The Easter season has seen and will see some significant conferences held around Sydney.
The Katoomba Easter convention and St Andrew's Cathedral Good Friday convention head the list of events, but there has also been a significant gathering for the emerging leaders in education.
Don Carson, Dale Ralph Davis and Simon Flinder speak at Katoomba, on "Commitment in an age of disposable love."
St Andrew’s Cathedral
Each year, St Andrew’s Cathedral holds it’s Easter convention on Good Friday. This year the theme is ‘Putting evil to flight’.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen will be one of the speakers at the 2011 event. He will be speaking on the topic ‘The Cross and Spiritual Warfare’.
He will also be joined by Dean of the Cathedral, Phillip Jensen who will be speaking on ‘The Cross and Human Suffering’.
For those interested in attending the conference, it will be held on April 22nd from 2pm-5pm. Tickets can be purchased online for $15 or by calling (02) 9265 1661.
Anglican Education Commission
Over the Easter school holidays this year, the AEC held the Next Generation Leaders Conference, designed to grow and challenge the next generation of Christian school leaders.
“Nurturing the next generation of Christian leaders for our schools is one of the most important ministries of the commission,” said AEC CEO Bryan Cowling. “We believe that gospel-centred leadership is crucial if our schools are to be and remain effective and God-honouring learning communities.”
About 50 people attended the conference and heard from a number of former school principals. They also participated in discussions and practical workshops.
“The aim of the conference was to help current and aspiring Christian leaders to ground their educational practice on a holistic biblical perspective,” said director of leadership and development at AEC, George Glanville.
Challenge for Church leaders
Pastors were challenged to ‘lead a church with purpose’ at a conference hosted by NSW ReachOut conference organisers in early April.
Dr Bruce Dipple addressed the more than 70 church leaders, challenging them to reconsider how they view mission. Instead of identifying one or two people who could be missionaries, Dr Dipple, director of the School of Cross-Cultural Missions at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, encouraged churches to be ‘full of people engaged with mission wherever they are’.
“The scope of mission has changed radically, but many churches are still doing mission in the old way,” Dr Dipple said. “Basically, if a church sends money and prays for missionaries each week, that’s great, but it’s not enough. They probably don’t have a deliberate mission education program and that’s where they need to start.”
The annual ReachOut conference, which ‘seeks to help young adult Christians become fully engaged in God's global mission will be held in August at Katoomba.
