Onward: 2016–2023
Onward began in 2016 to engage, equip, and empower Christians to “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15) Giving an answer in our society is more than cultural engagement and apologetics, giving an answer is Christian witness. God never changes, but culture does. God doesn’t call Christians to retreat from the world; He calls us to live in it, as His people.
We have seen that giving an answer begins with understanding, “what is the question?” What are the questions asked by sceptics, those on the fence, our friends, our family, and ourselves?
Alongside amazing speakers including Sam Chan, Amy Orr-Ewing, Lily Strachan, Greg Coles, Steph Judd, Kit Barker, Alan Au and Dave Jensen, we dove deeper into the questions that shaped our Christian answer and witness…
Onward Topics
Truth and the Tyranny of Tolerance
2017
Culture / Life / God
2018
Be Ready. Give an Answer. Engage.
2019
Finding Your Crowd: Living in a world of difference and exclusion
2020
God in the Shadows: Finding God when times are tough
2021
Doesn’t Christianity Crush Diversity?
2022
Good and True – Can Christianity Be Both?
2023
What’s Next?
For now, we will be putting Onward Youth Conference on hold. Apologetics, cultural engagement, and Christian witness is still valuable in our convictions. We have decided to take a step back, to think through the best way to continue to better engage, equip and empower Christians in this area into the future.
Thank you all for your support for Onward Youth. Onward wouldn’t have happened without you. I’m so encouraged by this next generation of Christian youths who have a desire to love God and their friends deeply, to wrestle with the tensions of the Christian life, and seek to ask the scary questions of what it means to follow Jesus more closely.
May God continue to give you the grace, the time, and the desire to glorify him.
