NSY (English Youth Ministry)

Isaac Cheng (on behalf of the NSY Leaders)

NSY (North Side Youth) is our youth group for high school students and high school-aged youth that meets on Friday nights during the school term. Over the last twelve months, NSY has been able to meet in person. Since the end of 2022, we have had a few additions to the leadership team with Janelle Or and pastor Eric Lai joining the team of NSY leaders. Janelle is involved with leading the year 7-8 girls in Bible study and disciple training. Pastor Eric Lai is in charge of the development and discipleship of NSY as a whole. We thank God for continuing to grow and provide for the leaders serving in this ministry.

Over the past four terms, we have focused on encouraging the youth to know, grow, show and sow Christ in their daily lives. Our series for term 4 2021 was “Life as a Christian” which looked at what the Bible says about certain topics and how we should respond.

In term 1 this year, we looked at the different “I am” statements made by Jesus which aimed to encourage the youth to recognise Jesus as God’s own son and our Lord and Saviour. In terms 2, we did a series on “growth” with the Colossians letter. This series aims to look into Christian growth and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

During the April school holidays, a group of NSY youth and leaders went to Katoomba to attend the KYCK youth conference held by KCC. The theme was “Meet Jesus”, which encourages the youth to encounter Jesus through the gospel of Mark. We were able to attend 6 talk sessions with time in between for bonding and relationship building. The weekend away was well enjoyed by the youth and leaders and we look forward to another year at KYCK.

During Term 2, we were also able to attend ONWARD. It was a one-night conference to help youth to make sense of the culture and world around them with a gospel lens. This event took place at Chatswood Concourse and tackled the question “Can God be true and good?” At the beginning of term 3, we had a combined youth night with Pennant Hills Baptist Church. This event allowed youth to meet other youth in the area where they were able to build friendships with people they might not have met and took place in a new environment. The night consisted in a lot of fun activities, singing songs and a short message delivered by pastor Eric.

Throughout this year, we have continually seen God’s work and love in this ministry. There have been challenges along the way, such as in the influx of new youth (in particular youth with special needs) and planning for leadership development and the future of NSY. But, we thank and praise God, who has been carrying us through each step and growing the ministry, the youth, and their relationships with one another.