By Benjamin Cronshaw

I was recently part of the Kew Baptist church (KBC) and Canterbury Baptist church (CBC) team in the State Youth Games (SYG), a Christian youth sports event.  We camped at Lardner Park, a picturesque setting out near Warragul, while competing in a variety of sports and spending time in fellowship. The interdenominational interchurch sporting competition, which attracts some 3000+ people from 65 churches and youth groups, is run annually in Victoria by Youth Vision, part of Churches of Christ. 

The set up Friday night was cold, windy and rainy and the weather barely improved throughout the weekend (though there was no lack of camp fires to huddle around). The unofficial motto for some was “cold feet, warm hearts.” Zack said his experience was “sleeping out in the cold, sitting around a campfire and having good conversations with people I don’t see very often.” Playing Ultimate Frisbee on the Saturday afternoon was particularly memorable for being incredibly muddy and rainy. 

KBC Ultimate Frisbee team 
The sports range from the serious and athletic, such as ultimate frisbee, tough rugby and cross country to the less athletic, such as bocce, lawn bowls and chess and even Uno and scrabble – among many others. Uno and scrabble sound humorous until you’re playing out in some cold, wet and muddy field and the prospect of anything in a warm room seems preferable. The great thing about State Youth Games is that it is open to anyone, even those who are not very “sporty.” Some people displayed a great level of sporting prowess and fitness, while others were happy playing MarioKart and relaxing. There are sports to cater to nearly everyone, and the option to simply spectate. My greatest sporting achievement was coming second in MarioKart on the Wii U (which was surprisingly hectic), but I also enjoyed playing in Ultimate Frisbee, Indoor soccer and dodgeball. 

Ash leading the KBC lawn bowls team to victory 

Saturday and Sunday nights feature the Beep test. They never fail to generate a great sense of community as people turn out to compete or support their team mates. I managed a reasonable 10.8, and it was fun to be part of the atmosphere and cheer other people on. This year also had Spikeball (also known as Roundnet) being played alongside the beep test. 

While State Youth Games celebrates sporting excellence, it also encourages sportsmanship, generosity and friendship. They have the Spirit of the Games award and the Mark Hughes award to honour the team and individual respectively who demonstrate the "the SYG spirit of inclusion, care, generosity, grace, and kindness,” awarded this year to ROFO and James Brewer respectively. It is fun to compete and aim for a medal, but is also about having fun and meeting Christians from across Victoria. Spence said SYG is a “fun weekend with great opportunity for sportsmanship and fellowship and worship” and there is a good “vibe of the sports."

Table tennis 

Each night had a gathering with a highlight reel of the day’s sports and time to worship together. This year’s speaker was Jon Owen from Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNoH), who spoke about his experiences living in a disadvantaged part of Sydney and explored this year’s theme of hope. The question we considered was, how we can be the hope and light as Christians in our neighbourhood, in our country and in our world?

Jono talked about realising that Jesus brings light to our darkness, and then sharing that hope and light with the people around us. The “picture of the kingdom” of Jesus is a place of safety, joy, fun and dignity. There was also a collection for A21, an organisation that works against human trafficking and modern slavery, a particularly dark part of the world today. 

SYG Hope poster 

The talks included a two part call to respond over the successive nights, which I think works really well. The first night ends with an invitation for people to commit themselves to Jesus on a personal level, and then the second night includes an invitation to become the hope in their neighbourhood or context on a missional level. Respondents get a free hot drink voucher, which is a bonus! For kids who are contemplating the Christian faith, SYG is a great place to come along, have fun and have the opportunity to respond.

Ash talked about how SYG helped his faith: "It was just amazing seeing so many people come together to learn more about God’s love and purpose for them. It made me feel more secure, nurtured and at peace in my relationship with God, seeing so many other people living their lives through faith.”

Remnants of the KBC and CBC team Monday morning 

In the end, Syndal Baptist Church gained 1st place overall while Kew Baptist came a very respectable 11th. State Youth Games is a great time of fun, fellowship and community. It is considered by many to be the “best weekend of the entire year,” and I am inclined to agree. 

Simon described his experience at SYG thus: “cold, wet, miserable, smoky clothes, bad sleep and sore muscles … but you get to hang out with your mates and worship Jesus together” – which presumably makes the hardship worth it. 

For more information see: http://stateyouthgames.com/vic/about/
For a list of sports see: http://stateyouthgames.com/vic/rules/
 

Macleod’s historic Strathalan Community transformed to provide the latest model of aged care.

Baptcare has welcomed members of the Strathalan Community’s residential aged care facility to their new rooms following the completion of a major state-of-the art upgrade and expansion, providing for the growing needs of local families for high quality aged care accommodation.

Strathalan residents for the past 15 years, Bruce and Jean Edwards’ relationship with Baptcare started much earlier than the day they moved in. Bruce was a treasurer for Baptcare’s Karana Community annual fete, and Jean was a member of the auxiliary, which assisted Strathalan by raising funds and undertaking everyday chores. Jean is a second generation Strathalan resident. Her parents called it home for 20 years.
Bruce and Jean inspected their new room with their daughter Janeece. “It’s like a dream!” said Jean, 86.
 
Bruce, 90, said, “Strathalan has always been so wonderful. It is a very inclusive community.” “We are more than happy here,” said Bruce.
Janeece said that the new facility had a very luxurious feel, which complemented the quality of care that is provided to her parents.
“The carers here are so lovely, and to know that they are being so well taken care of is what makes me happy,” said Janeece.
Previously accommodating 90 residents, the residential aged care facility has been completely rebuilt and expanded to now offer 124 beds.
Strathalan, Baptcare’s flagship community, was founded in 1945 by members of the Victorian Baptist Womens Association as the first example of Baptist social work in Victoria and the first Baptist Aged Care home in the state.
In an enormous fundraising effort, particularly during a period of hardship and scarcity, the founders raised 4,000 pounds to purchase the original property, and welcomed nine elderly men as its first residents.
“Strathalan will soon welcome more residents than ever before, while still maintaining the same level of personal care that we are renowned for,” said Baptcare’s Chief Executive, Graham Dangerfield.
“We approached the new design of Strathalan with a strong focus on connections. We have created an aged care facility that enhances the connection our residents have with nurses, carers, and with each other, and also the connections that family members have with their loved ones living here and with our staff,” he continued.
 As part of the redevelopment, 49 Independent Living Villas and 67 apartments will also be completed in the coming years.
Sadie Newnham was there on Strathalan’s opening day in February, 1945. Now a current resident, she was on hand to cut the ribbon at the ceremony.
“There’s something about the atmosphere here that other places just don’t have. It is such a caring community,” said the 89 year old resident.

Baptcare is a leading, faith-based not-for-profit organisation working across Victoria and Tasmania, providing residential and community care for older people, support to children, families, and people with disability, financially disadvantaged people and people seeking asylum.

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. 

There were ten small groups, enabling people to talk in more intimate and deeper discussions after the speakers’ presentations. People were able to share their faith and their common journey, and help each other to address their problems. The conference gave people an opportunity to develop friendships and network with people that they otherwise would not have met. 

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.

Julie Hunt shares with us how an elderly congregation recognised their bleak future – and chose to change.  A story of inspiration – “we’ve stepped off a mountain and we’re waiting for God to take us wherever He wants to take us”