By Andrew Humphries
Young Uniting Church members from Victoria and Tasmania are being offered a wonderful opportunity to broaden their faith at a conference in New South Wales in June.
The annual School of Discipleship will be held at Barrington Tops from June 26-28, promising three days of learning, worship and growth.
Younger Generations team member with equipping Leadership for Mission, Kelly Woods, is hoping to recruit 20 young adults from Victoria and Tasmania to attend the conference.
It’s the first step in a plan she hopes will see Melbourne have its own School of Discipleship.
The School of Discipleship, which began in 2004, offers those attending the chance to learn, be challenged and nurtured and to know deeper levels of understanding in their Christian lives.
The event creates space for young adults to gather, build meaningful community and explore what it looks like to follow Jesus in the realities of everyday life through learning, worshiping, asking questions and growing together in discipleship.
Kelly attended the 2008 School of Discipleship conference in Canberra and can recall the positive impact it had on her faith development.
She expects more of the same in June.
“I can recall a really good space which was grounded in theology, but there was also this call of radical discipleship,” Kelly says.
“It explored how we can live authentically as followers of Jesus where we take seriously the call to love each other and everyone feels the abundant grace that is Christ.
“How we actually embody that at work, or in other places was explored, and I thought it was all really cool.”
Kelly can’t wait to experience it all again in June and encourages young adults from the Uniting Church to join her.
“It’s so important because there isn’t much like this for young adults that explores how they can connect, be formed as part of a community and be excited by who they are as a person,” she says.
Kelly is also hoping to form a Melbourne School of Discipleship, says two church communities have already come on board with the idea and is inviting other faith communities and presbyteries to become involved.
“We’ve heard a vision from these communities and said ‘this is great, so let’s do it’,” she says.
This year’s School of Discipleship guest speaker will be Assembly National Consultant Rev Dr Sunny Chen, who is also a former Pilgrim Theological College lecturer.
“(At School of Discipleship) we’ll step back into the world of the Bible, rediscover key ideas that may have been misunderstood or overlooked and allow Scripture to speak again with fresh clarity and depth,” Sunny says.
Victorian and Tasmanian Uniting Church members keen to attend June’s conference are being offered heavily subsidised places, meaning full registration costs are covered, as well as a significant contribution to travel costs.
More information about June’s event, and the School of Discipleship in general, is available from Kelly by email at Kelly.skilton@victas.uca.org.au or Tom Grayden at tsgrayden@icloud.com