The Heart Behind The Connection Network

https://www.qldconnectionnetwork.com/ is an initiative between friends with a heart to connect with other young adults, with those for whom connection is made difficult by culture and circumstance.

Research suggests that loneliness and disconnection is a growing and urgent problem as the world globalises and online platforms increase. The art of the face-to- face is becoming a rarity in our society, and in particular young people.

Every year, young people move from where they grew up to start life at university, living alone or with housemates for the first time. Every year, people are burned by communities they thought they could trust and are washed up in the waves of wandering and wondering where they can belong.

The Connection Network exists for these people, so that they don’t have to navigate young adulthood alone, that they can be welcomed back to shore, knowing they’ve landed in a community that is safe and nurturing.

We hold onto the words the author of Genesis offers us: “It is not good for man to be alone.” We all desire and deserve connection; that’s the bottom line. We believe that we are not only created in God’s image and that everyone carries that essence within them, but that we are called to be image-bearers. This means revealing God’s love through our actions – being bold in mission and inviting others to more deeply experience a loving creator who longs for connection with his creation.

Through a series of connection opportunities spanning across Queensland, we hope to provide a place to connect for everyone, no matter who they are or what their story is. We know that one person can’t connect with everyone, but we can create a network where everyone has one person to connect with.

Brene Brown, a leading expert in vulnerability studies, says that “connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

Not everyone has that; not everyone knows what it’s like to feel seen, heard, and valued. And as Christians, we know that the ultimate place we experience those things is in the presence of our loving father God and friend Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit

We believe everyone has a gift to give and we are dedicated to empowering individuals to serve in their communities as an opportunity to grow in their sense of calling and purpose. We know that by fighting the urge of individualism which runs through the veins of the postmodern West, by not looking to our own interests, but to the interests of each other (Phil 2), we can all derive sustenance and strength from relationship.

The Queensland Connection Network is a place to belong;
a place to embrace and be embraced.
a place to encounter grace.
a place to grow and transform. and a place to connect.

Jeremy is a leader at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Rochedale.