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!”

We aren’t supposed to be losing young people. We are supposed to be sending them out to share the Gospel of Jesus with a world that desperately needs it.

If we are going to come to the place where we are developing an abundance of devoted young disciples who deeply live out their faith in Jesus, we need to seriously look at the key areas that shape their lives.

Many believe there are three areas that have a huge impact on the forming of life-long faith: 1.

2.

3.

The Home The Local Church The Local Adventist School

There’s no doubt that parents are the primary influencers in the shaping of a young person’s faith, but there is also no doubt that local Churches and schools have a powerful role to play as well.

Growing Together, while it certainly doesn’t isolate itself from what happens in the home and the local school, is primarily focused on building healthy culture in the local Adventist Church. The dream is that local Adventist Churches become places where • Young people are given, and mentored into, opportunities to lead • Young people come and experience a warm and loving community • Young people aren’t frowned upon because they are different to generations gone by, but are shown empathy as they grow up in the ‘craziness’ of modern western culture • Young people can come and experience authentic Biblical teaching that points to Jesus, every-time! And, it’s not just ‘talk’ about Jesus – but His message is taken seriously in the way the community of faith lives • Young people experience a Church that loves and serves it’s community • Young people (and the families that shape them) are prioritised in all aspects of Church life

At this point, the dream could be making you feel uneasy. Where’s the mention of the older generations?

Don’t worry, no one has forgotten about them. In fact, they are absolutely CRUCIAL to this journey!

Psalm 145:3-4 says – “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.”

If the Adventist Church is going to shape young people into sold-out disciples of Jesus, we desperately need the support of older generations. For it is “One generation who commends” God to the next.

We cannot Grow Young, without doing it together! The investment of time and energy, by older generations, into younger generations is eternally priceless. And, here’s the exciting point – when young people and families (that could be children, teens, youth, or young adults) become a serious focus point, the whole Church benefits. Vibrancy, vitality, energy, and life are injected into the local Church through an intentional focus on impacting the young.

Greater Sydney Conference has made a commitment to Grow Together (it’s one of our five Conference foci points). Reflecting on Christian Churches in Australia Barna Group reported in 2019 that - “Over 72% of Australian young adults who attended church in their teens will ultimately become spiritually disengaged at some point during their twenties.” The last thing we want to see is this becoming our reality in the Adventist Church. We not only want to see our young people spiritually engaged, we want to see them thriving as disciples of Jesus in Christ-centred communities.

The journey has begun. 18 Churches in our Conference have decided to invest the next 12-24 months seriously looking at how they can “Grow Together”, and implementing a plan to do so. Please keep them in your prayers as we see God lead in this space!

Simon Gigliotti – Youth Director, Greater Sydney Conference

INTRASYD

April

2020

19

“I love to preach the gospel. I am joining 120 pastors from the rest of the SPD to preach in PNG.”

YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL FUND: RESOURCES

PAPUA NEW GUINEA F O R C H R I S T

Bibles, discipleship & doctrinal resources (inc freight) for the new members. $10 per member.

SIMPLE CHURCHES

Supply steel building materials for simple structures built locally by members. AUD $4,500 per structure (inc freight of materials).

2020 is spiritual harvest time in Papua New Guinea.

Over 120 pastors from across the SPD with over 1,500 local pastors and elders to share the gospel across 2,000 sites in Papua New Guinea. You are invited to partner with Papua New Guinea Union Mission.

We need 100,000 Bibles & discipleship guides costing $10 each and steel building materials for simple church structures for 2,000 small churches that cost around AUD $4,500 each (US $3,000 or PGK 10,000) including freight costs.

WAYS TO GIVE: New eGiving App Choose home church and scroll down to “CAMP MISSION OFFERING 2020 (PNG for Christ). eGiving Website www.egiving.org.au or www.egiving.org.nz Choose home church and then click on other offerings. Find “CAMP MISSION OFFERING 2020 (PNG for Christ).

Cheques sent to your local conference and given specifically for CAMP MISSION OFFERING 2020 (PNG for Christ).