Cross Training
Tim Sudworth (L) with Chris Bowditch, Jono LeBis, Dan Meehan and Joel Kettleton at the Mission Shaped Conference in Melbourne.
Chris Bowditch of the Youth Taskforce writes about a recent conference.
In August four youth workers at Anglican churches in Hobart packed their bags and headed to Melbourne for the Mission Shaped Youth Conference. This was a great chance to meet other people involved in youth ministry, to share thoughts and ideas with them, and to learn from the experiences of people involved in youth ministry in the UK.
The conference had many great speakers including Tim Sudworth (author of Mission Shaped Youth), Peter Corney, Bishop Stephen Hale and Dr Andrew Singleton.
We were presented with sociological studies of young people, examining how they made sense of the world. It was very interesting to see how ‘normal’ the teens we work with are, compared with this national survey.
Much of what was said is already starting to happen in our own youth ministries here in Hobart. This was very encouraging – to hear we were on the right track to making more missionary disciples.
Aside from the conference, we were also able to do some touristy things. The highlight (at least for me, a closet Neighbours fan) was a visit to Ramsey St. We were also able to check out some great cafés with very sweet coffee, take a trip to the footy, and enjoy some time relaxing and shopping.
Many thanks must go to the Diocese and those who supported us financially in our trip.