New Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church Reverend Jarrod McNaughton helps young people overcome demons

Now Tamworth's newest reverend, he plans to offer the same opportunity to the next generation of young people.

"When I was a teenager, I was pretty messed up, pretty depressed. Like a lot of teenagers you have a bit of a bad run," he said.

"And it was during that time that I became a Christian, found God's love and for me it was a very life-changing experience, my high school years.

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"I've certainly seen that same effect happen on a lot of other young people. Particularly now young people are struggling more than ever. It's often very rewarding for them to come to get to know their creator."

Most recently Mr McNaughton worked as a youth pastor in Cronulla, but has worked in youth ministry for about 20 years.

He moved from Sydney, where he formed a group for young people in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in late 2020. His most recent job was doing the high school and early university lecture circuit for a group called 'Generate'.

He's brought the same commitment to young people to Tamworth, forming a new youth group after taking over at Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church.

"The satisfying thing is when you've certainly seen the impact that the gospel message has had on one of these kid's lives," he said.

"A guy now who I was getting him just as he had his church life-change experience. I was getting him through what's called year 13, a year 13 program. He'd had just come to church. He's had terrible depression. He had a tremendous amount of personal growth in that time. He himself is now doing youth group in churches."

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Mr McNaughton said his connection with Tamworth is a decade old.

He came to the city 10 years ago during Bible College, to do country placement.

He was appointed Tamworth's new reverend in October last year. It's his first time as head minister for a church.

"It's probably not as different as they make out.

"Tamworth doesn't feel that different. It's not a dramatic life change - it's got everything that Sydney's got, apart from an Ikea. I've got faster internet here than what I had in Sydney.

"It's not like you're in the middle of nowhere. It's a beautiful, nice area.

"But also an area where certainly you see further out in the western area there's a lot of people who are doing it very tough. We've had a couple come into church. Just last week we had a guy just randomly walk into church and there are people who want that support and are looking for something to give meaning, meaning with their life."

Youth service runs every Thursday night at the South Tamworth Public School. It is open for young people from primary school age to university, or TAFE age. After two weeks, services have so far attracted about a dozen kids - but Mr McNaughton said it's growing fast.