Youthworks College dean Graham Stanton lectures this week in the city of churches, where deep biblical knowledge on youth ministry is scarce.
Mr Stanton’s teaching home for the next three days will be the Bible College of South Australia (BCSA), a well-known institution among the state's evangelical Christians and affiliated with the Australian College of Theology.
BCSA’s principal, the Rev Dr Stephen Raison says students do not normally receive the benefits of such a biblically thought-out perspective on youth ministry.
"Graham is part of an organisation devoted to training and teaching and theologically reflecting on what they're doing and what others are doing.”
Dr Raison says the majority of BCSA students are considering careers in ministry.
However, unlike Sydney, he says the college lacks those who study simply to benefit their local church ministry or everyday life.
"In Sydney there's a strong and positive tradition of people wanting to study the Scriptures and apply them to all areas of life," he says.
This is one of the reasons why Dr Raison appreciates the warm but informal friendship between the two colleges.
"I'm very interested in bringing people who are good lecturers and have a fairly deep theological background, which a lot of youth workers don't have," he says.
"By drawing on Youthworks, we get the whole package.".
How sending helps Sydney
Mr Stanton says the teaching trip is an obvious initiative, given Sydney's wealth in youth and children's ministry training.
"We have a lot of resources in Sydney that are not available elsewhere," he says.
"Part of our mission is to provide theological leadership in youth and children's ministry, not only here, but elsewhere where we can.”
The experience will help him to understand better how youth ministry works in a different context, he says.
"I'm looking forward to talking with youth ministry students in Adelaide and thinking about the principles and priorities with them, and to see how ministry ideas are worked out in a different location.”
Mr Stanton will take undergraduate degree and diploma students through the first part of the "Youth in the Churches' subject offered by Youthworks.
New recruit Jim French will teach the second half of the subject in September.
This is the second teaching visit by Youthworks College staff, as Stuart Crawshaw and John Thorpe taught a subject in a similar way at the college last year.
