One Project Sydney: Opportunities abound

It’s a shame it needed to happen, but I’m glad it did. Last weekend the One Project came to Sydney and from most of the feedback I’m aware of, it was a timely gathering that ministered to our souls. Why? Here were the vital ingredients:

• The focus was Jesus. We talked about Adventism, the Church, the fundamentals – but the centre of these is, no, MUST BE, Jesus. All. (Those last two words are the tagline of the One Project).
• Honesty. The presenters were honest, open and not really that controversial – but kept on pointing us to our need – our church’s need – to have Jesus as our focus and centre. This in turn allowed us to be honest in our group discussion, and all this honesty just felt good. We could really relate to what was said but for some reason hadn’t vocalised or wrestled with this stuff in this way much before.
• Friends. It was almost a who’s who of Aussie Adventist youth leadership. Most of the Conference youth directors were present. A whole bunch of youth pastors and youth leaders made the treck. A bunch of these people know and love each other so this turned out to be a kind of reunion/retreat.
• Presenters. Sam, Eddy, Tim – the big names were there and we lapped it up. Many youth leaders have bonded with these guys after getting them to come speak at their youth events and their words were somehow comforting and challenging and healing all at the same time. It was particularly great to see some ladies take the mic and point us to the One.
• Group Discussion. I don’t know why we haven’t been doing this for years. A person talks up front, and with people seated around a round table they discuss/process the theme. I remember youth legend Doug Fields doing this with his youth service years ago. We’ve done it with the last couple of Submerge gatherings. I hope it happens more, even though round tables are pricey and take up room, I think the cost is worth it.
• Music. Nick Zork is a master at choosing songs and leading people to worship God. The band wasn’t overwhelming which (unlike most youthy gatherings these days) meant you could hear people sing! How refreshing.
• No Prelims. Well not many anyway. In an over-commercialised world it’s nice to come to a gathering that is more about the core content that the extras. Maybe this reflects my age or stage of life, but let’s just get to the point people.

Why was this conversational experience needed so much by those present? Isn’t Jesus our ALL and at the centre of our lives already? Was this gathering really that controversial, as some were suggesting? Most SDA’s I know, be they to the left or right, would agree that Jesus is the focus of Adventism. Obviously that is a point of contention and rationale behind this project. But let’s move on to what opportunities lie before the One Project organisers.

I think it would be a lost opportunity to not focus future One Project gatherings on 3 things: the 28, the Church and Discipleship. I recall Grenville Kent saying that he wasn’t ashamed of any of the fundamentals, and if we’re all to get to that place we need to unpack, explain and teach how each of the 28 fundamentals relate to Jesus. The Church has taken a battering from society and it’s own current + disconnected members and we’ve got to show and live how Jesus relates to Church and wants us to be the Church. Lastly, Jesus asked us to make disciples. We’ve spoken about Jesus a lot but haven’t figured out how to do discipleship yet – and it’s desperately needed. Most SDA Christians can tell you ‘it’s all about Jesus’, but ask them how they’re intentionally growing to become like Jesus and making disciples and you won’t get too many positive responses. The One Project has the vehicle and potential to make good ground in these areas.

Well there’s a few observations. I intentionally didn’t read Nathan Brown’s reflections first (RECORD + A Today), but will do so now! Oh and hopefully you’ll be able to watch videos from the Sydney event on the1project.org – if they’re not up yet, the other talks are similar.