09.07.2014
Leadership Course to Equip Young Adults to Participate in Church Life
A new leadership foundation course for young adults is to be launched in November in Dublin and Glendalough. The course will aim to empower Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic young adults, aged between 18 and 35, to take more active roles in their respective parishes.
The course has been developed by Greg Fromholz of the Dublin and Glendalough Ministry To Young Adults, Ger Gallagher of the Office of Evangelisation of the Archdiocese of Dublin and Brother Martin Bennett of the Capuchin Friary.
It is envisaged that 10 Anglicans and 10 Roman Catholics will be trained in leadership and discipleship. The year long course will equip them to lead effectively in their churches, aid spiritual exploration, work with volunteers and serve their local communities.
“We’re trying to assist churches to enable their young adults to participate more fully and become more involved in the life of the church,” Greg Fromholz explains adding that running the course ecumenically will give participants access to a wide range of communicators.
The Dublin and Glendalough Ministry to Young Adults has been up and running for almost a year and is continuing with its aim to help 18 to 35 year olds engage with their faith and exploring ways of building links between them and the church.
Greg asserts that young adults are interested in faith and highlights two recent events – two different worship bands played in mainstream venues in Dublin and tickets sold out. Rend Collective played in Whelan’s on Wexford Street (pictured) to 450 young adults. Seven days later Matt Redmond and Matt Maher performed in the Button Factory in front of 650 young adults.
“Within a week we had 1,100 people, a large amount of them Anglican and the majority of them young adults, coming to see two bands who are unashamedly worship bands in mainstream music venues,” Greg commented. “We often hear that there are no young adults, but these young adults came to see worship bands and not only that but they paid for the tickets. So they are there.”
Meanwhile, Paradoxology is due to make a return to the Electric Picnic festival in August. Last year for the first time the festival featured a sacred space – a Christian prayer tent, called Paradoxology. It was organised by Greg, Pamela Rooney of Dundrum Methodist Church and Scott Evans, freelance author, blogger and speaker from Holy Trinity, Rathmines. Last year an estimated 2,000 people passed through the tent over three days with many stopping to engage in conversation with the volunteers who were on duty around the clock. This year they plan to double the size of the tent and increase team numbers, who consist of young adults who are learning about mission and leadership.
“For me, young adults’ ministry is about assisting church culture so that it can embrace young adults in their own communities… One of the key points is to restore the trust between young adults and the Church, and between young adults and God,” Greg concludes.