Taking a Breath

We finally feel like we have some time to breathe, and that things at The Door Youth Centre are soon returning to some sense of "normal" (I say that because things are seldom ever normal for us). This weekend we are taking off with some of our staff to camp, reconnect, and enjoy some leisure time together before we begin another year of ministry. After all, a youth workers calendar always starts in September.

I was thinking about the past two months this morning. We got a lot done this summer. We joined our Canada-wide staff in Montreal for our national conference, led two camps, one for elementary aged youth, and one with a number of other Door Youth Centres. We were part of a team that led a group of youth to Mississippi, which we blogged earlier this week. In the middle of that, we joined our youth on a number of weekly day trips, and continued our year-round drop-in ministry.

We also ran a fairly successful "Breakfast Club" before our Wednesday events. This program was highly experimental, since we didn't know whether we would be able to rouse adolescents at 9am in the summer, or whether they would be interested in reading and discussing the Bible during that time. The first week, we were shocked when 6 youth showed up, and even more surprised when they participated in our discussion of 1 John! This number stayed fairly consistent through much of the summer, only dropping off a few times. We will definitely keep this program next summer.

Our camps were a lot of work, but very worthwhile. We partner with a couple of churches in town to run a Jr. High day camp. We see many of the youth that Aaron works with at one of the local elementary schools. We had over 30 campers this year, and we explored the theme of "Who Are You" in our daily sessions and small group. I have to admit, I have a soft spot in my heart for the 11-13 age group - they are so free, and I have some of the funniest camp memories (in over 10 years of being involved in this particular program) from this year.

We did take a small break to go on a much needed vacation to New Brunswick and to share in celebrating a family wedding. This time was really important to us.

Our YFC camp, Campfire, was a success as well. We were a little lower in numbers, and with our executive director being on sabbatical this summer, many of us took on roles that we hadn't in the past. While camp had a much different feel this summer, God was really working in the lives of our youth, and we were blessed to have opportunities to minister to our youth in ways that we hadn't in the past. One night, Aaron, one of our co-workers and I had a chance to pray for a young man in our Collingwood ministry, and it was an incredible experience! Being able to bless him and let him know that he was not alone in his struggles was such an honour. We took 4 youth from Collingwood.

So with all of this, Project Serve and summer coming to a close (dislike), we are now looking ahead to the fall. Our regular programming will resume soon, with Soul Food coming back on the radar. We have our eyes on some new media projects to engage our youth, time geared specifically for elementary aged youth and for our girls. We are open to God's vision for our centre, and anticipate new ministry opportunities to both our larger community of youth and individuals. I'm excited for when I get to share those stories with you!