Part of what we are doing to start making youth ministry happen in the Anglican church in Tasmania is to set out all our wildest dreams for what we would like to see happen. This was what i came up with the other day. What do you think??
A vision for youth ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania
Culture changes:
- A culture that supports youth ministry both in principle and practice.
- Rectors/Ministers who are fully supportive of Youth Ministry.
- Focus on ministry not Sunday services
No financial limitations
· A paid youth worker on staff in every parish!
· A paid youth worker on diocesan staff, to champion and support youth ministry.
· Having chaplains in every state high school and Anglican private school that are intimately linked with a local parish based youth ministry; eg. The
· A number of fully paid youth internship positions in suburban parishes; who can learn from the youth pastor, not be the youth pastor*
· A training college for youth ministry; with high quality staff
· A youth equipping organisation, that produces and recommends resources for all parishes, both suburban and rural; eg. Doing youth ministry in small towns, or How to reach out to unchurched youth
· Sending some key young people to be trained in youth ministry by other dioceses (
· An organisation that speaks out for disadvantaged youth
· An organisation that seeks to support disadvantaged and rejected youth with love and the hope of the Gospel (eg. supports pregnant teens to get them through school)
· Youth Gatherings (regional i.e. southern, north-west coast, northern, east coast, west coast) *
· Youth Evangelistic camps*
· Youth Discipleship camps*
· A larger camp site (i.e.
· Youth advertising (TV, radio, etc.)
· A well designed, youth orientated, website that acted as an online community.*
Those marked with an asterisk I believe are things which we ought to be able to start seeing happen.
this is great stuff chris. are there any universities or schools in australia that teach youth ministry? personally, i think you should come to america get an advanced degree from a university that offers YM programs and go back to australia and start your own program. that is assuming australia doesn't offer any advanced or graduate degrees in that area. as i was reading through the list things kept popping into my mind and then i would read on and find out you already thought of it. good stuff man.
ReplyDeleteGo to the diocese of Sydney where you belong, and stay there!
ReplyDeleteWay harsh! I don't know if that's a compliment or not!
ReplyDelete