MCNZ President Rev Peter Taylor, centre back row, with members of the Hamilton Youth Group. by .Supplied

Hamilton Youth Embrace Leadership Workshops

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In late May, MCNZ President Rev Peter Taylor visited Hamilton to lead a workshop on ‘Public Speaking’ for the St John’s Methodist youth group.

The youth group comprises 13 to 30-year-olds of Tongan, Samoan and Fijian heritage and includes high school and university students as well as young professionals. Youth group co-leaders Sianiti Nakabea and Siona Lasi report on a series of leadership workshops known as Project Tautoko.

The workshop led by Rev Peter was the last of five workshops to complete phase one of a leadership initiative called Project Tautoko. Rev Peter talked to 30 youth members of the parish about his wide experience in public speaking and provided advice on building confidence as well as running interactive activities and discussions.

Other workshops focused on Emotional Intelligence, Problem Solving, Team Building and Personal Development. These were led by influential community leaders in the Waikato region. The initiative was designed to help build and extend the leadership skills of the youth members. In response to youth feedback, Sianiti and Siona say, “Our young people wanted to be equipped to do more community outreach.”

Funded by the PAC Distribution Group, the Project consists of two phases:

  1. Building Leadership capacity (October 2022 - May 2023)
  2. Tautoko in Practice (June 2023 - December 2023)

“We are grateful to Rev Peter for giving his time to invest into the development of our youth. It is our prayer as we embark on the second phase of Project Tautoko that our youth will use what they have learnt to be the best leaders they have been called to be.”