City/Script 2010
City/Script is an annual Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship Conference that runs May 1-7. It is a time where students from various campuses across Ontario come together for a week of studying scripture manuscript-style and spending some time in the city seeing the scriptures come alive. This year the conference was held at York University’s Glendon campus.
There were four students from Ryerson who attended: Ainsley, Vanessa, Moe and Jenna. Moe and Jenna spent the week studying the first half of the Gospel of Mark, Vanessa spent the week studying the second half of the Gospel of Mark, and Ainsley spent the week studying Genesis. I didn’t attend the conference this year, and it felt strange, as this conference has served as a marker for me in my staff life.
I did go visit the students one day during the week, and had a wonderful time. I went on a day the students had a 6 hour break, and spent most of that time with the students. It was great hearing how God was moving in their lives and speaking to them through scripture. I was also moved by the ways in which the students cared for each other; praying for and serving each other throughout the week.
Vanessa, on a break at City/Script 2010
Vanessa, photographed left, had this to say about the conference:
My second time at city/script was both challenging and encouraging, and surpassed my expectations based on my first experience. I was nervous going in to the week because I was the only student from my campus in my study group and I wasn’t familiar with any of the other students. One of the passages we looked at was Mark 10:29-30 where Jesus promises those who leave house and family for Him that they will receive it back one hundred fold. I really felt this was true for me the more I stepped out in this new community and was so embraced by them. I was even invited to join a Bible study happening this summer in my hometown with the University of Ottawa. It was so exciting to have this initially intimidating situation become such an experience of growth and encouragement and seeing the scripture I was studying play out immediately in my life.
Ryerson’s year-end banquet
Group shot of Ryerson's year end banquet
After spending a year off-campus, I was given special permission to attend Ryerson’s year-end banquet in April. I was excited to see the students and hear stories of the past year. In addition to this being the final meeting for the year, it was the final meeting for a few students who were graduating; all of whom I’d had the pleasure of knowing and working with all four years they had been students. The banquet consisted of a potluck-style meal, a time for sharing stories of the year, a send-off for the graduating students and a few fun interactive games.
Though I was a little nervous seeing the students again after being away for some time, I was happy to be there. When the time came for sharing stories of the past year, everyone in the room said something, and I was astounded; everything they were saying about ways God had ministered to their hearts and to this community were the exact same ways God had been ministering to my heart and to my regional staff team community! This is the second time a realization like this has happened this year. The first time it happened was at Urbana. For even though I wasn’t working with Ryerson students, I did spend my free time with them, and found that despite my absence there were still many things that connected us and drew us together. It served as confirmation, that when the day came for my return to campus that the transition will be relatively seamless, that just living in the fullness of who I am in Christ will provide connections with students.
I was especially struck by the ways students were stepping into risk in the coming year. Each member of the new leadership team: Jenna, Moe, Brian, and Vanessa; are all responding faithfully to the call to leadership, despite some great costs. Jenna will be serving in leadership in her second year of her degree, and is one of the youngest and newest members of the community; she is also serving on a team of students who will all be graduating in the coming year. Moe will be serving in leadership for the first time with this community and he will have time constraints as he serves in leadership and finishes his fourth year of his New Media degree. Brian is the only returning leader from this past year and will be facing time constraints as he serves this community and finishes the fourth year of his Business degree. Vanessa will be serving as President even though this will be her first year in an official leadership position in this community; she is also entering into the fourth year of her fashion degree. What further amazed me is that each of these students accepted these roles without any confirmation about whether or not they would have a Campus Minister with them next year, stepping out in faith that they will be met by God as they follow His call! Please keep them in your prayers for the coming year.
As part of the send-off for graduating students, I was asked to present an award. This award had been in the Ryerson community since before my time, it is called the Richard Baker Award. Richard Baker, now a Ryerson alumnus, was president of the fellowship many years ago, and served as a model for younger students of what it means to be committed to being part of and serving the IVCF community, especially in one’s senior years. The award is presented to students who have been part of the community and have served in various capacities throughout their years at Ryerson. I was proud to present this award to all 5 graduating students: Ainsley, Reuben, Kelly, Iven, and Joel. Each has used their gifts and talents to serve this community in so many ways and have blessed my life and the lives of those in the community.
After the graduate send-off, we played a few interactive games and ended the evening. Though the banquet lasted almost 4 hours, the time flew by! I was full of life afterward and further excited for the day I return to campus!
2010 Grads: Kelly, Reuben, Ainsley, Iven. Missing from photo: Joel
Asian-American Staff Conference
In the beginning of March, I was invited to attend Asian-American Staff Conference, a triennial staff conference hosted by InterVarsity USA’s Asian-American Ministries. I went with 10 Canadian staff to the conference which lasted 5 days in San Mateo, California. This was my first time encountering the Asian-American Ministries movement, and wasn’t sure what to expect; but I was excited to embark on this journey with the Canadian staff present, and to meet the staff of AAM movement.
The timing of this invitation was impeccable given the revelations I had at Urbana, and I was excited to receive training in issues of identity, calling and leadership that could be then used when mentoring/discipling bicultural students. I was also hoping to meet and find fellowship with some other North American South-Asian staff, since I am amongst a handful of South-Asian staff in Canada.
The conference exceeded my expectations! It was a time of having significant connections and fellowship with new friends in the American movement, and further cultivation of relationships with Canadian staff. Also there were many places where I had opportunities to receive healing by facing past pain and trusting that God would meet me in that process.
The conference began with Nikki Toyoma-Szeto, co-author of More Than Serving Tea and the associate director of programs for the Urbana 09, telling us the history of the Asian-American Ministries movement. The following morning James Choung, author of True Story and national director of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Asian American Ministries, told us the present reality of Asian-American Ministries and later that day gave us vision of what the future could look like. The following day we had opportunities to attend seminars about various topics pertaining to Asian-American Ministry; I first one I attended was called “Ethnic Empowerment and Ministry Effectiveness”, which gave me a new perspective of what leading from a healed ethnic identity looked like and why it was important. The second seminar I attended was called “Evangelism: Contextualizing the Gospel for Asian-American students”, this seminar opened up my eyes to how some methods of sharing the Gospel can lead to more bondage than freedom for Asian students and provided an alternative method of presenting the Gospel. The rest of the time at the conference was time spent with our small groups (I was in a small group with other Canadian staff) debriefing our experiences and also engaging the other staff at the conference and enjoying the beautiful San Mateo weather and sights.
By the end of the conference I had a new perspective of my identity and received vision of who I could be in leadership. I felt a strong call to both greatness and brokenness, and knew that the people surrounding me at that conference would be partners in that journey.
Originally, I had thought that my only purposes for being at that conference were to receive healing in my identity and vision for leadership, which I would then use in my work with students. What I soon realized upon returning is that my transformation as a fully committed follower of Jesus that is strong in both my Canadian and Asian identities is something that will be impact not only Ryerson students, but my staff peers on my regional staff team, as well as my peers and mentors in other ministries in Canada and abroad!
Some of the Canadian IVCF staff at AASC
New Wineskin
And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the new patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine needs new wineskins. Mark 2:21-22 NLT
Often in my walk, God will place me in circumstances that mirror past circumstances, to show where growth has happened or offer opportunities for something new.
This happened recently. My laptop of 4 years and I have had a hard go of things. I had to send it for for extensive repairs over the past few years; and last year my hard drive completely fried. We’ve recently had a long process of me trying to add programs to help my productivity, and laptop deciding that it will not cooperate, or will in the most minimal sense of the word.
After a few too many close calls, I decided to get a new laptop. As I began the slow process of setting up my new laptop, I was reminded of the time when I had to reprogram my former laptop when its hard drive fried. Since I had to “start over” in many regards, I wanted to set my laptop up with the faster upgrades of the software I’d come to know and love. Long story short, it wasn’t possible at the time for the software upgrades, the best I could do was replace what was running before my hard-drive fried. The upgrades would have resulted in slower operation of the laptop and frequent crashes, as the operating system was not powerful enough to run the upgrades smoothly.
Back to the present day, after the slow process of setting up my laptop, when the time came for the installation of my program software, I was pleased to find out the my new laptop’s operating system was much better equipped to run my desired graphic programs, and I was able to install the software upgrades that I hadn’t been able to do with my former laptop!
I was reminded of the passage in Mark that I cited at the beginning of this post. In many ways my software and computer are my wine and wineskins. As much as I tried to upgrade my former computer, it wasn’t possible, it would “burst”. In order for the upgrade to happen, I needed a new wineskin.
This parable also speaks to how I see my current life as an off-campus Campus Minister. In some ways, the learning and teachings I’ve received needed to happen while I was not on campus, in order for transformation to happen. If these lessons had been crammed in amidst my chaotic schedule, I would burst before true transformation. The distance from campus needed to happen to allow God’s work of healing and grace, so that my transformation will be testimony of His great work.
Urbana 2009
This past December, I took part in Inter-Varsity’s triennial Missions conference, Urbana in St. Louis. It was exciting and exhilarating to be part of a group of 16, 000 people! I attended Urbana in 2006 as a student, but this time I attended as a Campus Staff Minister, though there was a significant change in role, it was clear that God has some special things planned for me.
There are so many stories I could tell, but I will share three of my highlights:
CSLT
My role at Urbana was as a Canadian Student Leadership Track Group Leader, meaning that I would walk alongside and shepherd Canadian university student leaders as they participated in this leadership track. Through a set of unexpected circumstances I was assigned to two other campuses before being assigned to a group of 6 students; 5 from Laurentian and 1 from Waterloo. Though I spent less than a week with these students, each one is imprinted on my heart. Walking alongside these students as they encountered Jesus and how He may be calling them to serve Him was exhilarating, and served as a reminder of why I love ministering to students. Each day I spent with these students, God showed me new ways He’d been ministering to me and preparing me for moments like these.
Jessica and Laura, two students from Laurentian offered these stories, click here to read them.
PRAY BIG & PRAY BOLD
There were so many wonderful performances, bible expositions and talks at Urbana, most of which can be viewed online at www.urbana09.org. However, the one talk that really inspired me was Sundar Krishnan’s Pray Big and Pray Bold. Sundar talked about the power of intercessors and encouraged us to pray to a sovereign God, a God who we believe can change things. He gave us an example by sharing how he prayed for a pastor who had been imprisoned; his prayer not changed how I saw intercessory prayer, but it also gave me a new perspective of my current situation and vision for the future.
To see the video of Sundar Krishnan’s talk, please click here.
A RENEWED CALL
Though my role at Urbana kept me pretty busy, I was able to catch a few seminars in the course of the conference. One seminar I attended was one lead by TV Thomas, who I had met last summer. The seminar was called “South Asian Mission Goes Glocal”, the title intrigued me and I was curious to see what TV had to say, so I went. I came right after a discouraging session of the CSLT, and wasn’t sure what to expect. TV started by telling us the history of South Asian Mission, and though it was one of the first times I’d heard this history, many of the things he mentioned gave vocabulary and meaning to some of previous experiences in South Asian churches. He then told us the present and gave his predictions for the future of South Asian Mission. While discussing the present, he mentioned something that haunted me; South Asian students in North America are less likely to hear the gospel than their peers in their home countries. Basically stating that students in these home countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh) have more missionaries intentionally sharing the gospel with them than students in North America. They are amongst the largest group of unreached people groups in North America! After hearing this piece, I felt convicted that I was called to this ministry for a reason, and saw that there were ways that as a South Asian person that I could minister to South Asian students. I felt a renewed call to student ministry and with it a call towards healing in my ethnic identity. Though I didn’t know it at the time, this seminar would greatly influence events that would take part in the weeks and months following Urbana.
Though each of these highlights were significant in different ways, each served as visions for what life as a full-time Campus Minister could be like.
The Arch 