Today was a fantastic day! Myself and the 3 children and youth reps really enjoyed it. In the morning was the induction of the President and Vice President of Conference. I thank God for Mark and Mike who are now the ex President and Vice President; I have valued their companionship this year. Mark's message that we are lovely and worthy of love has stuck with me, and I appreciated Mike's astute observations, for example when he picked up on the need for churches to look after their lay workers better. I wish Ruth and Daleep all the best in their roles and am excited to see and hear of their adventures.
In the afternoon we did some practical businessy stuff to set us up for the week, including the first discussion of the budget.
At 5pm was the 3Generate Children and Youth Assembly report. I was feeling really quite nervous but trying hard not to be! I presented the main report and got some interesting questions as well as lots of encouragement. Questions included how will things like 3Generate will be staffed within Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network, why hasn't 3Generate brought more challenging resolutions, and why can't the 18-23s bring resolutions through 3Generate. Then Tom presented the second and third resolutions which are about churches supporting young people through exam stress. Quite a few people agreed that young people - in fact people of all ages - face stress and the church can do something about it. The fourth resolution was proposed by Abby and was about churches creating space for children and young people to ask big questions. Again people were supportive and it was highlighted that this issue affects people of all ages. It's exciting that children and young people can be leading the way bringing up these issues.
The positive reactions in person and over social media were very positive - it was overwhelming how many people have been so supportive. There were many encouraging and moving comments but one in particular brought tears to my eyes: 'think the debate from 3Generate reps has been the best so far and may turn out to be the best in the Conference. ' Wow - I am so proud to have been part of the work with the reps. How exciting to be away from home for a week in London involved in shaping a movement of 8 million members at 15 years of age!
I thought the atmosphere of the debate around the 3Generate report was good in the fact that it was very much about action; not just agreeing to the report and patting the young people on the head but going home and doing something about it. I think the next step is some sort of accountability on these resolutions - wonder how that would happen? It was also good that people were asking challenging questions about the report. It's my prayer that Conference would critique this report in the same way they would any report.
Roxane tweeted through the presentation and I recommend you look at @3genreps on Twitter to see a really good narrative of the debate. The reps did such an amazing job today - we are so blessed to have them as part of our church and our Conference.
Bed time now! You can find the reps blog for the day at www.3generatereps.wordpress.com and the video blog is at http://t.co/s722rzV6VD
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