From his very first visit, Andy Stevenson knew the Leaders in Training conference was something special. Twenty years later, he is still caught by the vision to disciple and train senior high school students for a lifetime of following Jesus and serving others.
The same vision that caught him back then has now spread around the country – with LiT camps launching in other states and towns.
From one NSW camp in 1999, LiT has grown to six camps around Australia with more in the pipeline. Four are run by Youthworks in spring and summer holidays in NSW, Tasmania began LiT five years ago and Victoria’s camp was established in 2021. Next year, LiT camps are set to launch in South Australia and Western Australia.
There are also discussions with gospel partners in Queensland, and foundations are being laid for future conferences with partners in the Northern Territory, the Armidale Diocese and the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn.
“When I first attended LiT, I thought, ‘These kids are switched on!’,” says Mr Stevenson, who is head of the Ministry Support Team at Youthworks. “It created a culture for all young people to be keen to inspire and encourage one another to continue following Jesus, and to get involved in ministry and have a crack at it. That is quite powerful.”
A shared vision
“The driver behind LiT has always stayed the same,” he adds. “It’s to help senior high school young people in their discipleship of Jesus, living as Christians amongst their friends at school. It’s to see them sharing their faith and being able to be young leaders in their churches and communities.
“From there, the idea is we train them to teach the Bible and do ministries like kids’ ministry, lunchtime group ministries, and other church and school-based ministries.”
Seeing young people flourish like this involves working closely with local churches. “We have churches send their young people and they provide leaders. Together, across the churches, we’ve built great leadership teams to do the core business of discipleship and training young people for a life of following Jesus and for ministry, both now and in the future.”
A prayer for growth
As the LiT conference reach expands, Mr Stevenson prays the camp culture will remain focused on young people growing in Christ and partnering well with local churches.
“I’m so thankful for the like-minded partnership with people all over the country,” he says. “All the people I am talking to who are involved in youth ministry around the country, there is good gospel partnership. I’m thankful for the vision of many to see that the resources and camps like LiT are the place where we start to train people who will lead our churches in the future.
“I’m praying that LiT continues to start the leadership pathway for young people in churches around the country, all while seeing them be strengthened to serve their local churches and communities. That’s my prayer – that the greater resource of LiT strengthens young people to go and serve.”
