4 June 2009

Educators focused on mission and spirituality

Gold Coast, Queensland
Melody Tan

Educational leaders from Seventh-day Adventist schools in Australia and the New Zealand Pacific region have been challenged to play a central role in the mission of the church at a conference held on the Gold Coast from May 17 to 19.

The Hidden Springs Educational Leaders Conference is the first such conference co-organised by Adventist Schools Australia (ASA) and the Adventist Church in the New Zealand Pacific region. More than 100 school principals from Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia attended the event.

In March, Dr Barry Oliver, president of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific, delivered a message to church and educational leaders in Australia during an educational consultation, placing Adventist education at the forefront of outreach and stating that it is core ministry of the church. According to Dr Daryl Murdoch, associate director of ASA and conference convenor, this message formed the purpose of the conference.

"The conference was designed as a time of spiritual focus and refreshment," he says. "It was also to challenge delegates to consider new ways to reach the hearts and minds of young people. Principals and teachers in Adventist schools are reaching young people for Christ on a daily basis. In the next decade, there will be wonderful opportunities for Adventist education to be front and centre of the church's outreach in this part of the world."

Mr Dean Bennetts, principal of the Central Coast Adventist School,
shares interview techniques with educational leaders.

Speakers encouraged delegates to seek opportunities to reach the hearts and minds of students in their schools. Dr Bailey Gillespie shared results from extensive research in North America that proves Adventist schools "are doing a really good job and teachers are making a difference in the spiritual lives of their pupils."

Dr Gillespie is the chief investigator for the North American Valuegenesis study of faith, values and commitment in Adventist young people in 1990, 2000 and (next) in 2010. The study reveals the impact of home, church and school in building young people's faith and attitudes toward the Adventist Church.

"We found that schools are safer in terms of at-risk behaviour than the secular community," he says. "The quality of Adventist education is improving. We also found the grace orientation of young people and their understanding of how God saves them gets better as time goes by. There's been a lot of growth in North America and we know that there has been good success there."

Dr Gillespie says that the results are reflective of Adventist schools in Australia and New Zealand because of the similar culture, as well as early research obtained by ASA in conjunction with Avondale College.

The conference is the second collaboration between ASA and the Adventist Church in the New Zealand Pacific region. Two years ago, both regions started working together to develop Encounter, a new Bible curriculum that will be taught in schools in both countries.

Featured speaker Ben Maxson shared with delegates the spiritual formation model that underpinned Encounter, providing compelling arguments regarding the authenticity of his spiritual formation model.

"The Encounter curriculum, with its clear focus on spiritual formation, will be a valuable tool to serve the mission of the church in Australia and New Zealand," says Dr Murdoch. "We face similar challenges in our schools and it makes sense to pool the efforts of our curriculum units to ensure that a high quality Bible curriculum is available in the near future."

"It's logical for ASA and NZPUC to cooperate," says Owen Ellis, director of Adventist Education for the New Zealand Pacific region. "We are so close geographically and our culture is similar. The culture may be different in places like French Polynesia and the Cook Islands but our reason for existence is the same, and that is the core mission of the church."

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