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CONFERENCE NEWS
Adventist
Presence Grows
at Major Children’s Ministry Expo
by Pastor Neil Marks, Director of Health & Children’s Ministries
It is the number one children’s ministry
event in the country. It has grown
every year since its beginning in March
2005, and so has the Adventist presence
at this event.
The IGNITE 2013 Children’s Ministry
Conference and Expo, is a massive,
annual Children’s Ministry event
organised by the Queensland Children’s
Ministry Network (QCMN), composed
of 20 different Christian denominations.
The Brisbane event this year, held in a
Mueller College near Redcliffe, attracted
a record 800 participants, overshadowing
yet again both the Melbourne and
Sydney events.
What has been significant over the
years however, is the steadily increasing
Adventist presence and influence at
this event. A few years ago, the Adventist
contingent was the third largest of all
the churches with 55 in attendance, and
this tremendous result was similar again
this year. Recent years have also seen the
increasing involvement of Adventists as
presenters at the event. Three Adventist
Children’s Ministry Directors have lead
out in workshops including; Julie Weslake
from the South Pacific Division,
Darren Pratt from North New South
Wales Conference and David Edgren
from Victorian Conference. They have
conducted workshops in storytelling,
Christian writing and publishing, ballooning,
what it takes to grow children
into spiritual champions, intergenerational
worship, and children in service.
At IGNITE 2013, more than 50 Adventists
attended and new ground was
broken by the South Queensland Children’s
Ministry Department in operating
an Adventist booth—“Children’s Ministry
Resources: SDA Church” at the
Expo. Working with the Children’s Ministry
Advisory, the Adventist Book Centre
in Dakabin, and Christian Life Resources
at Eight Mile Plains, displayed an impressive
range of children’s ministry resources
developed by our church over the past
five or six years for the first time. Many
stopped by the booth and more than 50
order forms were taken by people at the
conference.
To anyone involved in Children’s Ministry
in the local church, at home or
at school, this event is a must on your
annual calendar.
You will leave inspired by the worship
and plenary speakers, equipped by the
40 to 50 different workshop options, and
connected to all sorts of other children’s
ministry people and resources.
Draw a circle around the first Saturday
of March 2014 (March 1), and join
with nearly a thousand others who have
a heart for children. You will not be
disappointed!
4 | April 2013
| Focus