Equipping creative Queenslanders for ministry
Worship and elective times proved a winning combination for the young people at EQUIP QPAS (Credit: Photo by Tim Ivers).
EQUIP QPAS is not just a creative arts camp. It’s an opportunity to combine the artistic abilities of young Salvos from Queensland with spiritual encounters with God. From 6-12 July, that’s exactly what those young Salvos experienced.
This year, more than 200 young people from across Queensland attended EQUIP QPAS (Queensland Performing Arts School) at the Alexandra Park Conference Centre on the Sunshine Coast, including a dozen young Salvos from Papua New Guinea.
For the first time, drama was split into two electives: screen drama and stage drama. The art elective was also divided this year into photography, graphic design and art.
“Our focus is how can we best train [young people] to go back to [their] local corps, centre or setting and use the skills [they] have learned this week to enhance [their] ministry or, in some cases, it’s these kids who are starting ministry,” explained Jared Proellocks, South Queensland Divisional Worship Arts Facilitator.
Each day at EQUIP QPAS started with a spiritual focus through morning worship sessions called “Overflow”. A more focused worship session called “Encounter” was also held on two nights, giving the campers an opportunity to spend deeper time in worship and reflection. “Onesong” was another opportunity where young people used their creative abilities to honour God as all electives from brass to tech production joined together to play worship songs.
At the first “Encounter” session, young people were encouraged to literally chip away their brokenness by hammering a cinder block.
At the end of the night, the art team gathered the cinder scraps together to work on a representation of the night’s teaching: how God takes the broken pieces to mould you into someone new. Throughout the week at EQUIP QPAS, the art team built a sculpture from the cinder scraps of a bird soaring, while the tech production team filmed a time-lapse video of the art team making the sculpture.
Many lives were transformed at EQUIP QPAS, said Jared. Some came knowing no-one and left with friends. Others were shy at the start and left feeling confident. For Jared, the opportunity to come alongside young Salvos and encourage them about their value as individuals and ministry leaders was an important aspect to EQUIP QPAS.
“Creatively, it was a massive success, but the spiritual impact it has in these kids – you can’t replicate that, and that’s the most important aspect,” said Jared.
At the end of EQUIP QPAS, a concert was held, attended by 600 people. While it was an opportunity to showcase the talent unlocked by young people at the camp, Jared said it was also a sincere and meaningful worship experience.
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