Summer Fellowship
This is the first summer in 3 years that I haven’t been on a Global Partnership. It has been an interesting experience being able to experience the fullness of being in Canada for the months of May and June! I’ve been blessed with times with friends, celebrations of anniversaries and time to rest and reflect on the past year.
I also have had the opportunity to be more involved in the GTA summer fellowship. In the past few years, the summer fellowship has been inter-campus and dominantly student run. But this year, myself, and a few of my colleagues are around for the summer, so we wanted to be more invested and involved in the GTA summer fellowship.
Christa, staff at U of T St George and I gather students from all the downtown campuses on Thursday nights at Ryerson for a summer topical study called “Loving Your…”. Each week we have a new topic like loving your neighbour, loving your enemy, loving yourself, and so on. We’ve alternated between leading studies ourselves and training students to lead studies; and we’ve been using scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. And one Friday a month, we invite students from all across the GTA to join us for a social event, like Shakespeare in the Park. This has been a great way for us to partner with Christa’s husband and his students at U of T Mississauga.
I have never had so much fun during a summer fellowship! I love leading with Christa, and I’m constantly encouraged and amazed at the work God is doing in the lives of the students we have been gathering!
After the first week of study, one Ryerson student who’s been on the fringe of our community, came up to me and asked if I had extra copies of the scripture so she could lead this study with her parents! The next week I asked her to lead the study with another Ryerson student, it was the first time for the both of them and they did a fantastic job! Also after the first few weeks of study, the students would stay after the study chatting with each other for another hour and then would go out for late night food afterward. I was hoping these things would happen by the end of the summer and I am still pleasantly surprised at how soon these things are happening!
GTA summer fellowship 2015
The End of an Era
The Seuss themed end of year party had some great moments; my favorite being a game poking fun at Patchy, called Pin the Beard on the [Patchy]. I also had a lot of fun blind-folding (and terrifying) the winner of the Richard Baker Award, an Award that’s been a tradition at Ryerson given to graduating students who go above and beyond choosing to extend hospitality and invest in younger students especially in their last years of their degree which are usually the busiest. I had her blind-folded and brought to the front of the room, then proceeded to talk about all the wonderful ways she’s blessed our community, and relished as she squirmed thinking she was in for something awful, then I had the blind-fold taken off and gave her the award. I think she was more upset at the anticipation of something terrible happening than if I had actually done something terrible! But she was grateful for being honoured with the award.
At this point in the festivities, I made the announcement to the larger community (and now to you) that I would be leaving Ryerson and becoming a campus minister at OCAD University.
After this, the same student who won the Richard Baker Award, called me forward, and asked me to sit in one of two chairs at the front of the room. She took the other seat, and then proceeded to conduct an “exit interview”. I think it was meant to be more lighthearted and funny, but some of the questions (which I had no prior knowledge of) were a little awkward to answer without preparation.
After a few more games and tons of desserts, the party was over. I had a lot of fun, but as my last RIVCF party on campus, it felt like a bit of an anti-climactic ending. My last official Ryerson-specific event after this party was a final leader’s meeting to debrief the year.
At our last exec meeting, which was 2 days later, we spent the time eating pie and sharing with each other what we appreciated about one another and about all the things we were glad to receive this year in leadership. I was encouraged as I saw this group of strangers had become deep spiritual friends and deeply loved one another.
As you likely know, I’m an avid reader, and as a parting gift I gave away some books for the students to further their development moving forward giving each a specific book to meet them where they are at, many of these titles may seem familiar as they are ones I’ve mentioned on this blog:
- Patchy: Real Life by James Choung
- AP: Small Things Done with Great Love by Margot Starbuck
- Beaker: Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends by Richard Lamb
- Swift: Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
- Pink: Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson
- Dumplings: Baking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens by Lynne Christy Anderson and Corby Kummer
- RA: Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen
It felt good to give the students my personal copies of these books and share the insights I’d received these books and bless them into the next things in their lives be it more school or entering the workforce.
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
The Arch 