Sancta Maria College’s youth ministry team are quite a recent addition to the school. It started late last year, and the dedicated members have been meeting during lunchtimes to discuss, reflect and train. The group has been growing rapidly and is always looking for new members.
On the weekend of 7 & 8 of May, Aquinas College joined us at our school to participate in a two-day retreat. During the first day we watched an online conference taking place in Australia. This involved speakers from various oceanic countries speaking about their life and experiences with mentoring and youth ministry. From these speakers there were many lessons to be learnt, inspiring stories and performances. Both schools got to mix and get to know each other and make lots of new friends. Personally, I really enjoyed meeting everyone, sharing experiences and finding like-minded people. As a bonus there was lots of really good food provided during the two days.
On the second day met Auckland NET (national evangelisation team). They lead us through the day and put on many games and activities. We also discussed and socialised in small groups, each led by a member of the NET team. These all connected back to the main theme of finding the purpose of your life. Going deeper into the topic we learn about God’s unconditional love for us and that each of us is loved uniquely. At the end of the retreat, we went into a quiet time of listening, reflecting and praying.
The retreat really had an impact on me and the others, it was so exciting to think about the future and God’s plan for us. Overall, the two days were full of fun, learning and relationship building. As the youth ministry team, we hope to be taking part in and possibly leading more retreats in future!
