SALI
“I feel re-energized about the mission of InterVarsity to reach South Asian students in North America. God really humbled me as I interacted with students and hearing them process calling, identity, and leadership.” – SALI attendee
SALI, the South Asian Leadership Institute happens every 3 years. This is a fairly new gathering, and only the second time it has occurred, also the first time with Canadian staff and students in attendance. I attended as staff with Stacy (staff at UTSC) and staff-candidate at the time Ashley, and 2 students Andrea and Renil.
As someone who has in the past struggled to see herself as a minister to South Asians, I was struck by the ways God was showing me otherwise. As part of SALI, each staff was asked to mentor 2-3 of the attending students before, during and after the Institute (roughly a time period of 6 months). At first I wasn’t sure what to think of this, as I was not sure I would have many things to offer my mentees, and often wondered if I would connect with them in a meaningful way and if they would want to continue relationship with me after the Institute. To make matters difficult, I had my first Skype conversations with each of my mentees during my summer road trip, when I was in Vancouver (all my mentees are from the east coast), but despite challenges crossing timezones and technology failures; God uniquely paired me with mentees who I was able to connect with fairly seamlessly. They are extraordinary female leaders that have walked similar paths to me and have faced similar struggles. I soon found our relationships to be quite reciprocal, as I learned and received from both their unique experiences and through the teaching they received through IV USA. During SALI, my bonds with my mentees were strengthened, and each of them were eager to continue connecting with me post-Institute. The times I spend talking with these women are amongst the most life-giving conversations I have had this fall.
In addition to mentoring students, another role I had at SALI was co-emcee of the Institute. I shared this role with a staff from Florida, whom I had met at Asian American Staff Conference. Being in this role was enriching and challenging for me. I found that in some ways my travels and particularly my time at camp helped prepare me well for this role. In others, I found places where small incidents brought out places of brokenness in how I saw myself and how I understood both of my cultures. In the end, I am glad I did it, and glad to have the experience of co-emceeing as I found myself in that role early in the fall. In addition, many of my observation and interpreting skills were used and honed and have proved extremely helpful while navigating work and life in our intern community house.
One of the added blessings of being part of this Institute was the opportunity to serve alongside my South Asian brothers and sisters of the IV-USA movement. It was comforting to partner with others who understood the calling to IV staff and its costliness; but also the joy and kingdom life that we can offer those in our care.
SALI group photo
More photos from SALI can be viewed here
City/Script
“…it was one of the most moving moments of my staff life.”
Every May, the Inter-Varsity fellowships from across Ontario come together to intensively study scripture of Mark’s Gospel or Genesis for one week. This year marked the 7th anniversary and was my third year attending the conference.
Up until this year, city/script was one of those conferences that Inter-Varsity as an organization was excited about, but not one I was excited about. I thought it was great, but found myself much more excited by other ministries and conferences of Inter-Varsity. That changed this year.
This year, we were amazed as God doubled our enrollment for the conference! Last year we had just over 120 people, and 3 Mark 1 studies, 1 Mark 2 study and 1 Genesis study. This year we had 5 Mark 1 studies, 2 Mark 2 studies and 1 Genesis study and had 188 people enroll!
My staff role at this conference was to find ways for the students to creatively process what God was doing in their hearts and lives that week. I partnered with my friend, Dave, who is Campus Staff at OCAD University. Together we visioned for and set up a studio space with 6 stations and various mediums for students to creatively express how God was speaking to them through the Scriptures they were studying. We also organized a coffeehouse, in order for students to share stories and display the artwork that was created, that happened toward the end of the week. I loved this role! I’m sure I would have loved teaching scripture but I loved using my creative gifts for this ministry.
But the one thing that made me rethink how I felt about this conference happened when a student in my Mark study decided to accept Jesus as his Saviour. This student was part of a group of students from the University of Ottawa. He came as a non-Christian and left on fire for God! Throughout the week he would ask a lot of thought provoking questions that made the long-term Christians really come to terms with what they believed. His skepticism could be easily perceived by anyone in the room. Then, after a gospel meditation, something shifted for this student. Something HUGE. He left the room, then came back visibly shaken, and then shared what had happened, and how he had just gone outside and asked God if He was real. This student then confessed that he was terrified about how God would answer. What followed next was one of the most moving moments of my staff life, as this student shared what was happening for him, I watched as students from his campus who were dispersed around the room all began praying for him. Then, students from my campus and others who had just met this student 4 days prior, began to envelop him in hugs and prayers. The emotions were high in the room, as people surrounded this student. Soon as communal prayer time started, and the room began to pray for each other and for this student. We then took a break, and Dan our study leader (and Campus Staff and housemate of the above mentioned student) asked the staff in his study what to do next; to push forward in the text or spend time in prayer in our campus groups. We opted for the prayer time. When I ran into Dan later that night, and asked what happened during their prayer time, he shared that this student accepted Jesus as his Saviour! This happened mid-week, so for the rest of the study we got to see this student transformed as God’s fire burned bright in him! This student shared his testimony during the coffeehouse, and a clip of it can be seen here.
Seeing this student’s transformation not only moved me, but my students as well, and created in them a desire to be a community where stories like this happen, and to be the kind of community that welcomed this student into God’s family.
Kingdom People
In January, rather than planning our own separate winter retreats, the GTA regional staff team and students from various campuses got together for three consecutive weeks of teaching and training. We called these events, Kingdom People, as we wanted to follow up on some of the teaching from the winter conference, Kingdom Calling.
We wanted to call the students towards living a life of the Kingdom, by offering stories and teachings about right relationship with God, others, and themselves. Each week, different staff amongst the team lead us through scripture study and interactive application. For more stories and photos of the events, click here.
My involvement with the events varied each week. On the first week, I lead the students through an interactive sensory experience; depicting the garden and the fall in Genesis. I also lead the students in an activity where they were to create a groundling, and continue to interact with their creation throughout the course of the evening. The second week, I helped create personalised invitations for the students, as part of their application of the teaching and invitations they had received throughout the course of the evening. The final week, our household created a meal as part of the potluck dinner served that evening.
I really enjoyed these events and interacting with students from various different campuses. It was exciting to meet them and see how they were processing through the teachings and invitations extended throughout the weeks of teaching. It was also exciting to see the students interact with one another and begin to dream up ways to continue relationship and support one another’s ministries!
As the weeks and months went by, these events served as a marker for many students of significant change and the beginnings of inter-campus relationships and partnerships.
Kingdom Calling
“The FUTURE of our movement is in this room…”
December 27-31, 2010 was the first ever Kingdom Calling Conference in Toronto. Formerly, the National Student Leadership Conference, Kingdom Calling focused on students in their third and fourth year of University, who are asking questions of how to live their lives for the Kingdom once they graduate. The conference featured key speakers from Servant Partners, Inter-Varsity, China Partners, Ratanak and a few other mission organizations. Throughout the week speakers would give talks, lead studies and share their testimonies about how they received and responded to God’s call on their life.
The conference had a minimal number of staff in attendance, as there was a desire to allow space for students to connect with one another and to hold each other accountable and minister to one another as they were in similar positions and facing similar decisions. In the past, this has been strategic, as these students will often stay in touch with one another and spur each other on to say yes to the various invitations they have received. I can assuredly say that one of the reasons that I am and remain on staff with Inter-Varsity is because of the friendships I’ve made and the conversations I’ve had with people I’ve met at this conference.
Since, the conference was taking place in Toronto; the Greater Toronto Area staff team was invited to host the students and staff in attendance of the conference by offering activities and tours of the city on one day of the conference. I lead a group of students on a tour of Kensington Market. The students were excited to visit and experience the market, and had a great time in the cafes and boutiques. I was really excited about leading this tour, as I love showing people my favourite parts of Toronto, and Kensington Market is in my top ten! I also had a delightful time with the students who signed up for my tour. I only knew one personally, as we’d met a few years ago at a city/script. But I knew a few others by association as they were students of staff with whom I was good friends. As I engaged the students in my group in conversation, I was excited about the various invitations they were considering; some were considering doing an internship with Inter-Varsity, while others were considering taking part in a global or urban partnership this summer. As they wrestled with their invitations they were excited to ask me questions as I’d taken part in both the internship and a global partnership in the past. It was also such a blessing to watch as they ministered and debriefed with each other about what they were thinking. I almost didn’t come to lead a tour, as I was exhausted after the holidays and needed to complete some assignments for a course I was enrolled in at Regent College. But, I willingly chose to sacrifice the time to invest in these students; as it was exciting for me to have conversations and debrief with students who weren’t my own but were students of my friends who were staff; I considered it an honour to have them share with me what they were thinking and to be able to offer follow up advice to my staff friends. I also saw this as an opportunity to invest in the future staff interns, as they could very well become partners in ministry in the near future.
Ironically, during my time and conversations with students, each one asked me the question that was actually the topic of one of the papers I had to write, “Why did you say yes to coming on staff?” So by spending time away from my paper, I was actually able to return to it with a much better sense of how I wanted to answer that question. I love when God surprises me and meets my needs in places I don’t consider!
As a thank you for hosting students, I was invited to attend one day of the conference. I chose to go the following day, and what a day it was! It was the last full day of the conference, and it was packed with testimonies, bible studies and lots of exciting conversations. I continued conversations started with students I met the previous day, and had some other conversations with students that were attending campuses in the GTA. During an early morning break, I stood on the perimeter of the room and observed the students, staff interns and staff interacting. I observed to my friend Jenn, who is staff at Laurier, and actually one of my many “conference friends”, that we were standing in the presence of the future of Inter-Varsity’s movement on campuses, camps and around the world! It was such an honour and a blessing to be in the room and have conversations with these students at such a crucial juncture in their lives!
Another highlight from my visit at the Conference was spending time with Ashley (who I’ve mentioned in a earlier post). It was encouraging and exciting to catch up and hear about the things she’s been reading and engaging around her ethnic identity since our last conversation. I was able to bring along a book that had spoken deeply to me to show her, and offer her hope through sharing stories of my journey. I also had the opportunity to join her table group for the bible studies that afternoon, and it was such a blessing to watch her lead. I am excited for what the future holds for Ashley as she continues with Inter-Varsity!
By the end of the day, I was so excited by the things I had been able to witness and experience, I was surprised to discover I’d been there for over 12 hours, and spent most of that actively speaking or listening! In the days and weeks that followed, I heard many great stories of how the students who attended the Conference were responding to the invitations they’d received and continue to be excited for what the future holds for them!
Campus Gathering
Campus Gathering is an annual Inter-Varsity Canada national conference in which staff from across the country who work in High School Ministry, Undergraduate ministry, Graduate Student Ministry and International Student Ministry; come together for a week to rest and receive vision for the coming year.
This was my first time attending Campus Gathering, and I was excited to spend the week meeting and reuniting with staff from across the country and to receive teaching and vision for the coming year.
We spent each morning in scripture study of Exodus 31-35. We were challenged as we studied the passage about the Israelites and Aaron creating and worshipping a golden calf and spent some time praying and repenting of the golden calves of our lives. Later on in the week we were inspired by Moses’ staunch support of his people and the ways in which he interceded for them with the LORD. We ended the week encouraged by the Israelites as they brought forth their freewill offerings and used their skills and talents to build a Tabernacle.
In the evenings we spent time in our divisions receiving teaching and vision for the coming year. In the Undergraduate Ministry division, we spent the time learning, understanding and receiving strategies for implementation of Inter-Varsity’s 20 000 Extraordinary Kingdom Leaders by 2010; the vision we’d been presented last year. Some of the vision being cast seemed lofty and unattainable, but as we had time to process and ask questions, we were able to see how we could work towards its implementation.
A highlight during the week was one evening the staff who attended AASC led an evening of bubble tea and karoke. It was great to partner with the staff, and bless our community while being empowered to lead as ourselves. My favorite part of the evening was the prep: a few initial blunders, a blown fuse, and a last minute run to get more bowls and serving supplies; but in the midst of it lots of laughs, improvisation, and a few “D & M” (deep and meaningful) moments! Not to mention some great drinks and a lot of hidden vocal talents amongst our national staff team!
Another highlight for me also came out of my time at AASC. The conference resulted in a lot of revisiting my past as a bicultural person, and delving into what it could be like as I became a person who was fully able to minister and live in both cultures. This led me to rediscover my Asian roots, and find out what it means to be South Asian and what would ministering to South Asian students look like? So I have had some great successes along this journey, and also met some crushing defeats; but I continue so that I could lead others towards their own bicultural journeys. I initially thought of this in terms of my work with students, but have seen more recently that this is something God is calling me to do with my staff partners. During this conference I was able to connect with two of the newer staff, both bicultural, and both having recently been on global partnerships (GP). Now, since much of my cultural journey truly ignited when I went on GPs, and I asked these staff if they had similar experiences. Both had, and through sharing our stories and then sharing with them about my experiences at AASC, we began to dream and vision what ministry could look like in our fellowships, and regions if we lead and were empowered to lead in the fullness of our bicultural identities. It was super exciting having these conversations and seeing how God was already using what He’d given me to bless others!
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.
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
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 