Christchurch to host youth leadership conference
More than 200 youth leaders are expected to come together in Christchurch for Connect 2011 during early July.
The annual Presbyterian youth leadership conference has an impressive speaker line-up including leading theology of
youth ministry author and thinker, Dr Andrew Root.
“We’re blessed to have him,” says Dr Carlton Johnstone, National Youth Ministry Development Leader for the Presbyterian
Church.
“Youth workers in New Zealand will benefit from hearing Andrew teach and speak on working with young people. He has a
strong focus on relational youth ministry, which is the theme for this year’s conference. Andrew encourages youth
workers to be with and do life alongside adolescents with no other agenda than to love them where they are.”
In addition to being the keynote speaker, Dr Root will also be taking one day training days on the impact of divorce on
children and young people and how this affects their identity. He will take a block course on relational youth ministry.
“It’s going to be a fantastic weekend of networking with youth leaders from around New Zealand, training and equipping
for youth ministry, and a weekend of leaders being challenged and inspired in their relationship with God,” says Dr
Johnstone.
The Presbyterian Church is the third largest denomination in Aotearoa New Zealand, with more than 400,000 people
identifying as Presbyterian in the 2001 Census, and 30,000 regular church attenders.
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