I was one of the “120 rectors, assistants, theological students and lay people” that attended the recent conference, Sydney and Anglican: A fresh look at mission (though I’m not certain which of the four categories from Russell Powell’s article I belong to!). There were many things I found stimulating and engaging about the day, not least of which was the sense of ongoing conversation that the organisers were able to promote. I am a firm believer in the value of dialogue for understanding differences and finding previously unconsidered solutions. I am glad to see the launch of the FLM blog and am hopeful that the spirit of open and robust dialogue will continue and become more of a feature of our diocesan life.

I was however a little disappointed by the lack of discussion about the significance of children’s and youth ministry for the future of mission in Sydney. I guess that’s not surprising given my job, but I do think the oversight was surprising given the statistics that point to children’s and youth ministries as the growth centre for the Diocese overall.

What we need is a robust discussion that takes frank look at the state of youth ministry across the Diocese. By ‘we’ I don’t just mean the staff of Youthworks or those who are already working in children’s and youth ministry across the Diocese. I’m talking about our churches in general, our church leaders, and key Diocesan policy makers.

We need a clear discussion of where and why youth ministries have grown, where and why youth ministries have retained people as disciples of Jesus into young-adulthood and beyond, and where and how we have recruited and trained the most effective labourers for this harvest?

Of course, I’m not without an opinion on any of these questions! But it’s not enough for the Principal of Youthworks College to have opinions if those opinions aren’t connecting with the needs and challenges of local parishes.

It’s in the same spirit of seeking robust dialogue as the Fresh Look at Mission team promoted that Youthworks College is holding three dinners for church leaders to come together for a frank discussion about how we can effectively build youth ministry across the Diocese.  I hasten to add that this isn’t in any way connected to the FLM team (other than me being friends with many of them, having the wife of one of them on Youthworks College faculty, having one of them on the Youthworks Training Division team heading up our Year 13 program and following most of them on twitter!). But we’re hoping for the same sort of thing: to explore fresh possibilities of reaching young people in Sydney with the gospel of Jesus.

The need is enormous. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures has 19.5% of Sydney’s population as 0-14 years old (2005). With current estimates of 4.5 million people in total, there are about 900,000 young people in this city. Our youth ministries are barely scratching the surface.

We’ve invited senior ministers to come with key children’s and youth ministry leaders to a dinner at North Sydney, Rouse Hill or Wollongong at the beginning of August. Obviously we have ideas about how Youthworks College can help equip a new generation of leaders for children’s and youth ministry that we hope to share. But we also need to be able to talk openly together about the overall picture, to identify weaknesses and build on our strengths. We need to think together to work out how best to recruit, train and place the right people for the task so that we can more effectively present Jesus to the young people of Sydney, the Illawarra and beyond.

I know this is verging on the advertorial and in part I’m unapologetic for that. I want to urge church leaders to make the time to come to one of these dinners and commit to at least one night of thinking together about the mission field to children and young people across the Diocese. I’m also wanting to urge us to pray: to pray for productive discussion, to pray for new ministry initiatives, to pray for labourers to serve in the Lord’s harvest among children and young people, and to pray that children and young people would find life in Jesus.