A conversation on “mission-shaped youth ministry”

The Big E 2008
A conversation on “mission-shaped youth ministry”
Vaughan Park, Long Bay, Auckland
9.30am on Tuesday 3rd to 4pm on Thursday 5th June 2008

Our world is changing. Young people are changing. The way we do youth ministry is changing. Or at least it needs to change. Don’t believe me? Here are some figures from the last census
• Between 2001 and 2006 the percentage of New Zealanders who called themselves Christian dropped from 60.6% to 55.6% of the population
• For nearly every age group under 40, between 40-50% answered “no religion” to the religious affiliation question.

We are increasingly living in a country where young people in particular have no idea what the Christian story is, or who Jesus Christ is.
It is time to ask some hard questions about what we are doing and why, find new ways forward, and redevelop some of our old ways. Some of the questions we need to address might include:
• What are the issues you face in youth ministry?
• What is Youth Ministry?
• What is the end point of what we try to do in youth ministry?
• What is Mission? (And can we un-pack this?)
• What is mission shaped youth ministry?
• Where do we see it happening?
• What resources do we need and what do we already have?

The Big E is run by the Churches Youth Ministry Association, which includes Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterian, and is an opportunity for youth workers, youth leaders, clergy and interested others from any denomination to explore some of these issues. This is particularly aimed at those who see youth ministry as their calling, but is open to any who are interested.

Rather than being a conference with a timetable full of speakers, this is being planned to be a conversation, with a few speakers, and lots of opportunities to talk in small groups, to discuss issues you want to work on, and for these small groups to present back to the larger group. There will also be some guest speakers to provide some input, and to help our reflecting on these questions.

The name of “mission-shaped youth ministry” comes out of one of the approaches that has begun to help the wider church look at why it exists and how it might be more missional. This approach comes from the Church of England’s and is helping church’s find fresh ways to be church and to plant new churches in the changing context. A key question then is “Does this have anything to offer youth ministry?” Another is “What more do we need?”

For more information go to http://www.youthministry.org.nz/. Well, not yet. Give it a month for us to get the stuff up officially

Links with articles:
• Mission-shaped youth ministry demands radical re-think
• Church House Publishing Running a youth group?
• Children's&Youth Ministry: Essential Reading: Mission-Shaped Youth
• tHEOBLOBY: Mission Shaped Church, my thoughts....
• Mission-Shaped Youth Ministry: Conference in Australia: my thoughts

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