Peer mentoring program spreads across Canada
TORONTO, ON—An estimated 2,200 young people gathered in mid-October—albeit mostly virtually—for a high-tech leadership conference that focused on equipping students for in-school ministry. CampusFire 2005 attracted middle school, secondary and post-secondary students and youth leaders from 17 locations across Canada, linked via video conferencing technology (with video streamed over the internet). Participants—from individuals to a group of about 200—were able to text message questions to seminar leaders who held the live sessions at Fraserview Mennonite Brethren Church in Richmond, B.C.
Learning event
Started just three years ago, CampusFire 2005 included tracks for youth leaders, preteens and parents. The event brought together workshop facilitators and speakers from groups such as Canadian Youth Network, Teen Mania Canada, Campus Crusade for Christ, The Navigators, Youth for Christ/Youth Unlimited and Mothers Who Care.
Darian Kovacs, founder and director of CanadaFire—which sponsored the weekend—says workshops have a practical focus designed to equip, train, encourage, empower, connect and commission "campus missionaries" to be leaders and people of influence in their schools and universities.
"We've had [these workshops] assessed by various school boards. People have told us that this is the best peer mentorship training in Canada right now."
Focusing on four main training themes of intercessory prayer, intimacy with the Almighty, spiritual disciplines and reinventing evangelism, participants were able to choose from workshops such as "Reaching out to friends at school," "Why pray and how would we start a prayer group" and "Being a leader and influencer in your school and world."
Lauren Matheson, team leader of Inter-School Christian Fellowship (the high school ministry arm of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship) and organizer of CampusFire Toronto, says it's not just another youth conference.
Desire for change
"Those attending are leaders in their schools," explains Matheson. "I think they come because they have a real desire to change their schools and to be an influencer."
David Wolever, 17, says he was determined to go to CampusFire because "it sounded like fun." But Wolever, a student at Western Technical-Commercial School in Toronto, had another motivation.
"I'm starting a Christian Fellowship group at my school and I thought I could learn some things that could help me with that," he explains, adding that the conference taught him a lot about the importance of prayer and relationship building.
Matheson says participants return to their schools with "a sense that they're not on their own as they're leading. They have some new ideas about how to see and think about their schools, and they go back with a greater sense of this mission that we're a part of."
Kovacs likes to pose the question, "What could it look like for Christians to be leaders and influencers in Canada?" But turn the question back to him and he admits he doesn't have an answer.
"I don't know," he says. "I think the question is more important than the answer. We should all be asking that question. Influence and leadership don't just come in a box. But for societal change to happen in Canada, it's needed.
"We're in a state of disarray. We need societal change. [Young Christian leaders] are not the Church of tomorrow. They're the Church of today."
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