Youth Of The Nation Conference

Infobox festival
festival_name = Youth Of The Nation Conference



caption =
location = Wanganui, New Zealand flagicon|New Zealand
years_active = 2004 - present day
dates =
genre = Christian
website = http://www.yotn.net.nz/

Youth Of The Nation is an annual Christian Youth Conference held in Wanganui, New Zealand. Unlike many other Christian conferences, this event is not held by one specific church or denomination. Youth Of The Nation Conferences are hosted by the Wanganui Christian Youth Workers [The official Youth Of The Nation Website http://www.yotn.net.nz/mainindex.html] collective, a group of Christian youth pastors & workers from different denominations & churches across the city of Wanganui. Youth pastors are represented from Anglican, Apostolic, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Open Brethren, Catholic, Incedo (YFC) NZ & Presbyterian. The conference also has support from churches, where the youth workers are not able to attend meetings, due to various circumstances, including Associated Church Of Christ, Christian Outreach Centre, Elim & Non-denominatial.

Vision

Youth Of The Nation (YOTN) aims to encourage and empower Christian young people to pursue Jesus Christ with a zeal that will impact their generation. As an event, the goal is to provide a 3-4 day event that is affordable for more New Zealand young people, while maintaining the standards & excellence of some of the leading national conferences.

The vision to hold YOTN came from Wanganui A/G youth pastor, Ben Hoyle. In 2003, Ben approached the local city youth workers to hold the conference as a city. He recognised that for one church to put on such a large event was too much, and that together the city could pull it's resources and achieve the goal. With many of the city youth workers on board, plans were made to hold the very first conference in July of 2004.

Each year YOTN has gained momentum. Each year attendance grows and more young people leave excited about their faith.

"YOTN continues to build in it's momentum, magnitude and excellence. It is great to see more and more young people coming and leaving radically changed. The greatest thrill for me is seeing the hunger in the younger generation for the reality of God and a deep desire to walk in God's ways. Long may it continue." - "Ps Iliafi Esera (Faith City Church A/G, Wanganui)" [quoted from "Youth of The Nation IV Report" Empowered Magazine Spring 2007 Edition Page 10]

History

Conferences

Starting with Youth Of The Nation 2004, the conference has been held annually. [The official Youth Of The Nation Website: History Page http://www.yotn.net.nz/history.html]

YOTN Championship

Youth Of The Nation strives to bring in different elements to provide a different kind of event. In 2008, the conference added a sports extension. The YOTN Championship is a sports tournament where the different churches/youth groups attending the conference enter teams to compete for the YOTN Championship Trophy. It is a fun competitive event.

External links

Websites

* [http://www.yotn.net.nz/ Youth Of The Nation] - official website

News Articles

* [http://www.challengeweekly.co.nz/Vol_63_Issue_No_30.html Young folk full on at meet in Wanganui] - article in "Challenge Weekly Vol 63 Issue No 30 Page 5"
* Youth Of The Nation Conference 05 - article in "Empowered Magazine Spring 2005 Edition Page 13"
* Youth Of The Nation III Conference - article in "Empowered Magazine Spring 2006 Edition Page 14"
* Youth of The Nation IV Report - article in "Empowered Magazine Spring 2007 Edition Page 10"

References