We’re excited to introduce six 2019 breakout/elective session topics run by six great communicators.
Each session tackles what we consider to be an important contemporary issue.
Your young people can choose which session they prefer to attend on each day.
As per the programme, each is held for one hour at 10.45am on Saturday and 1.30pm on Sunday; except for Richard Goodwin’s two shorter ‘Quick Chat’ sessions, which are held at 5.30pm each afternoon.
Check out the blurbs below, share with your youth, and have a think about which one(s) you and your young people would like to attend.
Speaker: Aaron Hodgson, youth pastor at Raleigh Street Christian Centre
Topic: ‘The Bible: Read For A Change’
Session location: upstairs dining room (10.45am Saturday and 1.30pm Sunday)
How do we know the Bible is God’s word? How can we trust it? And if it is God’s word, how can we read it so that our lives can be shaped by the truths that are found in the Bible? Aaron addresses all this and more in his elective. This one for those who have grown up reading their Bible and are looking to up-skill in reading it; OR those who have never picked up the bible before! Whoever you are, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how God’s word is living and active… and when we study it, it can transform us into who God has called us to be.
Speaker: Jeremy Suisted; university lecturer, business owner, coaching co-ordinator for CCCNZ
Topic: ‘Why Run the Race?’
Session location: Rimu lecture theatre (10.45am Saturday and 1.30pm Sunday)
Have you ever thought that following Jesus sounds like hard-work? Why bother following him, when it's so much easier to go with the flow? Isn't it smarter to just pray - and then live your own way? Come along to this elective to discover why running the race with Jesus is where true happiness and life is found. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding that running the race of life with Jesus - and really, truly running! - is actually what we were created for. It is doing this - and only doing this - that will scratch the itch in our hearts.
Speakers: MacKenzie Heta and Lillya Courtney, previous HM-Rage youth and current students
Topic: ‘The Misconceptions of God: Uncovering Mistaken Beliefs’
Session location: The Village stage (10.45am Saturday and 1.30pm Sunday)
We live in a world where many millions of people don’t know God. Because of this, misconceptions (or mistaken beliefs) about His character often arise and are passed around as truth! Whether you’re not a Christian yet, or you’ve been a Christian for ages, it’s possible you’ve gathered some slightly random ideas about God that aren’t quite right. MacKenzie and Lillya, young people just like you, experienced this in their own lives. Over time, they’ve worked with their pastor and friend Christ Northcott and Yaakov Brown to pinpoint some of the most common misconceptions and test them against what the Bible really says. Does God operate like a genie? Can we earn our salvation? How big is God? Come along to this elective and walk away with a more Biblical understanding about these common misconceptions and more.
Speaker: Tim Marshall, producer at advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi
Topic: Finding Focus
Session location: Auditorium (10.45am Saturday and 1.30pm Sunday)
There are a lot of things in life that want your attention. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the things you should be doing, that you end up doing none of it? This is something Tim has been walking through in his own life. He's gone through the process of asking himself: Where do I put my focus & attention? What will bring peace? What can shut out the noise and bring focus? In this elective, he'll talk about how the Amour of God can show us what we should be focused on. He wants you to walk away knowing it is possible to find God-given peace and live in it, and that it is possible to quiet the noise of everything going on in your mind. He'll encourage you to find focus and therefore walk in more freedom.
'QUICK CHAT' ELECTIVES (ONE on Saturday and ONE on Sunday)
Speaker: Richard Goodwin, Pathways College teacher
Topics:
- ‘It Takes Guts, Brains, and Heart: Following Jesus in the Wake of the Israel Folau Saga’
- ‘Christ's Church After Christchurch: Fearless Love in a Fearful Age’
Session location: The Rock - Village stage, (5.30pm Saturday and Sunday)
- The name Israel Folau used to mean "outstanding rugby player"; but now, for many people, it means "Christian bigot". The dramatic shift in the public's view of Folau after his controversial tweets has sounded alarm bells for many Kiwi Christians. Traditional Christian perspectives are increasingly unpopular. How can we speak and live honestly out of our faith convictions in a culture that often seems hostile to them? Find out at this elective.
- The Christchurch mosque shootings were our country's 9/11, an act of terror so horrific that it seems likely to have changed many Kiwis' attitudes towards racism, immigration, and Islam. As followers of Jesus, how should we respond to this new cultural landscape? Hear Richard's thoughts at this elective.
