AYM Gearing up for 2024
AYM kicked off a fantastic start to 2024 at New Wine, hosted at Wairarapa College.
New Wine is the first big event in our movement's calendar and is an awesome time to recalibrate, reconnect with young people across our Diocese and hear afresh what God has on offer for us. This year much of the connecting was done in the pool as we survived national temperature highs and heat waves each afternoon. Slip in slide and river swims were also popular recreational activities. Rumor has it that Whanganui Youth is planning to sell ice blocks as a fundraiser at New Wine 2025 after assessing the demand from parched clergy. For any young adults, it’s always an energizing weekend of adventure and service. Don’t miss out for 2025.
As of last Friday, registration for Easter Retreat has gone live! We are gearing up for another fantastic camp at El Rancho this year. Easter is always a pivotal time for our young people. It sets the flavor for the adventures that our youth contexts go on throughout the rest of the year. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for friends and whānau who aren’t currently in a youth group to be welcomed into a tribe. Just recently a group of youth workers were reflecting on how they all first started going to their youth groups from the connections they made when turning up to Easter camp. So we encourage you to connect your wider whānau into Easter Retreat this year. Get your teenagers to bring along their cousins and friends. We love introducing teenagers to local youth groups in their area if they aren’t already connected.
AYM movement has had some changes as we come into 2024. A significant change is that we have wrapped up running youth worker houses centrally from the dio. After ten years of adventures and ministry, we felt it was time for a rest and space for fresh dreaming for our Movement. We are stoked that many youth workers are continuing to live in flats committed to investing in the various youth expressions in their neighborhoods, supported by their local parish. Their grassroots expression of ministry continues to be a huge taonga in our movement and are radical examples for young adults in our wider church whānau.
The next event coming up is the Games. These are combined youth group nights filled with sports competitions, lots of fun and an opportunity for rangatahi to mingle and connect with other youth groups in the region. This year, we have separate intermediate and high school combined nights for the south, and a combined youth night in the north.
So reach out to your local youth groups and get stuck in with supporting your awesome leaders as we gear up for gathering at the Games, Easter Retreat and Ministry Leaders’ Family Camp. Follow us on Instagram for all the updates. Bring on an epic year!
Arohanui from the AYM leadership team
Dates for 2024:
29 February - Intermediate Games
1 March - High School Games
8 - 10 March - Ministry Leaders’ Family Camp
29 March - 1 April - Easter Retreat
26 - 28 April - Stars Camp
21 - 23 June - Intermediate Camp
19 - 21 July - Stars Camp
2 - 4 August - Rise Up Camp
30 August - 1 September - The Abbey
11 - 13 October - Stars Camp
6 - 8 December - Stars Camp
Contact Information:
Andy Spence - andy@anglicanmovement.nz
Jesse and Jessica Duckworth - jesseandjessica@aymwellington.nz
