I am thrilled to announce that from January 2008 I will become the Director of Youthworks Camping Ministries. It is a great privilege and honour to lead the outstanding team of staff across our many outdoor centres and specialist ministries throughout Sydney and New South Wales.

Mandy and I are sad to move on from our role in leading the Year 13 Gospel Gap Year course, but are confident that this groundbreaking ministry will continue to grow from strength to strength, under the hand of our great God and the wonderful staff.

In my new role I will be responsible for the overall leadership and development of the Youthworks Camping Ministry Division and the ministry programs conducted from the three main Sydney conference centres at Port Hacking, Shoalhaven and Springwood, and other locations. I will also have specific leadership over the activities at the Port Hacking Conference Centres. I will lead a team of around 100 staff, with whom I will minister to around 45,000 people throughout the year.

It is an exciting challenge, and I look forward to working alongside the outstanding team of skilled and gifted staff, at our world-class conference centres. I am amazed and impressed at the scope and depth of ministry activities performed by the Camping Division, and I look forward to building upon this terrific foundation as we continue to grow the opportunities to proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the people of NSW and beyond.

Please pray for me and Mandy as we change our ministry focus and energy. Please pray that the Camping staff would have great patience with me as I learn the ropes (literally!) and begin to fathom the depths of this extensive ministry. Pray also for Youthworks as we seek my replacement at Year 13, and as the team prepares further for the huge jump in students projected for 2008.

For more information, read the story ‘McNeill’s Mini Move’ at sydneyanglicans.net.

ANGLICAN CHURCH, DIOCESE OF SYDNEY

MEDIA RELEASE – FROM ANGLICAN YOUTHWORKS
9th August, 2007

Gap year is good policy from the PM, says Anglican Youth Leader

“It would be easy to cynically dismiss the Prime Minister’s push for defence force gap year recruits as a quick fix for dwindling numbers of ADF staff. However, Howard has rightly identified the benefits of taking a ‘year off’ to help school-leavers make wise decisions about their future,” said Jodie McNeill, Director of Anglican Youthworks Year 13 Gap Year.

“For the student, it offers a break from thirteen years of study. It provides an opportunity to carefully consider the appropriate career choices, and to make sure that students make wise decisions about tertiary and vocational training,” he said  “Too many people waste their time and money commencing unsuitable courses.

“This also puts an unnecessary stress on our universities and colleges. When students pull out of courses mid-year, they rob others of the opportunity to learn, and deprive the institutions of much-needed income.

“It also places a drain upon the taxpayer. Many of these drop-outs inevitably require income support, especially due to their lack of vocational or higher educational training. Inevitably they tread water for six months, awaiting the beginning of college or university in the following year.

“More positively, when a school-leaver spends a year learning about their own strengths and weaknesses, and evaluating their vocational preferences, it helps them to begin the next year’s study with greater motivation. They study a course they want to complete, not just the course for which they earned enough marks.

“What’s more, they can take the opportunity to travel overseas, and to see how they fit into the world. There is no better way to discover the wealth of Australia than to experience the poverty of other nations.

“Our team of 26 students in the Year 13 Gospel Gap Year has just returned from Kenya, Africa. Their month-long trip has taught them lessons they would never learn in a classroom, and given them insights they could never get from the Discovery Channel.

“Yet, apart from the self-awareness benefits, a gap year allows school leavers to give something back to others. Whether it’s caring for AIDS patients in a slum in Nairobi, or caring for kids in a disability camp in Sydney, a gap year gives an opportunity to serve others. In our Year 13 program, we also teach life-skills such as first-aid, defensive driving and vocational guidance, as well as theology.

“Recruiting people into the ADF through the gap-year front-door is good policy. It allows potential defence force personnel to make sure they are suited to this specialised work by getting a real view of the military world without a long-term commitment. But, it also gives these school-leavers an opportunity to serve—something we need more of in our increasingly materialistic society.”

CONTACT :         Jodie McNeill                 0425 222 338
(Jodie McNeill is Director of the Anglican Youthworks Year 13 Gospel Gap Year)

I also enjoyed an extended interview with John Morrison on the ABC Statewide Drive program at 5:15pm today.

The article, titled “Use your moodle to deliver lessons” outlines the benefits of online learning, and documents some of the process by which we implemented it in our teaching.

Here is an excerpt:

Jodie McNeill, priest, lecturer and technology enthusiast, fell in love with Moodle late last year.

 

The open source course management system (CMS) is at the heart of Mr McNeill’s theology course for school-leavers, Year 13. Every week he uses the online system to post texts required for the following lesson.

 

Students must read them and complete comprehension tests before moving on. At the end, they must enter a summary and ask questions. Mr McNeill then monitors the answers and uses them to prepare his weekly face-to-face lectures.

Read the full story here.

Here’s an excerpt:

Most Sydney Anglicans probably know a teenager who is wondering what to do with their lives. In the past, teenagers went straight from school to a trade or a degree. Today, Christian teenagers have the option of trying something new, seeing another part of the world and building up their Christian faith.

Read the full story here, and check out the forum in which I have been invited to participate.

In today’s Radar (a section of the Sydney Morning Herald) they ran a feature on religion amongst young people. Lia Timson, the journalist, interviewed a number of young people, as well as consulting some other opinions, including mine.

She suggests that “Rumours of the death of religion among young people have been grossly exaggerated.”

Read the full article here. 

Here’s an excerpt:

“There is a resurgence of spirituality among youth,” says Jodie McNeill, a theology lecturer at Youthworks College, an Anglican school. “It’s a lot to do with generation Y needing to have experiences rather than explanations.”

 

McNeill leads a new chapter in the life of the church. Using his Blackberry, a blog and two websites, he keeps in touch with students and parishioners at the Sylvania diocese where he is a minister.

 

He also runs Year 13, a program for school leavers who want to make a contribution to the world and their own religious upbringing. Last year, 16 students took the course, which included a trip to disadvantaged communities in Africa. This year, 30 have enrolled and another 50 are studying for a diploma of theology.

 

“We live in totally decadent times,” McNeill says. “We have so much prosperity, we’ve got all the toys – the latest iPod and phones – [yet] young people are wondering how come they are still not happy.

 

“After they immerse themselves in the whole materialistic thing they feel an emptiness and a sentimentalism, to a certain extent … There is a longing for a time when it was right to be an activist and fight for what really mattered.”

 

He also says we live in conflicting times, torn between consumerism and the need to sign up to worthy causes – hence our readiness to buy $2 wristbands and cause-related pins. But for some young people, that is not enough.

 

“It has to do with being post-Christian, as well. Before, kids could ask their parents what it all meant. Now the parents don’t know. There’s a spiritual desert out there. So [interest] is bubbling to the surface.” 

Mike Baird is the new MP for Manly, following his win in the NSW State Election on Saturday. I’ve known Mike for almost 20 years, from the time when we were both involved in the youth ministry at Christ Church St Ives Anglican, to the present. In fact, Kerryn Baird was one of Mandy’s bridesmaids 15 years ago.

Late last year, Mike generously offered his time (and the board room of HSBC Bank) for the Year 13 students when he talked about being a Christian in the corporate world.

I offer Mike my congratulations and prayers, knowing that parliament is not an easy gig for a Christian. However, I know that Mike is passionate about service, and parliament is a great opportunity to serve his constituents and colleagues as he follows the example of Jesus.

Year 13 has started for 2007 with a terrific weekend away, followed by two great weeks of lectures. The gang of 26 students and 4 staff have quickly settled in to what is shaping up to be a great year of service and growth.

Many of the changes for this year have been received well, including the new online learning and the introduction of the ‘Doctrine’ course.

Stay tuned for more updates, especially as we start to lock-down some of the new changes for 2007, including a local alternative to the Africa mission, plus other surprises!

When people ask me how Year 13 is going, I nearly always try and talk about the amazing growth in the course.

The greatest growth was seen in lives of the sixteen 2006 students. I’ve witnessed the ways in which they have grown in their knowledge of God and of his word. I’ve been astounded in the ways they have grown in their maturity, both as young adults and as Christian men and women. I’ve rejoiced in the growth of the Gospel as the students have proclaimed Christ as they served God in their many contexts, both locally and in Africa. And I’ve marvelled at the way in which the group has grown together in love and unity.

But 2007 is also about growth. We have grown in our number of students. At the time of writing, we expect to double in the number of students, with an estimated 30 enrolments. We have also grown in our number of staff. We welcome Trinette Armitt and Pete Gunning to our team, bringing our number to four.

Please pray that Year 13 2007 is a great year of growth in the lives of the students and staff, as together we serve God and grow in love for him and each other.

Basically, it is like a MySpace/ Yahoo Group for students, but also includes online quizzes, wikis, discussion boards, and full marking and administration capabilities.

What is most exciting is the potential to use this package to provide students with the opportunity to bring their Year 13 studies into the rest of their week in an even more structured way. Rather than ask students to just read a chapter before they come to class, we could give them a short quiz to enhance their comprehension and track their progress. Even the journals that we required students to complete last year could be done online through this package.

The biggest difficulty I see is making sure that we keep the value of our face-to-face contact. We need to be able to love/serve/cry/sing/listen/pray together in a real place at a real time. However, this tool may even prove as an enhancement for that very objective, since some of the course delivery could happen online from home, leaving more time for discussion and community of the real type when we meet each Thursday and Friday.

Perhaps Moodle is the ideal learning tool for Gen Y?

Have you had any experience with online/distance learning? Have you used Moodle before? Do you have any suggestions about how it might be best implemented?

Jodie has had a great year at work, launching and leading the new Youthworks ‘Year 13’ program. He keeps wishing it was around when he was 18, so that he could’ve avoided making his mistakes as a very young adult. He also keeps training people in youth ministry, organising the TWIST conference, and doing youth ministry and music at our church at Sylvania Anglican.  And last, but certainly not least, he loves relaxing with family and friends, usually with coffee in hand!

Mandy has been a busy mum, running a household of  three kids plus Hugo, our newborn (13 May 06.) She leads the ‘WOW’ (Women on Wednesday’) Bible study, and co-leads the youth with Jodie. As ‘Chief of Staff’ in the McNeill household, she continues to avidly watch ‘The West Wing’ for tips on how to keep the President in line.

Liana (9 in January) has entered the ‘Tweens,’ and seems only days away from adolescence. She loves to sing, dance and talk (frequently all at once) and would love a pony if she could somehow sneak one into her bedroom.

Jemimah (8 in February) is loving school, and continues to keep up with her older sister in many ways. She shares the family love of music, but has developed an uncharacteristic love of maths (drawing upon talents previously undiscovered in our DNA.)

Oscar (4 in January) loves anything with wheels. He plays with his cars 24/7, and only pauses when he stops to watch his favourite DVD…yes, ‘Cars!’ He loves preschool and continues to be a testament to the difference testosterone makes in a growing child.

Hugo (8 months) is a ‘mini-me’ version of Jodie…permanent smile, blonde hair, and an attention span that should keep the makers of Ritalin in business for years. Despite a few respiratory illnesses, he keeps smiling, and smiling…

2006 has been a great year for the McNeills. We have settled in well to our new house in Sylvania (yes, ‘The Shire!’) and are continuing to love our church, job, and spending time with our friends and family, both new and old. We are thankful to God for our health, and for the ways in which he keeps sustaining us through the normal ups and downs of life. Overall, it has been a full-on year, with a new house, child, and job responsibilities for Jodie, which has made us feel a bit too frantic at times. But we look forward the opportunity to consolidate our roles and responsibilities in 2007 (i.e. less changes… yeah, right!)

To God be the glory!