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Young Life Toronto at Winter Camp
We took two groups of guests to Muskoka Woods for YL Ontario's annual winter camp: Five high school kids and four adult guests. This weekend served as a first taste of Young Life ministry for both kids and adults. The five teenagers came from the Midtown/York Mills area and they experienced a lot of laughter and fun both planned and unplanned, and silly as well as significant conversations.
Over the course of the weekend, they heard and had a chance to respond to four talks about Jesus and how trusting him can make a difference in our lives. My wife Becky hosted four adult guests from Toronto, who joined four other adult guests from other parts of Ontario. At the end of the weekend, each of the Toronto guests expressed that they want to be a significant part of the Young Life effort in Toronto going forward.
First Young Life Community Dinner
Above is the crew who joined us for our first Young Life community dinner. These monthly dinners will serve as a gathering place and pathway for building a mission community of adults who care about teenagers. Our hope is that the team of staff and leaders who will work with kids in Toronto will grow out of this group. Our next dinner is on March 23.
Next Steps in Toronto Development
For the past seven months, our development efforts were focused on networking, listening, and learning about the city and communities Toronto. As a result of relationships we were able to build during that time, we now have an opportunity to begin an implementation phase of development.
Without leaving our listening and learning posture behind, we will begin to explore how and where in the city we can build and deploy teams of Young Life leaders. These teams will be the ones to build friendships with teenagers.
We have had two friends of Young Life in Toronto apply to join Young Life staff here, which is exciting! We have parents and other adults interested in Young Life ministry in various parts of the city. We will be working diligently over the next several months to properly discern where and how to begin Young Life work with teenagers.