Sydney camporee hosts PNG Pathfinders

Campbelltown, New South Wales
Nathan Brown

A group of 50 Pathfinders from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Papua, Papua New Guinea, were special guests of the Greater Sydney church's Pathfinder camporee. Joining with about 500 Pathfinders and leaders from the Sydney region for the weekend of April 9 to 13 at the Cataract Scout Park, the visit was part of the growing "Partners in Mission" relationship between the two regions.

"The Papua New Guinean young people were hosted by and ate with the various Pathfinder clubs and really made friends with many of the Sydney young people," reports Pastor John Wells, associate director of Adventist youth ministries for the Greater Sydney region.

A highlight of the exchange between the two cultures was the contribution of the Korobosea Drum Line, a drumming group from one of the local churches in Central Papua, who performed for marching and parades at the camporee.

According to Pastor Wells, the visit of the "Follow the Bible" Bible was also an important feature of the camporee program. "Quite a number of young people were excited about being part of an activity of the worldwide church," he says.

The camporee's theme-"The Chosen"-was based on the life of Samuel, whose story was told over the course of the weekend by speaker Pastor David Edgren. And, says Pastor Wells, this reality was demonstrated in the operation of the camporee. "We used young people as our key people," he explains. "For example, our production team were all young people, aged between 19 and 24.

"We also had chaplains for each of the four sub-camps. They would go around at night after the evening programs and have prayer with the Pathfinders and leaders, as well as facilitating early morning worships. In addition to incresing the spiritual impact of the program, this was a good experience for these young people.

"It's exciting seeing these key people moving through and taking leadership roles," he says.

According to Pastor Cheonneth Strickland, director of Adventist youth ministries for the Greater Sydney region, the success of the camporee reflects the health and growth of Pathfinders in their conference. "Pathfinders remains an important part of youth ministry and, under John's leadership, has grown in our conference over the past few years," he says. "We are seeing a new generation of Pathfinder leaders coming through, and we have new churches coming to us and asking about setting up Pathfinder clubs."

Back to News.