Young Leaders Gather in Ontario

Young people from 10 Christian Reformed churches in five classes in southern Ontario gathered last month to learn a range of skills to help them to become better leaders in their congregations.

Along with youth ministers and other church leaders, the young people met for a weekend retreat at The Leadership Studio in Muskoka Woods along the shore of Lake Rosseau north of Toronto. In total, about 40 people participated.

“The studio helps the students identify their leadership styles and giftings and to identify where they feel God is calling them to use these gifts,” said Lesli van Milligen, the regional catalyst for Eastern Canada for Faith Formation Ministries.

The Leadership Studio offers activities, ranging from ropes courses and strategic-planning exercises to storytelling and raft-building, as ways to challenge and train leaders who represent many age groups and come from businesses, schools, churches and other places.

For six years, Classis Huron has sent young people in junior high and high school to the studio. This is the first time the opportunity was opened to additional classes across Ontario. About 250 young people, pastors and others have been through the studio over the last few years.

In other retreats, said van Milligen, young people have taken the “Nascar/Pit Crew Challenge,” in which they work together on a real vehicle from the Nascar circuit, changing and rotating tires and filling it with pretend gas.

Working separately in teams, they also have built sections of a bridge out of plastic, Lego-type pieces and then come together to construct a 15-foot-long structure.

“These situations help them practice leadership skills as a team in real time,” said van Milligen.

At the recent retreat, they used art and poetry, as well as participated in a ropes course and other activities, as ways of  discovering and developing their skills and considering how to best apply their gifts in their home congregations.

“These young people are not the church of  the future. They are the church of now,” said van Milligen.

 “We want to support and equip them. We don’t want these amazing young leaders to drift off so that they won’t be there to speak into the different ministries of the church.”

Mentors and coaches accompanied the young people to the biblically based training event, said van Milligen.

This way, she said, they could learn alongside students and then be able to offer “support and advocate for students as they look for places to serve in their youth group, church community and beyond.”

At the training, she said. they addressed a variety of topics, including  “how do we image God as skillful leaders, and how do we as leaders look at God’s world and say ‘it doesn’t have to be this way and we can do something about it’.”

Those who participated in the training had “the chance to step out of their comfort zones to be stretched as leaders,” said van Milligen.

“This is about them being able, in the ways that best work for them, to take on responsibilities in their churches and not wait for adults to do it.”

A key element of the training, she said, is encouraging young people to sort through and consider how use their own special gifts. It is not a one-size-fits all process, said van Milligen.

Of the training, one student said, “The studio experience was amazing and inspiring and I believe that it would be beneficial to others.”

Another said, “It may not inspire people to be big leaders but it helps them to discover leadership and insight inside themselves.”