PASSIONATE REALITY – NSW Junior Youth Day
9th August 2009
Blacktown CRC hosted this NSW Junior Youth Gathering. We had about 50 young people attend the entire event, from a number of Christian Reformed Churches, including Blacktown, Sutherland, Sydney, and Wollongong. Additional people from Blaxland and St Marys came for the service.
The day started at about 2.00pm and began with some opening, big group, get-to-know you games. It was good to be able to meet other people from different churches. After this we split up into small groups and discussed our topic – Passionate Reality: What excites you?
We looked at what excites us in our lives, be it sport, surfing, friends etc. and how we are so quick to talk about it, and so quick to defend it. However, the one excitement that should be number one in our lives, (namely Jesus Christ) is not often spoken about. We talked about why this is, and how we can go about changing it.
After small groups we had afternoon tea, and then we had some tabloid activities. We remained in our small group teams and went from each activity to the next. This was an enjoyable time as we learnt to work together and get to know each other better.
After tabloid activities, we had some free time before the youth service, which began at 5.00pm. The youth took the first few rows in church and it was great to see so many people there.
The youth service was a great time, enjoyable for both young and those who were older but young at heart. We were given updates on NSW youth, the upcoming events, including 2010 convention in Stockport South Australia!!! Nathan Asher (Chaplain at Mamre Anglican School) from the St Marys congregation led the service and spoke to us from Colossians 4. He spoke to us about Passionate Reality and encouraged us to keep God as our number one priority in life. All the youth went away from the service feeling challenged and encouraged.
Dinner was provided after the service, which again allowed us to enjoy some fellowship with fellow Christian Youth from the churches. A big thanks goes to Blacktown for hosting the event, to Nathan for preaching and to those from Sutherland who organized the activities. This whole event was enjoyable to be at, and I for one look forward to the next youth event.
PASSIONATE REALITY – NSW Senior Overnight Gathering
22nd-23rd of May 2009
Sutherland CRC hosted this overnight event. We had about 40 people attending from a number of Reformed Churches, including Dee Why, Sutherland, Sydney, and Wollongong.
People turned up from 7.00pm, where a BBQ dinner was provided. After dinner, we had a youth service in the Hall, which included singing, hearing a testimony from Michael de Witte and listening to a talk from Scott Warner. Michael de Witte talked to us about his battle with cancer, and how it helped him make Jesus his number one priority. Scott Warner, who is involved in the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) , spoke to us from Colossians 1:15-20.
He talked about Jesus being the firstborn over all creation, showing that Jesus rules everything and how everything was created by him and for him. He then went on to point out how Jesus should be our number one priority, because he is the Lord of all creation. Scott Warner was very blunt, but accurate to the scriptures and I think everyone went away from the talk really challenged about letting Jesus rule over every area of our lives.
After a brief small group, we had supper and then split for night games. There were fires in the courtyard (in the rain), people played games in the car park and some people played board games. Later a movie was played in the church.
The next day we awoke to a great breakfast (thanks to Naomi and Sarah Esselbrugge). After that we sang some more songs and then listened as Simon van der Wel spoke to us, summarizing Scott’s talk and pointing out important truths. People then split off into small groups, where we discussed what we had learned from Scott and Simon.
After this we went down to the Woronora River (the Needles) and watched a flooded river go past. We had a group photo down there and watched some brave people swim. After a nice long walk home, we had lunch and then played some street soccer in the school car park.
All in all this overnight gathering was an enjoyable time to get to know other Reformies from different churches and to learn about putting Jesus first in our lives.
PASSIONATE REALITY - NSW State Youth Service
29th March 2009
Wollongong CRC played host to the very first event of the recently restructured NSW Youth Connection, with young Reformies from around the state making the trek down the coast for the combined state youth service. Around 80 young people (plus a few wannabe young people) from CRC's from Blaxland, Blacktown, St Marys, Sutherland, Sydney and Wollongong attended the event.
The afternoon kicked off after lunch with the 'act of questing', a massive scavenger hunt spread out along the beach. Teams spent the afternoon completing tasks, solving puzzles, answering riddles, (getting lost!) and discovering the passion-fruit reality...fresh or tinned? God blessed us with gorgeous weather with many taking the chance to have a dip in the water, while others seemed content to just pop blue-bottles!
Everyone had a chance to rest their tired legs, catch up with old friends and get some much needed fuel with a BBQ in the park before coming together in worship. Guest speaker Richard Chin, National Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Studnets preached on "Treasuring Jesus" from Mark 26, in which he challenged us to think about what we really treasure in life. The passage tells the accounts of the woman who annointed Jesus' head with perfume, and Judas' betrayal. Comparing the actions of a woman who spent a year's wages to honour her saviour with a man who agreed to kill the same man for the price of a slave. Richard prompted us to think about how much we really do treasure Jesus - the man who voluntarily sacrificed not only possessions but His life to redeem us, and left us with this challenge; "To treasure Jesus would be so counter-cultural it might even be considered reckless - but Jesus is something to be treasured above all."
If you wish to know what is happening in your state then please click here to contact your Youth Connection state rep, Nath!
