Hundreds of children and young people made life-changing decisions for Jesus during this year’s South Queensland Big Camp.
In total, 319 commitments were recorded for follow-up by pastors and chaplains across 110 churches and seven schools. These contacts will be followed up through Thrive, a contact management system tailored for churches. Thrive empowers pastors, elders, laypeople and members to manage their contacts and interactions, fostering a nurturing environment for discipleship and connection.
Among the Juniors, 125 requested prayer, 139 said they want to follow Jesus, 129 asked to study the Bible and 112 expressed a desire to be baptised. Teen and youth responses were equally inspiring, with dozens requesting Bible studies, making decisions for baptism and wanting to serve or disciple others.
To ensure each decision is cared for, training sessions have been held for pastors and lay leaders on how to set up members as disciple-makers and group leaders in Thrive, create contact care groups, and assign church members to nurture and disciple contacts.
“Thrive is a game changer already,” said Olivia Long, who serves at the South Queensland Conference as the personal assistant to the church support and development team. “It’s so easy to use and to see who needs follow-up at each church.”
Over the coming weeks, each church will be brought up to speed with the new system, which allows the wider church to allocate contacts to the right local church or school for personal follow-up and discipleship.
“The ultimate goal,” said Pastor Matt Atcheson, architect of the Thrive project, “is that we never lose a contact—so that a child never has to ask for Bible studies more than once, ever again.”
Developed by Adventist Technology at the South Pacific Division, Thrive is also being rolled out across more than 6700 churches and schools in the North American Division, with pilot plans underway in Asia and South Africa. Future updates will include an upgraded web interface, mobile app, expanded communication tools and integrated Bible study features.
