and to entice the youth to become part of future Youth Encounters programs. As you can see from the photos, the setting was designed in a way to convey that simplicity and intimacy.Parramatta Youth Encounters Open Forum
Saturday 28th April
The Parramatta Youth Encounters steering committee decided to have the last meeting open to an audience made up of Christian and Muslim youth. The theme for the night was "Spiritual Youth in a Secular Society".
The anticipated purpose of this event was to expose the youth to a Muslim-Christian dialogue happening at the youth level in an informal environmentand to entice the youth to become part of future Youth Encounters programs. As you can see from the photos, the setting was designed in a way to convey that simplicity and intimacy.
The night kicked-off with a warm welcome and program briefing by the MC, Mr Luke Hackett, who was a Christian participant in the Encounters program. This was followed by presentations on the topic by members of each faith. This allowed questions to be raised in the minds of the audience with regards to the presentations or topic.
The discussion was very interesting and personal accounts were shared by some members. During the discussion, questions that were previously written by the audience, were voiced by Miss Makiz Ansari and some questions included:
Do you see secularism as an enemy or threat?
What are some of your challenges as a youth in keeping with your spirituality?
How should we - the youth- address the materialistic philosophy and atheism?
What could be some solutions to the problems of today?
Each member had a go at answering a question. After 45-minutes of discussion time Bishop Kevin Manning and Mr Mehmet Ozalp talked about their feelings and reflections on the night.