Ninth National Youth Conference
Brisbane January 25 to January 28
On the last weekend in January, a large contingent of our Youth Association and fellowship attended the Ninth National Youth Conference in Brisbane. Hundreds of youth and young adults gathered in Brisbane for one of the largest Youth Conferences ever held by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. The Community and Parish of Sts Anargiri was represented by approximately 25 people.
Following are some of their thoughts and reflections about the Conference.
“I gained a lot from the National Youth Conference. It was a real eye-opener to experience our Church in another city and to attend the ordination of Fr Nicholas Brown, who had converted to Orthodoxy. It was also nice to meet with young people from other states to share our thoughts and concerns about the responsibility of youth. However, I found that the greatest benefit came from the topic itself. I found it broad and difficult. It challenged and frustrated me. Even after listening to the speakers and the group discussions, I was dissatisfied. I was so determined on finding an answer that satisfied me, that I continued to discuss the topic with friends throughout the conference and it continued to torment me when I returned to Melbourne. This experience pushed me to think about my responsibility as an Orthodox young person and to make a commitment to keeping it.”
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“The conference was informative and there was a lot of good advice…I felt that the topics that were discussed were appropriate for the responsibility of the youth, but in future I would like to hear more about spirituality”
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“Great opportunity to meet both fellow Christians and clergy. Discussion time was far too short, both in the small groups and in the combined groups. I would have preferred more spiritual time with the other delegates. I appreciated the networking of the other delegates and the spiritual leaders. Could we have the conference annually or min (state) conferences in between? Thanks and looking forward to the next one.”
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“It was great to meet youth from other parishes and states and hear their ideas and perspectives, but I would have liked to have more time for questions and discussion.”
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“It was a great opportunity to get together with other like-minded people and share our opinions. It would be nice if the youth conference was held on a more regular basis. Also, it would have been fantastic if a colour-coded badge was made depending on the State that the delegates have come from, to further promote meeting other youth from the same area we live in.”
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“The conference material was of a very high academic quality which, once analysed, was very significant for our current youth and anyone involved with youth.”
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“The youth conference was well-organised. It would have been better to have the two keynote addresses on two separate days to allow more time to discuss. Excellent networking with other Greek youth. It gave the opportunity to youth to communicate with their spiritual leaders. Great entertainment. The traditional dancing group in Brisbane was excellent.”
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