This year CEY Ministries is offering an exciting new platform of training to parishes in the Diocese of Newcastle.

This training focuses on the culture & development of effective ministry to the children and families we have in our many congregations. It is designed to give you practical knowledge of the many ways we as a church can minister to these groups, through an understanding of the context in which they exist today.

The training will give you a background in the following areas:
          •    Changing patterns in family structures
          •    How different generations approach communication & learning
          •    The current world and changes in life experiences
          •    Faith Development Theories (Westerhoff)
          •    Family Faith Formation
          •    Models of Ministry
          •    Parish Profiling
          •    Using the 8 strategies for ministry with families and  congregations

Parts of the Training:
The training is broken up into 3 parts:

          Session 1:   The Here and Now
                              (Identifying changes in society)

          Session 2:   Engaging or Not
                              (Contextually focusing on the Church)

          Session 3:   Planning for Effectiveness
                              (Focusing on parish based ministry)

Each one of these training sessions will be a combined session with the students studying the ‘Children & Young Peoples Stream’ of the Bishop’s Certificate in Theology. The dates of the training are:

                                          Session 1: Saturday 19th April 2008

                                        Session 2: Saturday 16th August 2008

                                       Session 3: Saturday 31st January 2009

The Venue is the ‘Point Wolstoncroft Sport & Recreation Centre’ at Gwandalan on the Central Coast, from 2-5pm on each designated afternoon.