Young Leaders Conference 2002
AFTER an inspiring weekend in Johor Bahru, 74 young adults are now considering going into full-time church ministry. They were among the over 200 who joined the pastors for Trinity Annual Conference’s Young Leaders Conference 2002, held from June 28 to 30, 2002.
The conference’s theme, “On the Cutting Edge: Unwavering Purpose”, is one part of a three-year curriculum designed to develop godly young leaders. The conference drew largely from young men and women, aged 18 to 40, according to the Rev Juliette Arulrajah of Wesley Methodist Church, coordinator for this year’s event. They come from various levels of local church leadership such as the Local Church Executive Committees (LCEC), cell groups and Christian educators.
While it is a TRAC event, she said that there were also participants from the Chinese Annual Conference and TRAC Malaysia.
During a workshop on church leadership and ministry, 74 people indicated that they would want to find out more about full-time opportunities in the church before deciding to go into full-time ministry. Many others responded positively during commitment services and other workshops.
The conference, which took place at the Eden Garden Hotel, looked at several biblical models of leadership, including Jesus Christ and Nehemiah, as well as qualities of leadership, leadership skills and the Methodist heritage. Participants were divided into mentor groups with pastors.
The Rev Dr Isaac Lim, the TRAC President, who initiated the first conference three years ago, said: “I thought about the future of the church, and I realised that if we don’t have some intentional renewal of the church then we’ll be in trouble.”
He saw a need for a collegium of pastors mentoring young leaders. Together, pastors and other leaders would form strong bonds that would become the future leadership of the conference, the church and society. “A new millennium demands new paradigms of leadership,” he said.
The first conference resulted in four people going to seminary. Each year the event has grown larger. The pastors organised the conference this year.