NTE11: the 5 best things!

I had always assumed NTE was just another camp! There are so many good ones and as a student I never made NTE a priority. But now as a first-timer and as an apprentice, I’m very keen to bring more students along next year. Here’s why:

1.    Faithful Bible teaching

NTE is all about being convicted and trained by God’s word, with the goal of equipping students to proclaim the gospel to others. We had the great privilege of hearing God’s word faithfully explained by Richard Chin, Rory Shiner, and our wonderful Track leaders (I heard from Phillip Jensen on ‘Serving in Christ’). We were reminded of the great comfort and assurance we have in being ‘united with Christ’, that little or much faith is neither here nor there when the one you have faith in is Jesus Christ, and that we are freed from slavery to sin into slavery to righteousness under our merciful God.

2.    Strand groups

Imagine being thrown into a group of people you’ve never met and spending five exhausting days wrestling with God’s word and having your heart and head stretched. The strand time was possibly my favourite part of NTE! It was a joy to learn from each of the students and it was amazing to see them love and serve each other and contribute in really valuable ways, even though they come from different backgrounds and had different levels of biblical knowledge. By the end of the week we were all good friends!

3.   Fellowship

It’s easy to get lost in a group of almost 1500 people, but no matter who you met, there was always an encouraging conversation to be had, e.g. sitting next to people in the main sessions, waiting in lines for meals (they were long!), eating meals, toilet queues, tent neighbours, meeting friends of friends, old friends. There is such a wonderful diversity of God’s people across Australia, Pacific Islands and South East Asia (even some from Europe), yet we are all ‘united in Christ’ as one body. It was great to meet people from different cultures and hear what God is doing around the world.

4.    Outward focus

In each main session, we heard from brothers and sisters in other nations and universities about what God is doing in and through them, e.g. how they became Christians, and the blessings and challenges being faced in ministries across the world. We were able to pray for and participate in several ministries in tangible ways, as well as see the fruit of support that has been raised in the past, e.g. financially supporting a staff worker in Slovenia to keep proclaiming the gospel there. In Act Now, our eyes were opened to some of the physical and spiritual needs in Africa, as well as a Bible translation project for the Pitjantjatjara people in Central Australia (and hear the fruits of their labour read out in the main session)! The Prayer Walk also helped us to pray intentionally outside of our own lives.

5.   Christ focus

The last thing you hear at a conference is often the most memorable. So after spending much of the week working out what 'in Christ' means, Richard Chin brought us back to look simply at who it is we are in:

'For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.' - Colossians 1:19-20

NTE11: 5 stars!

Photo by David Johnstone.