150 youth leaders gathered together on Saturday 23 March in Preston to network, learn and worship together at the North Youth Evangelism Conference. The Youth Evangelism Conference (YEC) exists to inspire and equip leaders to reach young people.
The theme was “here and now”, encouraging delegates to become students of their culture and context, asking the question: how do we become effective in communicating the good news of Jesus Christ in the here and now?
At YEC 2019 delegates heard first hand from the rising generation. The stage was given to those born in this millennium to share what it feels like to share their faith with their peers.
On stage are Lara and Jodie who were being interviewed about their faith
The day started off with uplifting worship led by Joe Bright, followed by inspiring talks from young people about their experiences of sharing faith, and how youth leaders can empower and encourage young people to share their faith with their friends. There were challenging seminars on a whole range of topics including a Proclamation Masterclass, Youth Evangelism from Scratch and Evangelism in the Digital Realm. The delegates were left feeling inspired by Gavin Calver from the Evangelical Alliance, who invited delegates to be united in evangelism, echoing the feel of church unity surrounding the conference, and to pray for a gear change in evangelism for each other as the day closed.
Joe Bright leading worship
Jonathan Masters, Youth, Children and Families Missioner for the Diocese of Chester, was part of the organising team for the conference. Jonathan says: “The Youth Evangelism Conference is such a great opportunity for youth leaders, whether paid or voluntary, to come together, feel inspired and leave equipped and ready to empower their young people to share faith with their friends. We are already excited about the Youth Evangelism Conference 2020 in Manchester.”
Bookings for the conference in 2020 are open now, and tickets are only £20 until the middle of April.
If you are interested in equipping and empowering young people in your church to share their faith, you may want to have a look at Mission Academy Live, a six-week course to help young people do just that.
