In 2015, Bentleigh Korean Baptist Church offered to host a conference for youth and young adults from culturally diverse churches. That began the Ignite conference exploring the challenges and opportunities that migrant churches and their young people have in Australia. The first Ignite conference hosted by Bentleigh focused on the difficulties facing first generation migrants in multicultural churches. The second conference held this year look especially at the challenges of second-generation migrants, people who were born in Australia to migrant parents. It was held at Syndal Baptist Church on Monday 4th July 1.00pm to Tuesday 5th July 9.00pm.
Around 400 hundred people attended the conference in total. There were many young people and youth groups attending, which was important as young people and their issues are often underrepresented in Baptist gatherings.
45 people came from Gang Nam Baptist Church in Korea especially for the conference. They gave a special performance celebrating their Korean heritage, homeland and culture and tied that in with their Christian faith. Worship sessions were led by some of the Karen and Koreans and other cultural groups. Dinner was also provided by Werribee Karen Baptist Church and Bentleigh Baptist Church. This led to a very enriching sense of multiculturalism. People from very varied backgrounds could come together to share their cultural heritage and to celebrate the one faith they all share.
Darren Cronshaw described it as “a terrific opportunity to meet young people from culturally diverse churches and meeting people who are interested in resourcing culturally diverse ministry.” He especially enjoyed the ”great conversations” that he had with people.
The conference included a great lineup of inspiring speakers including Young Nak Presbyterian English Pastor Eddie Bang, Rowville Baptist Senior Pastor Wally Starchenko, Sam Chan from Red Ministries and CityLife Pastor Kim Hammond. The speakers reflected the multicultural nature of the conference Eddie Bang being second generation Korean/American, Wally Starchenko being second generation Croatian, Sam Chan being second generation Chinese and Kim Hammond being second generation Greek.
The Ignite conference aims to address issues that young people from multicultural backgrounds face. Second generation migrants often have trouble finding a sense of belonging and identity. They have a different sense of communication and lifestyle to their parents. They live between the 1st generation migrants who’ve come from overseas and have a strong sense of their homeland culture, and the broader Australian public. Second generation migrants have to bridge the two worlds of their cultural background and the culture of Australia.
Sometimes this can lead them to feel isolated or directionless. Meewon Yang, BUV multicultural consultant, explained the great underutilised potential that second generation migrants have for our churches. Senior church leaders are often “fearful of their future rather than trusting them to lead our churches”, she commented. The tradition is that older people are the leaders, while young people remain in the corner so to speak. Today’s youth are in need of more leadership and empowerment to develop their skills and sense of direction. The Ignite conference thus aims to inspire young people to take the lead in the future of their churches.
Ignite is about celebrating the heritage, language and faith of migrants, including the second generation. It aims to inspire people to be “proud of their heritage” and “not be ashamed of their roots,” as Meewon says. It also aims to empower people to develop the leadership qualities and skills to become more actively involved in their churches and to become the next generation of church leaders.
For more information see: http://www.buv.com.au/ignite or contact Meewon Yang at meewon.yang@buv.com.au
See also Mi Doh Htoo’s article on Ignite at http://www.buv.com.au/buvblog/entry/my-ignite-conference-reflection-by-mi-doh-htoo.
Source: BUV News