If you were to peer through the windows of the Trinity Mount Barker office on a Friday night, what you find might not fit with what you expect to see in a church office! GiG (Growing in God) our youth group for school years 7 – 11 meets in the office every Friday during school term for Bible study surrounded with food, games, sport and plenty of time for relationship-building. When we started our church we ran a combined youth and young adults group, then last year we started this separate youth group. From around 6 members just over a year ago, the group has grown to over 30 kids and leaders on a Friday evening. It’s a bit hard to imagine that many people in the meeting room of the office!
We thrilled to have so many young people both within our church family and also connecting with us from outside. The topic for this term has been the Apostle Paul’s letter to Romans, so our young people aren’t just sitting back and taking it easy! Studying Romans has been a real stretch for many and has challenged these young ones to think carefully about their faith the Scriptures.
This Sunday will be an exciting day in the life of our church as we launch our vision for ministry for 2012 and beyond. This doesn't necessarily mean we’re announcing plans to start anything new and different (although we are!). Rather it means that today is the day when we especially want to pause and give thanks to God for the things that he has done for us in his Son, Jesus, and also for the things that he has done amongst us in the last 12 months.
This time last year, as a church, we decided to take advantage of two new opportunities; taking Andy Buchan on as a Minister in Training with a focus on youth and renting office space in Mount Barker. In God’s kindness, through both these steps we’ve seen exactly the kind of fruit that we hoped and prayed for, but probably even beyond what we expected! Our youth ministry has grown from a combined youth and young adults group to two separate groups with a need to start another group and to find a larger hall to meet in. Our office has become a great ministry support place and is used for a Bible study or youth group five nights each week. We are really thankful to God for the generosity of his people here at Trinity, which has enabled us to take these steps in ministry together.
In two weeks time we have the opportunity to benefit from a terrific training resource, the Equip training weekend. Equip runs from Friday evening, 25th March and Saturday 26thMarch at Concordia College, Highgate. The aim of equip is to train Christians both in skills and also in understanding and thinking about the Christian faith.
In recent weeks we have been highlighting three of the Equip subjects as being particularly beneficial or interesting; Church, Baptism & The Lord’s Supper with Peter Adam, principal of Ridley College, Melbourne, aims to help us see ourselves more as God sees us, not just as individuals, but as members of God’s people, Christ’s church. Peter is one of Australia’s leading Bible teachers and theologians and over the weekend, will take participants through what the Bible says about baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Recently, the Trinity Mount Barker Leadership Team approved the implementation of ChildSafe as part of our commitment to creating safe environments for children and young people. We are blessed with a large number of children and youth in our church community – sometimes as many as 40% of Sunday attendees are in Crèche, Minis or Kids’ Church! If we needed a reminder of how significant this ministry is in our church, the National Church Life Survey provides it: over 70% of people who identify themselves as Christians say they became followers of Christ before 20 years of age.
Over the coming weeks the various protocols and processes of ChildSafe will be implemented across our church. Perhaps the first major step for those involved in ministry to children and youth will be the “appointment” of all volunteers to their ministry areas by the Leadership Team. People who are currently serving in these areas have been appointed in a variety of different ways, including many who have been approved for ministry with children under the Anglican system at Trinity Hills or Trinity City. Asking all these volunteers (plus staff, like me!) to go through the ChildSafe application and appointment process means everyone will be “on the same page” in terms of expectations and roles. The new appointment process includes submission of a National Police Certificate and also recommendations from two referees. All appointments of volunteers for youth and children’s ministry will need to be renewed every three years
Recently, the Trinity Mount Barker Leadership Team approved the implementation of ChildSafe as part of our commitment to creating safe environments for children and young people. We are blessed with a large number of children and youth in our church community – sometimes as many as 40% of Sunday attendees are in Crèche, Minis or Kids’ Church! If we needed a reminder of how significant this ministry is in our church, the National Church Life Survey provides it: over 70% of people who identify themselves as Christians say they became followers of Christ before 20 years of age.
