A friend recently counted how many High School students there are in our local Tauranga / Western Bay of Plenty Colleges. I was surprised!
- Katikati College – 789
- Te Puke College – 829
- Aquinas College – 746
- Bethlehem College – 1878
- Mount College – 1721
- Papamoa College – 1623
- Tauranga Boys College – 2059
- Tauranga Girls College – 1363
- Otumoetai College – 1813
- Te Whare Kura o Mauao – 261
Total Population = 13,082 High School students!
My estimate is 5% attending a youth group:
- That would be about 550 in Tauranga, and maybe 50 in each of Katikati and Te Puke.
- (It might be less – while I pray it is more!)
For a comparison, our 2016 interviews with pastors across NZ confirmed 15% (or more) attended a youth group 25 years ago.
The point?
- MOST youth are not hearing about the idea of a Creator God – who loves us – and who gives hope!
- If we do not engage in our schools, important bridges that catalyse important conversations won’t exist!
For senior leaders / adults
- We (the Church) are paying a HUGE PRICE for the lack of funding, and related lack of initiative, being taken at the NATIONAL LEVEL (then feeding into the regional level, with a clear plan) in support of Christian youth ministry.
For some equipping re facilitating school groups
- A simple paradigm for Christian school groups – suiting the current environment – is typed out at the top of https://godtalk.nz/schools/
- For a seminar – an excellent single equipping session (one talk) by Scott McCullock – previous youth pastor at LifeZone church here in Tauranga – is at https://godtalk.nz/launching-an-effective-school-group-mp3-message/
- It’s the best talks on how to run a group I’ve heard here in NZ.
Do you know of anyone doing something amazing with Christian school groups?
- We’d LOVE to hear (and even to give you/them a platform!)
