LIST, the three-year intensive training program initiated by the YFC Asia Pacific Area office, concluded in April 2006 with a combined Field Placement and Residential Training and Development Intensive on the pacific island of Fiji. Under the direction of one of their peer’s, Samu Rabone, the remaining participants gathered to conduct outreach events in multiple schools in Fiji’s mainly Hindu west coast.

Samu’s story is a great illustration of what the LIST training hoped to achieve. Samu started the LIST program soon after joining YFC and after graduating from Bible College in Suva, the capital of Fiji located on the island’s east side. Under the leadership of his supervisor, Sereki Korocowiri, the National Director of YFC Fiji, Samu fully engaged in the multi-faceted training approach LIST utilized (details of the approach can be found in the Background section below). The exposure to YFC staff and ministry in other countries provided him ideas, practical experience, and the confidence to step forward and accept increased leadership responsibility in Fiji. Early in 2006, Samu got married and his new family moved to Ba—four hours drive west of Suva—to start the first centre of YFC Fiji outside of Suva. In addition, he is continuing to work closely with YFC Samoa and participating in our Pacific Region’s efforts to expand to new islands across the Pacific.

Feedback from the supervisors and participants of LIST has been outstanding. Without exception, each young leader that participated can point to specific times during the LIST training where they grew spiritually, were equipped to take on new outreach, and were encouraged and inspired by more senior leaders to stay the course and commit to continued youth work. Even though many of their national programs have extensive training programs, LIST provided an international forum to experience much more and sit under strong Bible teachers focusing on practical application in a youth worker context.

LIST has also been a driver for cooperation between the national ministries of YFC. It is not that the nations did not assist each other before, but with LIST there is a new reason why nations have to help each other. The Field Placements requirement has gotten nations talking to each other to brainstorm how best they can cooperate together to meet the FP requirement by more effectively reaching young people for Christ. We have seen this new spirit of cooperation overflow to nations that do not have a participant in LIST also.

We are grateful for the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and YFC programs that partnered with us to design and implement LIST. Specifically, the program benefited from the significant financial contributions from The Genesis Foundation and EIG-ANSVAR in Australia. Their commitment to the training of young leaders that can impact the youth of Australia and the Asia Pacific is commendable. In addition, the early vision, creation, implementation, and administration of LIST were spearheaded by David Wraight, the Asia Pacific Area Director at the time, and Carrie Mallinson who oversaw the administration of LIST.

What is next for LIST? Currently we are not planning to repeat LIST in its current format. One reason for this is our desire to open up the training opportunities to more young leaders across our Area. In addition, LIST’s structure required a three-year intensive commitment prevented many young leaders from taking advantage of some of the valuable content and interactions. YFC internationally is rolling out training material, regional learning centres, partnerships with accredited academic institutions, and highly concentrated international training events. As we strive to equip and empower our young leaders across Asia and the Pacific, our training initiatives will supplement these international offerings and the national offerings already present in the nations by providing a regional emphasis, connecting young leaders with other young leaders in their region, provided opportunities to experience youth work in other countries in an organized, systematic way, and develop an attitude of interdependence between our international body.

So, we are proposing a four-year Asia Pacific Area training initiative that will build upon various national efforts and our international Generation Next Now training offerings to incorporate the most successful components of LIST to offer them to more young leaders across the Area. The details of this initiative will be spelled out separately.