Lyn Worsley

Lyn is going to present her ‘strengths-based’ model of resilience – ‘The Resilience Doughnut’ and the benefits of using it with individuals, groups and communities. She is going to outline how it connects strengths to build resilience, with practical helpful examples, and then illustrate how it enables people to thrive (not just survive!) during experiences of adversity.

Lyn Worsley is the Director of The Resilience Centre Sydney and the author of her own model of resilience – ‘The Resilience Doughnut’. She is also a Senior Clinical Psychologist over 20 years experience working with children, adolescents, adults and families from a strengths-based and solution-focused perspective, as well as a Trainer and Presenter.

Wendy Strachan

For more than 35 years, Wendy’s been involved in children’s ministry in different parts of the world with Scripture Union and other agencies.

Phillip Day

“In summing up, it’s the constitution, it’s Mabo, it’s justice, it’s law, it’s the vibe, and … no, that’s it … it’s the vibe. I rest my case.” The Castle, 1997

Often the emphasis of leadership is recruiting & training a team, and setting strategies & goals towards a vision of ministry & mission. As important as that is, that’s only part of the picture. This session will emphasise the need to attend to ‘the culture’ or ‘the vibe’ of your ministry or mission team. There are at least nine aspects to this and we will set ourselves a direction to explore them all!

Phil has 40+ years of experience of ministry in a variety of teaching, leadership, ministry and consultancy roles … roles to do with everything from urban and beach missions, camps, schools ministry, a large regional church, small country and urban churches, national conferences, CRE, MOPS, play groups, and kindergartens. Oh, and setting ’the vibe’ in his family is some of his best work.

Michael Stalley

“Life is Intergenerational; anyone telling you different is selling you something!” I am sure this is what the Dread Pirate Roberts said to Buttercup. Come and ask the question “Why Intergenerational?” Is this just another ministry fad that will be short lived? Or just come and find out who the Dread Pirate Roberts is!

Michael Stalley is a Priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland. Over 20 years he has led contemporary and traditional churches, urban and rural, through loss and new beginnings. He has a particular interest in being part of communities in which all can find a valued place to belong, grow and contribute. In recent years, Michael has completed the “Certificate in Lifelong Faith Formation” through the Vibrant Faith Institute as well as attending the International Intergenerate conference in 2019. Michael has participated in the Australian Intergeneration Round Table (AIR 2019 and 2020) and is on the Intergenerate Australia planning team. Michael believes “The Princess Bride” can be useful somehow in all circumstances!

Naomi Swindon

Being welcomed into schools is not a ‘given’ for any of us. This workshop explores a simple and profound approach for churches to be AND bring blessing to a school and its community. Relevant to Primary and Secondary school settings.

Naomi Swindon is a training specialist for SU Victoria with a lifelong focus on engaging, impactful youth work that embodies Jesus’ way and invites people on board. She loves a good laugh, justice and singing her heart out!

Terry Williams

Understanding some of the factors that cause behaviour is a beginning step in shaping appropriate response strategies for helping children to manage their behaviour and keep you in control. Practical components of the session include some first step strategies, preparatory checklists and a 10 Point Discipline Plan to help you help a child to navigate through their challenging behaviours to bring positive results.

Terry trained and worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools before joining the staff team of Scripture Union Queensland, where he has worked for 37 years as a specialist in ministry with families and children. Terry’s passion is to help children to find and live out a lifelong faith in Jesus and to find the ‘life to the full’ that He provides as well as supporting families in their primary role in faith formation. Terry is married to Margaret and they have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Brad Case

So you find yourself with a young but passionate bunch of volunteers. How do you develop them into more competent and more capable leaders that will support and then out-lead you? How do you make them into a team that is humming along and kicking goals? In this session we’ll discover some ways to intentionally develop your team in a Christ-like way.

Brad Case is the Connection Pastor at Gateway Baptist Church and loves to see young emerging leaders cultivate healthy spiritual foundations to flourish in lifelong ministry. Brad has been a school chaplain, youth and children’s pastor and QLD State Director for Generations ministry, long time SU Qld camps director and has even written a children’s book. He is married to Mercy and together they are always making travel plans. He enjoys all kinds of sport and music, breaking out his saxophone whenever possible.

Tom Schmidt

The success of any ministry relies heavily on the health of the leadership team. There are many challenges to maintaining a healthy team. Everything from taking the right steps to form a team through to keeping a team focused, motivated and passionate over the long run. This elective will give you practical insight and tips into starting a team well and maintaining the health of a team over many years so that your ministry will last and have true kingdom impact.

Tom has been leading teams of people involved in youth and young adult ministry for almost 20 years. From state wide events to small one off teams to long running ministries, he has successfully built and led teams for a huge variety of purposes.

Beth Barnett and Brendan Petty

This workshop values the opportunity that small groups provide for getting up close, hands on, real life impacts with the Bible. Matched with a tumble of diverse ages and backgrounds, we get to the heart of helping one another find the word made flesh and dwelling among us. Learn how to structure these times for supporting healthy intergenerational relationships, in-depth Bible understanding and activitated discipleship.

Beth Barnett is a writer, speaker and gypsy. She lectures in children and families ministries in the University of Divinity, writes Bible engagement resources for SU

Brendan works with SU Victoria in training for ministry and mission with children and is part of the kids band Snack Music. He loves thinking about ways to facilitate groups, especially interactively and online.

Bethany McGibbon

Arguably, your early years ministry is the most foundational and critical ministry in the life of your church. Join us as we unpack the ‘why’ we provide a ministry space for young children and explore how to create an engaging and exciting space/program that will see preschoolers’ hearts set on fire for Jesus.

Bethany is the Early Years Pastor at Gateway Baptist and works as a Children’s and Ministry Chaplain in a number of early learning centres across Queensland.

Terry Williams

With current data telling us that the Western church has been losing more than 50% of young people every year from the church and the Christian faith, there is an urgent need to rethink how we are outworking Jesus’ final command to ‘go and make disciples’. Come and explore 2 foundational principles and 8 key pillars that will help to shape a long term discipling strategy for the children and young people in your context.

Terry trained and worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools before joining the staff team of Scripture Union Queensland, where he has worked for 37 years as a specialist in ministry with families and children. Terry’s passion is to help children to find and live out a lifelong faith in Jesus and to find the ‘life to the full’ that He provides as well as supporting families in their primary role in faith formation. Terry is married to Margaret and they have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Tracy Valentine

Tracy is the Families Pastor at Gateway Baptist Church. She has been passionate about kids ministry for over 20 years and loves partnering with parents as they raise a generation of kids who love Jesus.

Monique Riviere-Pendle & Mathew Pendle

Husband and wife presenters, Mathew and Monique, will share from their experiences of working in both the Government and Independent school contexts, drawing on their different roles. School Chaplaincy is diverse, and offers a fantastic opportunity to engage with a school community in a range of ways. This session will give an overview of some of the possible directions of School Chaplaincy, as well as the differences between working in the Government and Independent School sectors. This session will explore everything from running Services, Breakfast Clubs, Speed Stacking and Service Learning opportunities.

A trained Secondary School English, Religious Education and Humanities teacher, Monique decided to commence further study in Theology with the view of going in to Chaplaincy after working for five years in the Catholic Education system. After completing the degree, she was appointed as the Chaplain at a P-12 Ecumenical school in South-East Melbourne where she has worked in the role for the past four years.

Mathew worked in State School Chaplaincy through the Salvation Army for three years before taking a year of Paternity Leave. He has worked at two different schools in this role, and has also combined it with his experiences as a Family and Children’s Worker in a local Uniting Church. He is part of the federally funded Chaplaincy program and has returned to the role from Paternity Leave in 2021.

Korus Connect

Korus Connect (The Council for Christian Education in Schools) has been working in and with school communities for 75 years, focussed on the delivery of Special Religious Instruction and the provision of pastoral care through school chaplaincy.

Terry Williams

How can you hold an audience without a rope? Come and discover the key elements in the art of storytelling that will help to connect with your audience, maintain their attention and create a special space for God to touch people’s hearts and minds. Such is the power of story and it is as easy as A, B, C & D.

Terry trained and worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools before joining the staff team of Scripture Union Queensland, where he has worked for 37 years as a specialist in ministry with families and children. Terry’s passion is to help children to find and live out a lifelong faith in Jesus and to find the ‘life to the full’ that He provides as well as supporting families in their primary role in faith formation. Terry is married to Margaret and they have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Stuart Conkie

Neurodiverse people think and operate a little differently. This term is used when describing people with autistic spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and others. Neurodiverse youth often struggle fitting in at church and school. This session will provide some practical ideas on how to help them.

Stuart has worked in Christian ministry with children, youth and adults for almost 30 years. He has been a teacher, worked in local missions, and pastoral ministry. More recently, he has started a counselling practice and has a passion for helping people discover hope.

Bradon French

Their own mental health is one of the biggest concerns of young people and their families. This workshop explores how our faith compels us to care for ourselves and our neighbour, and how creating safe spaces is an act of love and hospitality. We’ll also include a few buzz words, like resilience, climate anxiety, social media and #2020. We will ask some good questions, seek wisdom from sacred stories and modern experts, and learn why helping someone breathe might be our greatest gift.

Bradon French is a husband, a father and a retired podcaster. When Bradon isn’t writing about himself in the third person, he is the Chaplain at Wesley College Glen Waverley in Melbourne. Bradon has worked for the Uniting Church in Australia in various youth ministry settings for the past 16 years. Despite this, he remains terrible at writing bios.

Natalie Kaiser

This workshop will look at developing a toolbox of strategies for you to use with children with special needs (diagnosed or otherwise). We will look at the main reasons children may have difficulties accessing the curriculum and what strategies we can have in our toolbox to effectively include them in our program.

Natalie is a paediatric Occupational Therapist who works with children with a variety of special needs.

Judy Wharton

Visual, creative, exciting ideas to encourage your children to pray. Fun and effective ideas for families, church, RE, camps, bringing an understanding and acceptance of prayer into their everyday experience.

Judy has previous experience of 20 years as a Children`s Ministry Leader/Pastor including overseas training of children`s ministry workers, a valued team member on various mission trips connected with children & prayer. She also worked as a Teacher Aide with Special Needs children. Currently conducts workshops on encouraging and inspiring children to pray. Her passion is children, prayer & mission, which has enabled her to be involved with praying children around the globe!

Naomi Swindon

Put your burning questions to some seasoned practitioners.

Naomi Swindon is a training specialist for SU Victoria with a lifelong focus on engaging, impactful youth work that embodies Jesus’ way and invites people on board. She loves a good laugh, justice and singing her heart out!

Terry Williams

“Why didn’t God stop the tsunami?”, “Why did God let my mum die?” These big questions are just a sample of the many questions that children ask and need to find some answers for as they struggle to make sense of life and faith. How we respond and journey with children in the conversations that follow is of vital importance for children to grow in their understanding of God and their own faith.

Terry trained and worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools before joining the staff team of Scripture Union Queensland, where he has worked for 37 years as a specialist in ministry with families and children. Terry’s passion is to help children to find and live out a lifelong faith in Jesus and to find the ‘life to the full’ that He provides as well as supporting families in their primary role in faith formation. Terry is married to Margaret and they have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Erica Skerman

Growing up is hard work, especially when you are trying to figure out all this ‘adulting’ stuff. How do we help them do it? And also create a healthy, wonderful community for young adults to even thrive in within our churches?

Erica has been involved with youth and young adults for over 5 years as a camp coordinator for the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland and within her own church community.

Tim Fawssett

Jesus was good with outsiders. He seemed to like and know how to engage really well with those who were different. And his time with them was often life-changing. Our modern society however struggles with differences. We live most comfortably in our own social, cultural, faith or social media bubble, and experience frustration that others can be so wrong. In this session we will explore the rich benefits of connection with, talking with, and nurturing healthy relationships with those of a different faith or culture. You will gain practical help in building stronger communities, one chat at a time.

Tim Fawssett looks after Cross-Cultural Innovations at Scripture Union. From 2010-2017 he led a ministry called The Feast in multicultural Birmingham, England, helping equip Christian young people to engage with, love and share their faith with others of different faiths and cultures. Now Tim is taking this experience of vibrant engagement with “others” and exploring how it can inform and enrich ministry with SU and the local church.

Bradon French

Their own mental health is one of the biggest concerns of young people and their families. This workshop explores how our faith compels us to care for ourselves and our neighbour, and how creating safe spaces is an act of love and hospitality. We’ll also include a few buzz words, like resilience, climate anxiety, social media and #2020. We will ask some good questions, seek wisdom from sacred stories and modern experts, and learn why helping someone breathe might be our greatest gift.

Bradon French is a husband, a father and a retired podcaster. When Bradon isn’t writing about himself in the third person, he is the Chaplain at Wesley College Glen Waverley in Melbourne. Bradon has worked for the Uniting Church in Australia in various youth ministry settings for the past 16 years. Despite this, he remains terrible at writing bios.