Wary reflections on ‘In The Chute’

December 8th, 2009

The Geneva Push isn’t a Sydney Anglican thing, nor is it just a Sydney thing. It’s for all of Australia. Tassie has a good representation actually, being 6 or 7 of us here. That being said, the place is full of Sydney people, and Moore College is a name that has probably by now been spoken by 80% of the attendees here.
I don’t find that discouraging, I think it’s encouraging. I am glad to see that Sydney evangelicalism has fired up many people for the Gospel being preached into new areas and into new contexts. But the risk is that where the ethos is very evangelical, it’s naturally going to draw in far more sydneysiders and then look very sydney. I would suggest that it’s something that TGP is going to have to wear for some time, while the network grows. I don’t think there is any way to avoid it.

[I've cut some stuff from the middle here for now, cause it looks like it's gonna be addressed in the next session ]

Solo time is hard to find. A lot of the people attending seem to be extroverts and highly energetic people, maybe it’s not an issue for them, but between sessions and meal breaks there is not much time to find to spend alone in prayer or to spend time reflecting. It’s pretty intense here, and fast paced. I know that I need to take time out to digest, but feel kind of guilty about it when I do. Maybe it comes out of the drive to connect to one another, and build up those friendships in such a short time. On the flip side, I think it is good though that there isn’t a mass of dead time. If the organisers were going to err on one side or the other, keeping the pace is definitely the better of the two.

This is all rather finicky, I’m certainly having a great time here, and much effort has gone into the organisation of the conference, and it’s certainly a privilege and blessing to be able to attend and spend time with these amazing people.

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4 Comments »

Yeah people on the mainland always seem to be frantic, busy, energetic and extroverted people (big generalisation) but yeah sounds like you Hope you made some next connections for the future and get in on some of the action as well as having time to pray

Comment by Andrew — 9 12 @ 12:48 AM
Ohhh yes I can totally relate! Time alone to digest is so important. I kinda think it should be encouraged in these kind of intense conferences.

Comment by Renae — 9 12 @ 11:30 AM
Yeah massive generalisation!! Hehe, I’m extroverted introvert, I need time away from people to recharge.. some people get their charge from others, and if they aren’t around people and talking they get tired.. Go figure! So, no, wasn’t exactly me. I definitely made some good connections, the number of Tassie people we had there was amazing, and so encouraging. I made some really good connections with some other people too, but will only see them next year at ‘In The Chute’.

Comment by readeral — 9 12 @ 7:12 PM
I did take some sneaky time out..

Comment by readeral — 10 12 @ 1:33 PM