Youth leaders on the northern beaches have joined forces as part of a program to share ideas and training.

The second annual EquipT was attended by 55 youth leaders from more than 10 local Anglican, Baptist and Uniting churches.

The aim of EquipT is to encourage and train youth leaders to better lead their groups.

“It’s about getting people together,” said David Fell, youth minister at St Matthew’s, Manly. “It’s a great encouragement, especially for smaller groups. It lets people know that they aren’t alone.”

The idea of the day is to offer youth leaders training in areas that are common to all youth groups, no matter what their size or denomination.

At this year’s event, which was held at St Matthew’s, leaders participated in a variety of workshops, including sharing ideas, personal care for leaders and parents’ and youth ministry.

By making EquipT an annual event, organisers hope they will see local youth ministry flourish. “We want to encourage people to have a shared sense of vision,” Mr Fell said. “Sometimes there can be a ‘This is my patch’ mentality but we want to help people lift their eyes outside the parish and work in partnership with others to grow God’s kingdom.”

In August, many of the youth groups represented at EquipT came together for their first joint event. ‘Unashamed’ aimed to encourage young Christians to be passionate about their faith and to not be ashamed of Jesus.

(Photo credit: Flickr a.meins)