Pancake Tuesday
Usually when Pancake Tuesday rolls around it goes by uncelebrated. This year however, it fell during winter reading week, and since I knew RA was going to be staying in the city for reading week, I asked her if she wanted to make pancakes with me. This is what we came up with:
Baking pies
One of the first things that I learned about RA, after her love of God and her international student status, is her love of pies. In particular, apple pie; and it became the thing that I and others would bring or make to draw her out to events.
As she stepped deeper into leadership, both with our community and as an RA, I knew one way to spend time with her would be to teach her my pie-making ways.
We started in the fall by making apple pie.
Then we moved on to making pumpkin pie. We baked the pies in her dorm room, set off the fire alarm too many times to count, and filled the hallway with smoke. And what of the pies? To give her credit, I admit pumpkin pies look pretty gross before you bake them, and this face really says it all.
But after all the drama we spent some time discussing RA’s wall collage that depicted how beauty is depicted in the media, and how diversity in terms race, ethnicity, and physical imperfections is minimal; and how that affects us as women of colour.
Before we knew it, the pies were done, and though they looked gross going in, they tasted delicious coming out of the oven. But don’t just take my word for it.
Yeast starter: Part 2
“Well,” she paused and broke into a big toothy grin before continuing, “about that…”
On the day of the first study where we would introduce the yeast starter application activity, I had a previous speaking engagement. I was set to speak to the Mission Circle at my dear friend Bonnie’s church, and I would completely miss that afternoon’s study.
Now, as you can probably guess from my previous post, I was pretty excited about the whole yeast starter both in its actuality and the ways it could foster a culture of hospitality (I’d have to be in order to endure those 10 days). But I had to sell my bible study leaders on it. Most were not bakers or scientists so my whole “It’s cooking science!” exclamations didn’t really captivate them. I eventually began to win them to the concept of the Friendship Bread, but I knew I’d likely have to be the one to explain the activity during the study, forgetting that I would miss the very first study where it would debut.
Much to the dismay of my student leader AP, she would have to go from being intrigued conceptually and skeptical of its actuality to being the one to win the confused and the skeptics in her study to the vision of this application activity. The night before I sent her additional resources to help her explain the process and hoped for the best.
I arrived on campus later that day in time to debrief how the study went and prep for the next week’s study. I met her in the Pitman cafeteria and asked her how it went…
“Well,” she paused and broke into a big toothy grin before continuing, “about that…” Since this study happened to fall in the week before reading week, most of the usual attendees of her study did not come. But, an hour into the study, student X came in. Student X is an engineering student and is friends with one of our student leaders. He came to our last two social events in the fall semester and eagerly engaged us in conversation that started light but went deep. He’s not a believer, but has a keen interest in spiritual things and wants to know more about Christianity and the Christian worldview. The day he came to AP’s study, he wasn’t sure if he’d fit in or if his questions would be welcome at the study, but decided to pop by anyway. Instead of doing the study, AP and student X got into a long conversation about faith. He asked her a number of questions and shared where he was at. She later told me she felt like she may have flubbed some of her answers, but found he was gracious with her answers and continued to probe deeper into the conversation.
As AP tells me this story, she mentions how before he walked in, she had just been looking over the Uncovering the Life of Jesus book and had it on the table as he came in. She later gave him her copy of the book and told him to use it as a starting point in his discovery of who Jesus is and to follow up with her or his student leader friend with more of his questions. AP also tells me that it really felt as God had set aside the time and space for this conversation as it ran longer than her allotted bible study time, but didn’t have people waiting to use the library study room and thus interrupt the flow of the conversation.
As she recounts this all to me, full of wonder and some residual shock of what just happened, I found myself full of joy and making note of how gracious our God is, and how good it was that this happened when I wasn’t on campus so that He could use AP as his instrument, for I’m sure if I had been there she likely wouldn’t have said much and the dynamics of this conversation could have been very different. I noted the humour in the situation and told AP that she’d been prepared to offer one type of yeast starter, but instead offered another, and only time will tell how it will grow.
Yeast starter: Oh my housemate, she suffered
One of my former housemates has a common refrain when talking to others about the ways I would be gracious to her, “Oh, my housemate, she suffered.” And this refrain is true for my current housemate who suffered on behalf of the “stoodents”.
As we continued on in the Gospel of Mark, I looked for ways to make the text more tangible and engaging. As we arrived at Mark 8:14-21, the passage about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, I realized that the average student these days doesn’t have a practical understanding of how yeast works. So, for the application activity for this exercise, I gave each student a yeast starter so that they could make Amish Friendship Bread. The hope being that they would understand how a little bit of yeast has a large impact in the life of this bread and also that they would be able to extend hospitality by sharing their starters and the breads they would make and that this hospitality would continue to grow and multiply.
In order to get ready for this application activity, I made 4 batches of the yeast starter, much to the dismay of my and my housemates’ nostrils. Let me tell you, these were the longest and smelliest days we encountered, as I lined my sewing table with 4 plastic bowls full of starter and stirred and fed it over the course of 10 days. I tried to convince my housemate we’d eventually go noseblind to the smell, as Febreeze advertisements would have us believe, but no, those ads are full of falsehoods, our whole apartment was engulfed by the odour of the starters and we were aware of every moment of it.
On the one hand I was fascinated by the process and seeing how each day the mixture looked different, it felt like I was reliving my elementary school science experiment days. On the other hand, I couldn’t wait until day 10 when I could divide out the starter and freeze that which I wasn’t using and have our apartment return to its usual non-yeasty aromas.
As day 10 finally arrived, and after divvying up the starter, I made my first loaves of Amish Friendship Bread. I read on a blog somewhere that, “it’s the smelliest process for the most divine bread ever” and sure enough as this bread was baking our apartment filled with its sweet aroma, a welcome change to the scent of the starter. My housemate came home in the midst of my baking extravangza and was pleasantly delighted by the smell. The recipe made 2 loaves, so I brought one to the potluck for the “stoodents” and kept one at home for a party we were hosting later that week. The blog did not lie, once I got to taste the bread, which had called for pudding powder to make it more moist, I could immediately tell it was the most delicious sweet bread I had ever eaten.
I still have some starters in my freezer, if this post has whet your appetite and you’d like to try to make some Amish Friendship Bread, let me know and I’d be happy to send you a starter.
Tubing redeemed & other stories
Often when I tell the story of how I got connected with IV, I start it this way:
In my first year of university, I went on the worst retreat of my life…
It was a regional retreat at Muskoka Woods that was for college and career groups from across Ontario, and I went with my church’s college and career group. I won’t go into all the gory details, but I can say that after this experience, one thing was clear: I wasn’t giving up on Jesus or Christian community as a whole, but I knew this group was no longer a good fit for me nor was it a place that would equip me for the mission I felt God had called me to (reaching out and being witness to my fellow design students). I was deeply grieved by this realization, this was the first church I had joined that I really felt connected to and the thought of leaving and starting anew was not something I was looking forward to. In the end, I felt called to stay at my church, but to seek out a Christian community on campus that would be present for me when I was on campus and equip me with the skills and training I needed to be missional amongst my classmates, and after a few divine appointments, I found IV. (There’s more to this story, but I’ll save that for another post.)
One of the many painful memories of the above mentioned retreat was that it housed my first tubing experience. I’ve wanted to go snow tubing ever since I knew it was a legitimate activity and I was through the roof with excitement that we could go tubing during this retreat. The lead up to the tubing was long and my patience was tried as I waited for my slow moving retreat roomies to bundle up so we could go. I could have guessed with their lackluster attitudes about being outside that these folks may not be the best company, but I was so excited it didn’t seem to matter. We finally got outside, and I went down the hill which was much smaller than I imagined a total of 2.5 times, and then my bored and cold roomies went inside and I was left to follow them. Had I known it was to go inside and do nothing, I would have stayed out tubing, but I was young and female bonding and FOMO (fear of missing out) were way too important to me.
Since this time, I’ve had those friendships and retreats in general be redeemed, but it wasn’t until Ryerson’s winter retreat this past January, that God was able to redeem tubing for me. I haven’t always had the best experiences with camp in the past, but I was excited by the possibility of having a winter retreat at OPC, especially since I had students who had worked at camp in the summer coming and I also had built new relationships with camp staff at the National Staff Conference. When it came time to select activities, I was thrilled at tubing was an option. And so, ten years after that first retreat (almost to the exact date), tubing was redeemed for me. As I sped down the hill (so many times I lost count), I was struck by how “right” it felt to be there at OPC, with these students and the alumni that joined us, and that God was so good to give me this redeeming experience with them.
Another highlight from this time include an interactive study of the Rich Ruler in Mark (Mark 10:17-31). The text challenged us as we considered that sometimes we can make the blessings that God has given us into idols and how we are called to let them go in order to put God first. We applied this passage by identifying what we root our identities in or what binds our decisions and then depict that thing in a creative way on a piece of paper. Some of the students drew pictures, some wrote poems, one who was an English Masters student wrote a 6 page paper! After we shared our answered with one another, we then put our papers in the fire as a symbolic representation of putting God above those things. It challenged the students as they wrestled with what it would mean for them to actually allow God to come first before those things.
The unexpected joys
I originally meant to write a post where I counted the costs of this year, and to be fair there’s been a lot:
– My heart has been significantly broken by students choosing fear instead of faith; anger instead of love; apathy instead of care; earthly comfort instead of heavenly riches
– I’ve taken a lot of risks that haven’t yielded good rewards
– I’ve seen ministry visions begin to be fulfilled last year and then come crashing down this year
But, as I sat huddled in RA’s dorm room with my other student leaders : Patchy, Pink, Swift, AP (obviously not their real names), I was filled with love as they sat in some hard scripture teaching, and called out sinful patterns in their own lives and in our community. I had hope as the Spirit led and convicted them, and I’m really hopeful for how we’ll pursue community and ministry going forward.
I’m grateful that we have an office on campus. And we are recommitting to using it. I’m grateful that we have an “in” at residence and we can reach an unreached group of people. I’m grateful that grad students like AP are making sacrificial time commitments that lead them to witness and bring glory to God to other grad students and faculty.
I’m grateful for this ministry, and yet I long for more: more students reached, more lives transformed and more new commitments to Christ.
But things are growing, and I have hope.
Fall reflections
While things are finally slowing down after a very busy few weeks, I’ve had some time to reflect about the fall ministries.
New Leaders with New Perspectives: This year, more than previous years I took a few risks inviting some students into leadership. Resulting in the largest and most diverse team of leaders I’ve ever worked with. I’ve been fascinated as we’ve learned to work together. Each one has so much potential and has grown a lot in the past few months! I’ve been blown away as these leaders have stepped up in surprising ways, and chosen to try new things even though it’s scary and uncomfortable. I’ve seen new possibilities of ministries as I’ve gotten to know these leaders, and I’ve seen doors open to previously unreached groups of students like grad students, residence students and South Asian students because of the connections and relationships these student leaders have built.
Mark studies: It’s actually been surprisingly fun studying the Gospel of Mark this semester (especially given my previous post about Mark). I’ve enjoyed seeing new study leaders take the things they’ve learned during bible study prep and teach these studies using their skills and gifts. Some highlights have been Allison’s bible study snacks (this girl brings her A-game when it comes to food: ‘smores pie, pumpkin muffins, and strange but delicious chocolate bars) and Laura’s teaching illustrations (including a magic trick that left us so astounded that our loud exclamations got us shushed by the neighbouring study room!). It’s also been fun studying these familiar passages with new students and seeing how they interpret and apply these passages!
Spiritual Workshops: Workshops this year have been sporadically attended, which can be disheartening. However, I’ve noticed that as I track some of the growth in students this year, many of those invitations to try something new and conquer fears have come from workshops. I have seen students grow in boldness as they invite their friends to events and deeper relationship with them. I’ve seen students learn how to create welcoming environments. I’ve seen students conquer fears in sharing their faith with their friends.
Outreach: Often the planning of, invitation to, and execution of outreach events has been challenging for our community. Trying to land on clear, specific and reachable goals and communicating them well to each other is usually where we go awry. In the past, we would plan these large, flashy events that would draw lots of students but then have poor follow-up and not see these new students again. This year, we’ve tried some simpler events, which haven’t drawn the same range of students BUT has given us excellent opportunities for follow-up as the people coming to these events are our friends that we regularly do life with who are not yet part of our IVCF community. It’s been fun getting to know each other’s friends and watching as they become friends with others in our community. I’m excited to see how some of these new friendships will grow deeper and fuller.
All in all, there’s lots of potential for the next semester, I’m hopeful for what’s next.
2014 Annual Report
Here’s a few ministry highlights of 2014! Check back here for more photos and extras about these and other stories!
Students say the #best things
In April, the students found out my staff partner Dan would not be working at Ryerson in the fall. I asked the student leaders if they would put together a goodbye package for him. Little did I know, they had already something in the works, a goodbye package for him and a thank you package for me, which included personal notes and sentimental photos from a variety of students from our community. Here are a few of the #best messages I received:
“It was actually a tough year. A lot of that is thanks to you. You have challenged me in ways that I am not used to. And I have done a lot of
things that have made me uncomfortable. Things like leading a Bible Study or evangelizing to total strangers. You have also shown me that being uncomfortable is good. You have shown me that we haven’t been called to comfort, but to commitment. Through the strangeness of the past school year, I’ve grown. I am deeply grateful for the ways that you have helped me grow spiritually. I’m looking forward to next year. I’m looking forward to you challenging me more. And I’m looking forward to more tough conversations over black coffee.” – N, 4th year Engineering student
A message from Lauren (Right in the photo)
“I have enjoyed very much helping with cooking group. Thank you for inviting me and accepting me with open arms. I think it was me who was more unsure about whether or not I would be accepted for not being a Christian. However, IVCF Ryerson has been about reaching out to others in the community, making people feel a part of something and gain an understanding of each other. Thank you for letting me be part of it. Through conversations at community movies and dinners, bible study and prayer group have helped me understand your point of view too. It has been an amazing experience.” – D, Food and Nutrition alumnus (Left in the above photograph)
A message from Laura, one of my current student leaders.
New beginnings
This fall brought many new things my way: a new living situation, a new student leadership team, a new regional staff team configuration, and a new supervisor. The transitions have not all been smooth, but as I reflect on this fall I am grateful for each of these things. Here are a few thoughts about each of these items.
Living Situation: Thank you to all of you who have been praying for housing. Amber, a good friend and former student leader, and I found an apartment at Mount Pleasant and Davisville. We’ve enjoyed settling in to this neighbourhood, getting to meet people in the community and hosting friends and family. I can’t offer hospitality from my home to the students as I once did, but its led me to find creative solutions. I also now have a 25 minute commute, but its led to some great conversations with students while transiting together!
Student Leadership Team: I said goodbye to my staff partner Dan and some of my key student leaders in April as they headed toward new roles and endeavors. I was left with a brand new team who were very new to leadership. The learning curve has been steep, but the fresh perspectives and new ideas and connections to previously unreached communities on campus like residence, grad students and South Asians has led to some exciting moments!
New Regional Staff Team: I have a brand new configuration of IV staff in my region that I meet with weekly. I study scripture, get trained and pray and vision with IV staff from U of T St. George and U of T Mississauga. The team is led my dear friend who’s now ministering in Toronto, Fi. It’s been really fun getting to know this configuration, and I find myself having more fun, laughing more and genuinely eager to see my colleagues. I’ve been blessed as they have been great listening posts, encouraged me to strive for more and prayed for courage and comfort during some rough patches this semester.
New Supervisor: As I begin my sixth year on staff with IV Canada, I have my 5th new supervisor. It’s been a blessing and a curse to have had so many supervisors, I’ve been to exposed to many varied leadership and supervision styles but I’ve also not had time to fully implement some of the suggestions for improvement before I start again with a new supervisor. But, I’m really enjoying not starting from scratch with my current supervisor. We’ve been trained by similar people, been to Bangladesh twice together, and genuinely enjoy each other! I’ve also been challenged and encouraged in new ways, and feel I’ve already grown as a staff in the few months since having Fi as my supervisor. I look forward to what the next semester will bring.
The Arch 