College Church extends its outreach

Regen (short for Regeneration) is a College Church program initiated in 2005 by a group of young adults with a vision for connecting spiritually with people of their generation who were not attending church. Regen is one of several worship options between 9 am and 11 am on Sabbath mornings, and now attracts an average of 200 students and community members each week. The program motivates participants to develop a relationship with Jesus, become involved in the church community, use their spiritual gifts to build God’s kingdom, and engage in service and outreach.

The program begins with friendship over breakfast, followed by singing, prayer and a testimony time when participants share their experiences and express how the gospel is interacting with their lives. A prayer journal is circulated, and at the end a prayer team prays with anyone with a special need. The program concludes with a period of teaching and inspiration via a speaker chosen for the day.

Participants are especially enthusiastic about Regen’s service and outreach initiatives. The group operates a mountain biking and adventure club called Crankt for about forty youth from the local community, many of them from troubled homes. Teams of volunteers work with the youth on three Sundays per month. On some weeks the groups may do rock climbing, abseiling, canyoning, water skiing or wakeboarding. Group-based mentoring is integral to the program, and individual teenagers will often confide to counsellors about serious issues in their lives. The program opens possibilities for a better way of life by providing positive role models and empowering teenagers to make changes in their lives through positive choices. Three of the teenagers have gone to summer camps at the Yarrahapinni Adventist Youth Centre.

Regen also assists at the Morisset youth drop-in centre, preparing meals, organising sports and games, providing art therapy, and demonstrating basic nutrition and food preparation. Regen leaders work closely with the youth welfare officer and are developing plans to assist homeless youth in the area.

Regen has operated a “Riskmen” mentoring program for behaviourally troubled year-7 boys at Morisset High School. The program centred on gym and basketball activities at Avondale, with an emphasis on self-discipline and personal development. Teachers were impressed by the improvement in the boys’ behaviour.

Regen’s “pick-a-street” program has members going from door to door to help people with gardening and other needs, often opening opportunities for spiritual conversations.

Members of Regen have provided the music at weekly evening worships at an alcohol rehabilitation centre operated by the Salvation Army.

Regen also runs StormCo programs that are greatly appreciated by the recipient communities. In one remote town a resident who had received the Order of Australia for his work for ex-service personnel said, “I caught my vision for service from StormCo.” He even renovated his house so that the StormCo team could stay there.

Service activities extend well beyond Australia. Regen has sent two teams to Mozambique to train local people to run StormCo programs and has also raised funds for orphanages in Mozambique. A proportion of Regen’s offerings go to such projects, which have also included an aid program for former child soldiers in Uganda and a school-building project in Uganda. In six months last year Regen tripled the previous year’s offerings. A number of Regen members have given to provide a goat, cow or other animal to enable a person in a developing country to become self-supporting.

“This is a generation that wants to make a difference,” said Mark Craig, associate pastor of the College Church, “and Regen’s members respond to this challenge with enthusiasm. Service activities also make a difference in the lives of the students involved.”