On 27th October 2023 youth groups from across Auckland gathered to connect, worship and pray. We started with some fun, enabling us to meet people from different youth groups. We enjoyed sung worship, the Gospel reading, a talk and joined together in prayer, before closing with some more sung worship and kai.

A huge thank you to all who took part, leading us in our service, especially Losana, Millie, Asher Evan and Tague! And of course a huge thank you to the St Mary’s Glen Innes whanau for hosting and feeding us!

The post Combined Youth Service appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Fill your Cup was the theme for The Abbey 2023. The first national Anglican youth leaders and young adults conference for four years in its usual form kicked off on Friday 18th August. Organised by the National Youth Facilitator, Lorna Gray and her team, we had speakers and workshop leaders from across the motu. Sung worship was from the Christchurch crew and our own Losana Fonua was one of the emcees. An exceptional job she did too!

Esther Chan kicked things off on Friday evening, speaking, while also caring for their little one Malachi, it was a great example of ministry as a whole person! Another highlight I noted was hearing from Bishop Justin from Wellington, and then seeing Bishop Peter from Christchurch and Bishop Steve from Nelson serving communion together. It was a great picture of episcopal unity as they served communion to our youth and young adults.

The cafe was set up as a great hang space for talking and playing pool, but also with some enjoyable craft activities scattered around the space. There was also a kids programme which was a new element this year, and a welcome one. Many of our volunteer leaders are family people, so national conferences like this are a challenge – having a kids’ programme enabled families to come and each be nurtured while also having time and space to be together. The kids’ programme crew were awesome in connecting swiftly with young ones and making then feel welcome and safe.

Auckland was well represented with two van loads of youth leaders, St John’s College students and young adults from across Auckland, in addition we had several fly in as well. In addition many workshop leaders and speakers were current students and staff from St John’s College.

I’m sure others can add far more to our story, so watch this space!

The post The Abbey 2023 – 18-20 August – El Rancho, Waikanae appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Intergenerate – A Gospel for All Ages

This year the annual Intergenerate conference focussed on the book by Dave Csinos called A Gospel for All Ages. Dave (via video) and Tammy Preston, along with exceptional workshop leaders invited us to consider the ‘holy grail’ of ministry, preaching and how this too, can be intergenerational.

The Auckland conference, one of 5 throughout Australia & NZ, was the biggest with 50 or so people gathered around tables. We talked and explored, wrestled and considered this sticky topic. From figuring out the point of preaching and to exploring a variety of ways people learn. Then we moved into experiencing some different teaching techniques and discussing how they might work in our own contexts.

Our own Dion and Angela Blundell (Vicar – St Mary By the Sea, Torbay, Intergenerational Ministry Facilitator, Auckland Diocese & Worship Facilitator at St Mary by the Sea respectively) led a workshop on Curating Intergenerational Worship. Tammy Preston led us through immersive experiences of teaching and stations including a reflection on leadership. The photo of our lovely young person on the ladder is inviting us to reflect on leadership above those being led, versus being amongst those being led. It was a stimulating day, and a joy to have several Anglicans in the midst.

You may wonder why intergenerational ministry features in our youth ministries. Research tells us that young people need at least 5 non related adults in young people’s lives to support resilience and growth. Our young people often gravitate towards helping with children’s ministries, children love having teens in their world and teens benefit by the love children give so readily, responsibility and so much more. However in addition to connecting with young people we also believe that young people have something to offer the wider church. In addition to the usual age stereotypes, each generation can offer a window into the realities of their worlds.  All ages win when we intentionally choose to do life together in equity, learning and wrestling with faith together, being patient with each other and listening to each others stories. Its hard work though, for everyone!

The post Intergenerate 2023 – St Mary by the Sea, Torbay – 10 September appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Murder & Mayhem in the Vestry!

The year is 1922, the church St George’s, Epsom, the vicar Reverend James has been found murdered in the vestry!

Ten of our youth groups, filled with the finest minds in the Diocese followed the twists and turns of this mystery to solve the crime and bring most of the perpetrators to justice! The murder weapon remains lost! All is well though; three great teams solved the puzzle with St Michael’s, Henderson pipping All Saints, Ponsonby and St Mary by the Sea, Torbay to come first.

Most of all a great opportunity to be together as young people of the Diocese. A huge thanks to St George’s Epsom for all the work they did, from acting to hospitality. Bring on more puzzles and conundrums in 2024.

The post Diowhodunit 2023 – St George’s Epsom – 4 August appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Young people are so amazing!

Working with young people in faith communities is a spectacular blend of chill, fun vibes and event management, and intentional, day by day nurture of relationship and spiritual input. It requires of us a unique blend of knowledge from youth development, theological and a good dollop of health and safety and ministry standards kicked in there for good measure.

Youth ministry done well has benefits to young people and the communities they bless for years, youth ministry done badly can have similar effects, inside and outside the church. Youth leaders be they volunteers, part timers or full timers need support, both within their communities and outside them.

The Priory is about setting our youth leaders up to win, offering knowledge from the youth development sector as well as opportunities for faith formation, youth work 101 and professional development. This two year course can be taken alongside full time study and work. Courses are delivered in two block courses and two weekends per year per year (one weekend being The Abbey) and will be held in various great spaces around the motu.

Our 2024 intake is open for applications, for your first port of call, contact Steph

steph.brook@aucklandanglican.org.nz

The post The Priory 2024 Intake – Apply now! appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Leaders Retreat has happened for 2023!

It was a bit cold, sometimes a bit wet, a small but delightful group of leaders gathered for our Annual leaders retreat.

The plan was for a retreat with plenty of breathing space to just be, to listen to God and to each other. We reflected on the character of God and the strengths God has planted within each one of us as the ways in which we build healthy communities. Of course there was the usual fun to be had from cooking together (and ensuring smoke did not set off the fire alarms) games played and rambling on the beach in the rain, and supervising the absolute hardiest among us going swimming! Gentle worship and prayer together rounded off a great couple of days.

The post Leaders Retreat 2023 – Kiwanis Camp, Huia – 13th-16th July appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Fanatics Cup Basketball edition 2023 was a marathon before we ever got to the courts! Between our booking being kicked and a new venue being extremely hard to find, it was lining up to be an interesting night! Finally the day came, and lo and behold there were building works taking place around our venue! So each team that made it into the complex were winners by coming through the door!

The competition ran hot, with 4 teams playing 3 v 3 and 3 teams playing 5 a side! All the teams played hard, but fair, and to be honest everyone won to some extent or another. The winners of the 5 a side competition were NorthWest, closely followed by Epsom 1 and Hillsborough. The winners over on the 3 v 3 courts were Henderson, followed by Ponsonby, Blockhouse Bay and Epsom 2.

A huge thank you to our ref’s, scorekeepers and draw people, and of course a massive thank you to the young people and their leaders for coming along and taking part.

The post Fanatics Cup 2023 appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

Over Easter this year, young people and their leaders from many youth groups across the Diocese gathered at Willow Park Christian Camp in Eastern Beach to worship, pray, grow friendships and have plenty of fun along the way. We explored Jesus life from birth to resurrection and how Jesus teachings and example impacts the ways we choose to live our lives today. We enjoyed the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways, for each other, through stations and a prayer wall, and our worship band was lit as always, communion as a celebration of our weekend together on Monday morning was also special. We reinvented capture the flag, had sandcastle and raft building competitions, and running games of ultimate frisbee and chess, table tennis, puzzle making and so much more kept the fun flowing.

Our huge thanks to Willow Park for hosting us again, and our awesome team of leaders who dreamed up and ran the camp like champions! Here’s to next year! Planning for 2024 starts in July at Leaders Retreat! See you there.

PS: If you’d like to check out our video, click here…https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k7kvBQAOPh521rFWUNLXZKKoRDvyN4RX/view?usp=drive_link

The post Efest 2023 appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.

On Saturday 25th March a couple of our youth groups joined with many others to support Auckland City Mission’s latest fundraiser. It was a sponsored 17km walk from various parts of the city. That’s a pretty long way, and a lot of time! Teams walked anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, coming in from Glen Innes, Epsom (via Kelly Tarltons) and Henderson. There were routes from the North Shore and Mangere as well on the website, or teams could set their own courses, like St Georges!

In the Auckland City Mission’s research, they have found that someone who is sleeping rough will walk an average of 17kms a day to access essentials like food, a safe place to sleep, medical help and somewhere to wash! The Auckland City Mission seek to help with all of those essentials. Their new building called HomeGround, they can house 80 people, in addition their second site in central Auckland that can house another 60 people. Homelessness is really complex and can come about as a result of all sorts of reasons. The Mission works alongside people to navigate the challenges they face.

I walked with my daughter the day before, because, I knew I’d need some time to recover before meeting our amazing, energetic, enthusiastic young people! The first 10 or so km’s were fine, the next 5 were a bit average and the last 3 or so, well, shall we say less fun! However as I walked those last kilometres, they made me think. I knew that when I finished, I’d be able to go home. My home is pretty dry, its warm, our pantry and fridge are full enough. I have a shower and clean clothes and I get to hang out with my family regularly. I even have access to the medical care I need, when I need it.  These are all things I largely take for granted in my everyday life.

For those who are sleeping rough, everyday life can be 17kms, just finding basic necessities. There are many, many people in our communities whose experience of life in NZ, in Auckland is so very different. We are given snapshots, stories across media, statistics and fantastic communicators telling these stories of hungry children, rough sleepers, cars becoming homes, but rarely are we confronted by the reality unless we choose too seek it, and sometimes its easy to resent it when we are confronted.

The crew at Auckland City Mission choose to walk with those who are struggling every single day, they listen, troubleshoot, create connections and help people find their own solutions. Thank you that you do this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A huge thank you to St Georges, Epsom and NorthWest Anglican, Massey for catching the vision and joining in with all the craziness and energy you inevitably bring… I can’t wait for what you’ll come up with for next year and who will choose to join us!

Thank you to all our sponsors for supporting myself and our young people as we chose to live beyond ourselves on Saturday. Let’s do it all again in 2024, shall we?

Steph

The post Big Mission Home 2023 appeared first on Anglican Diocese of Auckland.