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Report on the "Live-In Theological Experience"

Dates:  11-17 December 1998

Aims

•     To make the best available theological resources and people accessible to young people.

•     To use credible Christian traditions to empower our lives. 

Practical Information

Sponsoring Bodies  

•     The Student Christian Movement of Aotearoa (SCMA)

•     College House Institute of Theology (CHIT)

•     The Conferences of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand - Ecumenical Youth Programme (CCANZ-EYP)

•     Christchurch Methodist Mission (CMM)

Initiation

The idea of a joint conference came from the "CWP" consultation between CCANZ member church youth programmes and SCMA in Christchurch from 2-4 May 1997.  For the last two years SCMA has organised a leadership training course each summer for fairly new SCMers.  When the CMM and CHIT approached SCM with the idea of running a summer school in theology for young people, SCM joined with them to offer its experience in organising conferences by and for young people.  From the initial meetings, the idea of inviting notable theologians to be exposed to the questions of the next generation was embraced.  Along with this, SCMers emphasised the requirement of people exploring spirituality to have input on understanding the nature of worship, and space within the busy schedule of a conference to create their own worship as a temporary community.

Planning Group

•     Rev. Martin Dickson, SCMA

•     Rev. Ken Booth, CHIT

•     Rev. Patricia Allen, CMM

With conceptual input from Lyn Russell (school chaplain), Michael Perkins (local SCM'er) and the National Coordinating Group of SCMA.

Contributions

Food is a thoroughly important part of any conference!  The main dinners were provided each by a local church.  Some people said it was the best food they had had at any conference!  Everyone hugely appreciated the caring involvement of these parishes in such a tasteful way.  Lunches and breakfasts were organised within the conference. 

Grants were made to the conference by the Ecumenical Youth Programme of the Conference of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Movement Animator programme of the World Student Christian Federation (through SCMA), the John Curnow Trust, and the Prince Albert College Methodist Trust.  This paid for the travel of all the participants from all over the country and provided for donations to the resource people.  Participants also paid a conference fee to go towards accommodation.  In total the conference ran at a surplus, which SCM will hold for the next joint conference in AD 2000. 

Attendance

Target groups

•     SCMA members

•     Church-affiliated young people 18 to 30 years old

There were twenty-five participants made up of:

•     Full-time                       11

•     Part-time                      14

•     SCM                            11

•     Not SCM                     14

Venue

The Aldersgate Centre, which comprises of Durham Street Methodist Church, the offices of the Christchurch Methodist Mission a hall, kitchen and meeting rooms.  Participants slept on mattresses and stretchers in two of the meeting rooms.  People appreciated the welcome to the place, where they learnt about its people and history.  The inner city location was also popular, especially for people from out of town.  While the meeting rooms and kitchen facilities were excellent, there was difficulty with the building being used for other groups meeting and the every-day office work going on.  A number of participants commented on the desirability of having separate worship space. 

What participants said they gained:

•     New contacts and friends.  A clearer sense of what is important to me, where I want to go, who to be.  

•     I met people of my own age who obviously thought a lot. 

•     Spending time with other young people interested in theology.

•     A renewed commitment to justice and peace.

•     Reaffirmed that it is good to ask questions and use your brain.  That other people are out there who have the same questions.

•     Ideas were challenged, some previously held opinions changed and others more deeply entrenched!    

•     A variety of new ideas - not offered as answers.

•     A time to give, receive and reflect on new ideas.

The programme

The most popular features of the programme were the two "field-trips".  The first of these was focused on worship.  It started with a two hour discussion about worship on Saturday afternoon led by Methodist ministers David Bromell and Patricia Allen where people learnt about the different elements of worship.  They learnt to observe how it appeals to the different senses, what the "God" being worshipped is like, and who is involved.  On Sunday morning, groups of two to four people went to worship with many different congregations in Christchurch City, including Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, New Life, and Society of Friends (Quakers) congregations.  At the Sunday evening "debrief" session people shared their experiences and what effect it had on them. 

The second "field-trip" was to community groups and agencies.  First people learnt about theological reflection (Peter Williams and Jenny Harrison), then visited different organisations which respond to poverty from a Christian philosophy.  These included a emergency response food-bank, an overseas aid agency and the local Catholic worker group who practice radical open-door hospitality.  Many participants were both challenged and impressed by the faith-full responses people are making to their social contexts.  Most groups took more than the allotted two hours for the visits! 

Theologians presented talks on ethics (Margaret Mayman), stories of meaning (Lucy D'Aeth and Jill Hawkey), society (Jane Higgins) and feminist theology (Ceridwyn Coles).  These predictably appealed differently to each conference member depending on their particular interests and level of previous exposure to the area.  Nevertheless, all participants have commented that they were extended.  Some said that it would probably take them months to process all the new ideas they gained, and would get back to us then to let us know what they thought of them! 

The Experience ended with a huge cooked breakfast where most of the resource people formed a panel to answer questions put by the students. 

Martin Dickson
National Administrator, SCMA