North New Zealand Conference

Youth Ministries

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Lance Boulton NNZC Child & Youth Pastor Send e-mail

Youth Leader Forums

I have a real passion for resourcing, encouraging and facilitating youth ministry in our local churches. To help do that, I have dedicated 3 weekends to each North NZ region this year. I am available on these weekends to any churches in the region who wish to use me in any way to benefit their young people.  I invite you to make contact asap to book me in for a Friday night or Sabbath. I will make appointments on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Each Sunday of these weekends I am planning a Youth Leaders Forum for the whole Region. The Youth Leaders Forum is a regional get-together designed to resource leaders in youth ministry. It is open to all youth leaders, elders and pastors who wish to see youth ministry grow in their local church and region. Youth Leader Forums will be hosted in a local church but open to leaders from the whole region. It will be a time of discussion, sharing, prayer, vision casting, resource sharing, encouraging, and fun. Finally, Youth Leader Forums are free and optional (but highly recommended). I am hoping to see all of you there and morning tea will be provided!.

Please note the following details for the next upcoming Youth Leader Forum for each region:

• Manawatu / Taranaki – October 9. Venue – Palmerston North church. 10:00am-12:30pm.
• East Coast – October 29 (special one hour wrap up on Sabbath afternoon). Venue – Napier Church.
• Wellington – November 20.
• Bay Of Plenty / Waikato / Central – November 27.

Volleyball Tournament – Date Change (Nov 12-13):

This year's Volleyball Tournament has just been changed from October 22-23 to November 12-13. Please note this change. We apologise for any disruption to your plans or bookings with this change but feel it may work better for all the teams. The original date was the last weekend of the World Cup and many churches were reporting back on difficulties in finding accommodation in Palmerston North. Many were also expressing their desire to be able to see the World Cup final! We also could not secure the help of the local Palmerston North Volleyball Association on the original weekend and the new November date is the only alternative free date for the venue. Though this change will make it easier for many churches, I am mindful that it could be a source of frustration for a few churches – again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. I am looking forward to a great Volleyball Tournament again this year and believe we have the date now to ensure that can happen.

Basketball Tournament – Recap & Results

A huge thank you to all the teams, organisers and supporters who helped to make this year’s Basketball Tournament such a great event. The spirit among the teams was amazing and everyone really was committed to “spurring one another on to love” (Hebrews 10:24). The Basketball Committee were also very pleased with the behaviour of supporters and the treatment of the venues. Our teams and churches did themselves very proud!

Touch Tournament Recap

A huge thanks once again to all the 52 teams and supporters who made this Tournament in late February another fantastic sports event. The challenge for the day was to "spur one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24) and the teams did a great job in giving all the glory to Jesus throughout the day. The incident between 2 teams near the end was disappointing but I praise God for the willingness of both churches to reconcile, pray and work through their disagreement. As church families, may we always draw on the love and example of Christ in uplifting and encouraging one another. The Spirit calls us to unity and I am grateful that we can work through any conflicts that come up.

The key results from the day:

• $607.40 was raised in the special offering at the Saturday night Youth Rally to help ADRA in bringing relief to the Christchurch earthquake.
• Results of the leading teams in each grade:
  • Mixed Social – Bolt
  • Mixed B – 360
  • Mixed A – Rhinos
  • Men's B – Mizpah
  • Men's A – Phillys
• The ADRA project of tackling modern slavery ("bonded labourers") in Nepal was chosen (via the most votes at the prize giving) as the fundraiser for the June Basketball Tournament.

iSERVE – Adventist Young People Make The Difference:

We exist as the body of Christ to serve God, each other and a hurting world. We are the hands, feet, eyes, ears and mouths of Jesus constantly seeking ways to bless others in his name.

We have entitled this aspect of the body of Christ iServe because it recognises that every single believer (or part of the body of Christ) is called to serve. It is something we each need to own and empower.

The 3 foundational texts for this service orientated directive are:
Ephesians 6:7 - Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Galatians 5:13 – For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus provided the ultimate example of serving others (Mark 10:45) and challenges us to do the same from a heart of selfless love (Galatians 5:13). We seek to follow his example, through his power, for his glory (Ephesians 6:7).
To serve is to connect – to others (out), to Jesus (up), and to your own unique calling/gifting (in). To neglect or reject the call to serve is to limit authentic connection in our life on so many levels.

The 5 Avenues Of iServe In NNZ:

iServe recognises 5 main avenues of service for young people in NNZ:

• Local community service – what are the needs of your local community and how can you help address them? This may involve one-off or ongoing projects. This may involve partnering with other agencies (especially faith based) who are already seeking to meet the community needs. Finally, this may involve a team from the local SDA Church or even be something done by an individual or family. Depending on the service, some funding may be available.
• STORMCo (Service To Others Really Matters Company) – the SDA Church has an excellent service program in STORMCO. This service program provides training and a framework for serving. The heart of STORMCo is choosing a small town and entering it for a week in order to serve with no strings. It is highly recommended that the serving team make this an annual trip to establish and build a relationship with the community they are serving. The church has some set funding available for STORMCo trips. Our NNZ coordinator for STORMCos is Diane Samani. She can be contacted at iServe@adventist.org.nz
• Mission Trips – some groups or churches or conferences organise large mission trips overseas (or out of North NZ). These are generally one-off trips with pre-established goals and plans for the service project required. These can include Fly-N-Builds (building or repairing classrooms, medical centres or churches) and Evangelistic Series (in which small medical and service projects are provided in conjunction to a large evangelistic seminar). Such large service trips might have some funding available.
• Sports Tournaments – the Touch, Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer sports Tournaments run by the North NZ Conference Youth Ministry team are now included under the arm of iServe. In 2011 we have introduced the direction for the Sports Tournaments in which they not only provide fun and fellowship but are used as an opportunity for teams to raise funds for a chosen project for a charity. For example, at the Touch Tournament, the ADRA NZ project of helping to abolish modern slavery in the form of bonded labourers in Nepal was chosen as the charity project to raise funds for at the Basketball Tournament. So, at the end of every Sports Tournament we run, we can be proud that we have come together, had fun, glorified God, and made a very real difference for a group of people somewhere in the world.
• Evangelism – this is service in the form of introducing others to Jesus Christ and/or the body of Christ. In essence, it is the intentional sharing of the good news about Jesus Christ and what he has done in completely supplying all we need for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This can be a one-on-one sharing, the drawing people into the vicinity of church or any other way of bringing others into a knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ.

Funding – depending on the service or evangelism project, some funding may be available to assist. To inquire about funding, please contact the NNZ Child & Youth Pastor, Lance Boulton, at LanceBoulton@adventist.org.nz or iServe@adventist.org.nz or 09 262 5620.

Service Opportunities

Adventist young people make the difference when they serve in the name of Christ. The best way to connect young people to their church and to their Lord is to involve them in the local church and to offer opportunities to serve their communities. Some great ideas and opportunities for serving are available:

STORMCo (Service To Others Really Matters) – if you would like to organise a group of your young people to visit another town to serve with no agendas, STORMCo is for you. Funding and training is available for these service trips. Please contact our conference STORMCo coordinator, Diane Samani, at dianesamani@gmail.com

Overseas Mission Trips – ADRA NZ have pulled together some incredible overseas mission projects. These are already organised and simply require a church group to fundraise and go! If you would like to offer your young people the chance of a lifetime, contact Clinton Rappell at Clinton@adra.org.nz

Auckland Outreach – early next year NZYC will host a weekend of worship and evangelistic training. Following this, young people will be encouraged to go back to their communities and serve. The organisers of this weekend would love to hear from any local Auckland churches who would be willing to coordinate different outreach opportunities for after the event. No local church can offer their young people every outreach opportunity but many churches working together can. If you have a youth outreach program already in place, or would love to get one going, and would love to open it up, please contact the NZYC leaders, Shaun & Lelane Fourie at me@lelanefourie.co.nz

Other Youth links

South New Zealand Youth - http://snzyouth.adventist.org.nz
South Pacific Division Youth - http://youth.adventistconnect.org
General Conference Youth Ministries - http://gcy.bigfoottech.com