February of 2020, Australian Growing Together Summit was launched at multiple locations across the country, with over 600 local church leaders and pastors coming together over two weekends – Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
In an ambitious endeavor to share the summit across the entire continent, the Growing Together team synchronized broadcasts between the summit city locations each weekend so as to share presenter content and interact with questions from coast to coast.
“The Growing Together Summit had a real spirit of hopefulness from the Melbourne cohort, which for me means a lot because youth ministry is finally being recognised where it matters most – the local church.” –Pastor Philip Hyland, Youth Director, Victorian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Australia
Growing Young co-author Jake Mulder [far right] and Fuller leadership professor, Dr. Scott Cormode [second from right], were featured presenters in Brisbane and Sydney.
Dr. A Allan Martin [far left], North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists point for Growing Young Adventists, presented in Perth and Melbourne for the Growing Together Summit which serves as the launch point for the cohort.
“The ‘journey with’ mindset of the cohort process is where the profound and lasting transformation occurs. Intentional commitments need to be nurtured for generations to grow together. In my mind, the Australia Adventist Growing Together Cohort affords a wondrous journey for all churches who engage it.” –A Allan Martin, PhD
Church teams comprised of local members and leaders convened at the summit to engage the content and each other, intent on developing a contextualized transformation plan for their home church.
“Growing Together Summit [Melbourne] was so inspiring; To see so many leaders from across Australia being intentional about investing in young people. It gives me so much hope for the future of the church, for my friends and me, and for the next generations coming after us!” –YiShan Neo, 21, Commerce & Finance senior at Monash University
Following the summit, nearly 100 churches across the country, as well as the North Harbour Seventh-day Adventist Church in New Zealand, will engage the Australia Adventist Growing Together Cohort, a year-long learning journey that includes congregational assessment, coaching, webinars, initiatives for growing together. These churches comprise 20% of all the Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Australia, sharing the hope of fostering an intergenerational local church culture where next generations will thrive and grow. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully, and please pray for the churches and their leaders – for resilience, focused attention and persistence to make the Adventist Church the best place for all generations to grow. . . together!
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Growing Together 