More than twenty Holy Cross members, aged between 8 and 80, met on Sunday 4 August for two hours of prayer, reflection and vision casting, to explore together how God is calling us to develop our ministry with children, youth and families. We were expertly facilitated by Andrew Edwards and Ben Paton (co-directors of Synergy, the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn’s youth ministry), with help from Karen Baron from ACT Christian Education In Schools, and some excellent input from our very own Kids Church, youth and parents.
Key points from our discussion includes:
- younger and older Christians often have the same spiritual needs
- relationships are more important than programmes
- mentoring is of real value, both for younger and older Christians
- rather than inventing new activities, it’s often better to re-think and re-purpose existing activities
- young people need rest at weekends, and 9am on Sunday is not a very attractive time for them, though those who make the effort tell us that they find it really worthwhile
- young Christians need contact with adult Christians who are not their parents!
- youth ministry is a “whole church” activity and responsibility, though it can benefit from expert facilitation (of the kind that Synergy can provide)
Check out the photos below to see more details of our discussion – and please do contact the Rector if you have any comments / questions.
