Equipping The Next Generation In Australia
An update from Brendan Willis, Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga, Australia…
We’re a family of churches with a big heart to pass the gospel onto the next generation.
My life is living proof of this truth. When Dave Taylor arrived in Sydney in June 2010, I was a student at Moore Theological College in my very first year of training. His commitment to train the next generation of leaders to serve in our then fledgling church plant meant that I was invested into, cared for, and prepared for pastoral ministry in Sovereign Grace Churches.
But my story is nothing new. Since the very first disciples were commissioned by the Lord Jesus, some 65 generations have come and gone, each forming a link in an unbroken chain as the gospel has been passed on faithfully from generation to generation. Just as Paul instructed Timothy to entrust the gospel “…to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2) we stand on the shoulders of so many who have gone before us and diligently obeyed the command of Christ to make disciples of the nations.
Over the past year, we’ve been wrestling as a region with how we might intentionally seek to invest in the next generation of leaders. And out of many discussions was born our Sovereign Grace Churches Australia (SGCA) Young Leaders Internship which began in February this year.
What is the Young Leaders Internship?
The Young Leaders Internship is a program designed to train the next generation of Sovereign Grace leaders to serve Sovereign Grace Churches. Our hope is that each of our leaders will grow in their love for Christ and his local church over the course of the year while being equipped to serve the Lord more effectively for the rest of their lives.
There are four elements to the program all aimed at growing each intern in their character, convictions, and competency in serving:
1. Cohort
Each month, on the last Sunday of the month, all of our interns gather for dinner, fellowship and teaching related to one of their 10 units of study. We spend some time reviewing the materials they’ve been reading and applying them, sharing feedback about their various focus services areas and of course enjoying each other’s company. We’ve also started working on our shared project of running a vacation bible school together as a cohort.
2. Study
We’ve designed our internship with young professionals and full-time students in mind so each month the interns also have set study designed to be achievable given those pressures. For example, this month they’re reading ‘What Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done.’ By Matt Perman. Their assignment is similarly to come up with a plan for how they can grow in Gospel–Centred productivity by forming a personal mission statement and a life goal, listing their personal values, and a basic weekly schedule that reflects these principles.
3. Serving
Given our conviction that the local church is ‘the dearest place on Earth’ we really want to help our interns grow in a passion for the Lord and the church by getting them serving. As well as shared projects like the vacation bible school, we’re looking to utilize our interns more during our Sunday gatherings and to provide them with opportunities to serve in areas they are interested in. Furthermore, we have 6 ministry mentoring sessions throughout the course of the year which are smaller groups focused around 6 different character qualities that are vital to faithful leadership.
4. Experiences
And lastly, it wouldn’t be a true Young Leaders Internship without some shared experiences! Our hope is that our interns not only grow in a love for the Lord Jesus, for one another and our local churches here in Sydney, but that they fall in love with our family of churches as well. To that end, we’re topping the year off by flying all 11 of our interns over to Glen Mills to join the Relay conference in January 2024!!
How has the Internship program been going so far?
We may be only just into our second month of the program but the Lord has been so kind! We’ve seen new friendships already begin to form among the cohort, deep and honest sharing in our ministry mentoring nights and a real sense of excitement and joy for the year ahead. Already several interns have asked for prayer specifically that God might grow them in a love for God’s people and it has been so deeply encouraging to see many putting up their hands to love and serve others.
Praise God for his faithfulness in prompting these 11 young men and women to join our program and please join with us in praying that God would bring radical transformation to the hearts of students and teachers alike beyond anything we could have dreamed!
