Ottawa youth gather for No Other Name

“We’ve never lost that focus, coming together for one purpose”

By Craig Macartney and ChristianWeek Senior Correspondent | April 15, 2014

OTTAWA, ON—Christian youth from across denominational lines are gathering on Good Friday for one purpose—to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. This year marks the ninth anniversary of Ottawa’s No Other Name conference.

The conference was inspired, in 2005, by a group of youth leaders from different churches who decided to collaborate on a youth initiative. After praying together, they felt God lead them to launch an event focusing entirely on the cross.

“We realized Good Friday is the only holiday left that hasn’t been secularized,” says Joey Molloy, one of the No Other Name organizers. “We didn’t want to do a typical youth conference, where you book a band and convince students the band will be great so they will come and you can give a message.”

They decided to keep that a secret so youth would come only because they wanted to worship Jesus and celebrate at the cross.

“We had our first conference in 2006 with a couple hundred students. Now we’ve grown to about 900. For me, the most exciting piece is that we have more than 40 churches coming together under the concept of No Other Name. We’ve never lost that focus, coming together for one purpose.”

Although the performers are not announced, previous No Other Name events have lined up many big names including Prosper, To Tell, Manafest, Sky Terminal and Panic Squad.

“In the middle of the day we have what we call a ‘flea market of fun,’” adds Molloy. “It started as a fun way to get students to burn off some energy. We have our ‘dodge-ball plus’ tournament and outside we have a carnival atmosphere with climbing walls and other challenges.”

‘Dodge-ball plus’ is dodge-ball with a surprise added. One year students who got hit had to duct-tape one of their limbs to their body if they wanted to stay in the game.

After burning-off some steam, youth are served dinner and then regroup for more worship.

“The climax of the whole day is when we finish the evening session by celebrating communion together,” Molloy says. “There is nothing like it. After communion we have a couple songs and it ends with a party-like atmosphere. It is one of my favourite times of the year.”

Gina Byun, a youth pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church, says the sense of unity among the students and leaderships is a unique foretaste of the Kingdom of God. She believes that unity and the simple devotion to the gospel are keys that make No Other Name powerful.

“Youth are impacted through the Holy Spirit in the worship service and communion. Every year, the atmosphere is holy because the youth are open to seeing God move among them.”