The Network

Guest blogger - Lillian O.

(from an article submitted to her church newsletter)

On Saturday, October 3rd 2009, I was given the chance to go with Brian Fairbrother and Father David to a social justice conference. I was already quite interested in social justice, so I was really quite intrigued about how Christianity could play a part in ending homelessness and other important things pertaining to social justice.

When we arrived with Taylor Esch in tow, a student who knew Brian and who had also expressed interest in coming to the conference, we were greeted with smiles and breakfast. When we had finished we were led to the auditorium where we participated in a short service and communion led by Bishop Linda Nichols. We then listened to keynote speaker Dion Oxford who spoke about what community is and how Christians should view it.

Afterwards I walked with the rest of the youth to a group room where we participated in a youth program led by Jenny Salisbury and Christian Harvey. In the morning we watched a documentary called Ordinary Radicals, about how we need to go back to the essence of Christianity, loving our neighbors and helping everybody and breaking the barriers of fear of the unknown.

After a lunch break, we went back to the youth group room and watched a documentary created by one of the conference attendees Dave Patterson. The Grade 11 student had done this documentary on fair trade chocolate and how the most popular chocolate companies like Hersheys, Lindt, Nestlé, and Cadbury use child slaves to create a delicious chocolate we know and love! I was absolutely shocked and appalled to hear this and immediately made a resolution to only eat fair trade chocolate like Ben & Jerry's another chocolate with the fair trade symbol.

I would like to ask the congregation as a whole this Halloween not to hand out chocolate bars, only candies, because if we all cut back drastically on a chocolate intake and the fair trade, the companies who use child slaves would get the message and switch to fair trade working conditions.

Well another summer has come and gone and it's only now that it seems that Mother Nature is finally cooperating and giving us our just due of sunshine. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this (typically)slower time of the year.

I want to bring you up-to-date on a number of developments and upcoming events.

First off, over the summer I finished updating the Area Youth Ministry contact list (although there are a number of parishes which I have still not heard back from, it is as complete as possible). If you wish to be kept up-to-date on the goings-on within York-Scarborough (and beyond), please contact me to ensure that your name is included in future mailings.

Diocese of Toronto Youth Ministry Group - As much as we all enjoy youth ministry there are many pressures that can arise and we can be left with the feeling that we are an island unto ourselves and are operating our ministry in a vacuum. A couple of weeks back Christian Harvey, the Area Youth Coordinator for Trent-Durham, sent out ane-mail asking former members of the Diocese of Toronto Youth Ministry Working Group (decommissioned in late 2008) to attend a meeting at St. George's Willowdale to see what level of interest was in reestablishing or reinventing this group. Christian was the first to articulate what many former members of the group were feeling - we missed each other. There was a good turnout with many hugs and smiles. It was almost like a class reunion or meeting up with long-lostfriends from summer camp. There was much discussion around: what had happened, what should happen, and what is going to happen.

The bottom line is, it was decided that this new (unnamed) group would meet every other month to join together in fellowship and share with each other (at a bare minimum) our successes, challenges and ideas.

This is an invitation for all youth ministers in the York-Scarborough Network to attend the next meeting scheduled for November 3, 7:30 PM at St. Clement's Church.

http://www.stclements-church.org/component/content/article/220

Next on the calendar is Looking Forward (November 6-7, 2009) -  an event that I cannot recommend highly enough. There are always many interesting workshops and it's a great opportunity to network with other Youth Ministers.

from their website...

http://www.zipsqueal.com/leadership_weekend.html

Looking Forward is...

... A leadership training opportunity as well as a community building event for youth leaders across the province. Looking Forward seeks to provide a forum to offer training on current youth ministry practices, share resources and ideas, and build community and shared ministry among youth leaders.

- Many workshops offering practical skills and food for thought

- Experience different styles of worship

- Music from within - music ideas for those who don't have a rockband at their disposal

- Downtime and social times for rest and relaxation

- Forests, streams, waterfalls and trails to explore at CanterburyHills

- Time to re-energize yourself

Who is the program for ?

This event is for individual adult leaders as well as parish teams of leaders which could include youth members. We welcome leaders from across Canada but our primary target region is the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario which includes the dioceses of Niagara, Toronto,Ottawa, Huron, Ontario, Algoma and Moosenee.

more Looking Forward details...

http://www.zipsqueal.com/leadership_weekend.html

There are many more events in the works and I will keep you updated as details become available.

Peace,

Brian

n

York-Scarborough Area
Youth Ministry
SUMMER  UPDATE

Greetings All!

Well, the summer of 2008 is winding down (and we?re finally getting some summer weather!) and thoughts of both parents and our youth will be turning to school.

We wanted to bring you up to date on the ?Eco-Christian? event we had hinted about earlier this year.

Off the Grid 2008
November 14-16
Canterbury Hills, Ancaster

Attention York-Scarborough Youth and Youth Ministers!

Off The Grid 2008 is a Friday night to Sunday morning event for eco-conscious 11-17 year olds. It's a 24-hour power and electricity fast, designed to engage you with environmental justice issues while explaining the work of PWRDF partners around the globe.

The program, developed by ? the PWRDF?s youth initiative, is a great opportunity to meet other young Anglicans, and work together to discover the impact we have on the environment, and what we can do about it.

We?ll turn off our iPods and cell phones, build solar cookers, calculate our carbon footprints and gather around a campfire. We'll have the opportunity to play The Amazing Race and participate in an environmental Eucharist!  All this, while learning about the difference each one of us can make in the earth?s future.

The cost for the event is only $110 and includes return bus fare, 2 nights accommodation, meals and a cool Off The Grid tee shirt.


Youth Ministry Contact Information:
We are doing well with our contact list, but we still have some holes we would like to fill. Help us keep in touch with you by replying to this post with current contact (phone email etc.) whomever is doing youth ministry at your church. (We want to be sure correspondence is directed to the right person.)


Blessings,  



Brian Thomas Fairbrother
York-Scarborough Area Youth Animator     
www.ysymn.com       animator@ysymn.com      647.230.1658