Location(s) Wanganui, New Zealand Genre Christian | Years active 2004–present | |
Youth of the Nation is an annual Christian Youth Conference held in Wanganui, New Zealand. Unlike many other Christian conferences, this event is not held by one specific church or denomination. Youth of the Nation conferences and events are hosted by The Youth Of The Nation Trust in collaboration with other churches from around New Zealand. For the first 8 years the conferences were hosted by the Wanganui Christian Youth Workers collective, a group of Christian youth pastors & workers from different denominations & churches across the city of Wanganui. This collective included representatives from Anglican, Apostolic, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Open Brethren, Catholic, Incedo (YFC) NZ, Presbyterian, Christian Outreach Centre—now known as International Network of Churches—, Elim, Salvation Army, & non-denominational. Since 2012, the YOTN Trust has partnered with churches, not only in Wanganui, but from across New Zealand to host events in different cities.
Contents
Vision
Youth of the Nation (YOTN) aims to encourage and empower Christian young people to pursue Jesus Christ with a zeal that will impact their generation. As an event, the goal is to provide a 3-4 day event that is affordable for more New Zealand young people, while maintaining the standards & excellence of some of the leading national conferences.
The vision to hold YOTN came from Wanganui A/G youth pastor, Ben Hoyle. In 2003, Ben approached the local city youth workers to hold the conference as a city. He recognised that for one church to put on such a large event was too much, and that together the city could pull its resources and achieve the goal. With many of the city youth workers on board, plans were made to hold the very first conference in July 2004.
Each year YOTN has gained momentum. Each year attendance grows and more young people leave excited about their faith.
"YOTN continues to build in its momentum, magnitude and excellence. It is great to see more and more young people coming and leaving radically changed. The greatest thrill for me is seeing the hunger in the younger generation for the reality of God and a deep desire to walk in God's ways. Long may it continue." - Ps Iliafi Esera (Faith City Church A/G, Wanganui)
In 2011, the event moved from the Wanganui Central Baptist Church, where it had been held for 6 years, to the School Hall at Wanganui City College. Then in 2012, YOTN IX was moved to the War Memorial Hall Convention Centre which seats 1500 people, where the conference was held until 2015.
Conferences
Starting with Youth of the Nation 2004, the conference has been held annually. The first decade of YOTN Conferences were headlined by guest speakers and guest artists.
From 2014, YOTN Conferences no longer headlined regular artists, putting more focus on guest speakers and introducing Tribal War games that had been tested at YOTN X with success.
Speakers
Youth of the Nation Conference has been blessed over the years with some great speakers from across New Zealand, along with many of the gifted ministers from Wanganui itself. Here is a list of all those who have spoken, either in main sessions or electives, over the years:
Youth of the Nation: Preliminary event
YOTN holds a special preliminary event that is held in Term One of the school year. It serves to bring youth groups and ministries together in cities around the nation. It also gives young people a taste of what the actual conference in July will be like.
Youth of the Nation: Leadership Event
Following the 10th Anniversary Conference in 2013, YOTN launched a leadership development event held in the later part of the year. "The Aim is to bring youth pastors, leaders and workers together from across Aotearoa to be encouraged, empowered and equipped."
YOTN Championship
Youth of the Nation strives to bring in different elements to provide a different kind of event. In 2008, the conference added a sports extension. The YOTN Championship is a sports tournament where the different churches/youth groups attending the conference enter teams to compete for the YOTN Championship Trophy. It is a fun competitive event.