Yearly Archives: 2019

2 12, 2019

Centre Court (fall 2019) review

By |2019-12-02T00:40:01-05:00December 2nd, 2019|event recap|0 Comments

Last night, we hosted our 20th+ Centre Court event. Not only did the Raptors come away with a convincing victory, almost 700 of us got to hang back after the game for our own program. This year's speaker was Stormin' Norman Powell. He shared how his faith has continued to shape him (he previously shared at Centre Court about three years ago), especially after last summer's NBA championship. More importantly,

28 11, 2019

Youth Ministry Highlight: Malvern Baptist Church

By |2019-11-28T23:57:07-05:00November 28th, 2019|ym highlight|0 Comments

The youth from MBC went on a 3 day retreat this past summer in Guelph. The weekend was filled with games, food, reflection, mediation, sports, and prayer. Our church partnered with another church (who meets at Tyndale) and had a badminton tournament accompanied with worship (led by Nicholas Wong). Our church celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey and all the

26 11, 2019

Book review: Before the Screen

By |2019-11-26T23:37:51-05:00November 26th, 2019|Alvin Lau, youth ministry thoughts|0 Comments

Recently, I (Alvin) finished reading Andrew Zirschky’s book Beyond the Screen: Youth Ministry for the Connected But Alone Generation. This short book highlighted some profound insights on how Generation Z engages social media in the context of community. Some specific insights that caught my attention: One key reason why many youth gravitate to technology is “not primarily for its entertainment value or cool factor, but because of its potential to

20 11, 2019

Youth Ministry Highlight: Agincourt Baptist Church

By |2019-11-28T23:58:05-05:00November 20th, 2019|Uncategorized, ym highlight|0 Comments

Our VBS camp this August brought in a lot of new faces to our youth group, as new volunteer leaders from the local high-school and current youth group members were brought much closer as a tight-nit group. The new members transitioned into our weekly youth group seamlessly. Now we have a larger group with a strong drive and motivation to be at church as much as possible. Every member attends our

17 11, 2019

Advent Prep

By |2019-11-17T22:56:58-05:00November 17th, 2019|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

Snow is falling (and staying depending on what area of Quebec or Ontario you’re living in). Retailers have already set up their Christmas decorations. How is your youth group preparing for advent? Some considerations: What transitions are worth keeping? Contrarily, what traditions should be adapted into something different? What expressions of Advent would speak to your neighbourhood? How would the message of Jesus resonate with your community? What media would

14 11, 2019

Youth Ministry Highlight: Kingsway Baptist Church

By |2019-11-28T23:58:39-05:00November 14th, 2019|ym highlight|0 Comments

I (Jon Matthews, youth pastor at Kingsway) had a really encouraging phone call with one of our students who is in University now (3rd year). As we were talking and she was sharing how she now has a church in town she goes to weekly, arranging her work schedule so every week she can have Sunday mornings free. And that she is part of discipleship group with another Para-church organization.

8 11, 2019

Collaboration

By |2019-11-08T15:35:57-05:00November 8th, 2019|Alvin Lau, best practices|0 Comments

In the last few months, I (Alvin) have had the honour of working alongside the Church Life team with the Small Church Envisioning days (the last session is this Saturday at Immanuel Baptist Church in Toronto). While there have been several inter-department collaborations in the past, this round reminded me of its importance. Here are a few insights. I can (and should) learn from others. Admittedly, I sometimes have a

4 11, 2019

Moving from Children’s Ministry to Youth Ministry

By |2019-11-04T09:49:53-05:00November 4th, 2019|best practices|0 Comments

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of attending parts of the Toronto Children’s Ministry Conference. (Tanya Yuen was one of the key organizers.) At face value, it may not make sense for the “youth guy” to be at a children’s ministry conference. However, strengthening a child’s move from children’s ministry to youth ministry is crucial. A few years ago, Tanya and I wrote a booklet called “Faith Formation in Children

25 10, 2019

What’s Happening on October 31?

By |2019-10-25T14:21:56-04:00October 25th, 2019|best practices|0 Comments

With October 31 approaching, many kids (and youth) are preparing for Halloween by getting costumes ready. Households are stocking up on treats. Whether or not you choose to participate in Halloween traditions, Halloween can be an opportunity for Christian ministry. Some churches decide to host events such as  fall fairs, which can be opportunities to offer safe gathering places for neighbourhood young people. The key for this option isn’t to

18 10, 2019

3-Tier Engagement

By |2019-10-18T15:44:12-04:00October 18th, 2019|best practices|0 Comments

Recently Matt, Meghan, and Alvin have been reassessing how we gauge our effectiveness with our CBOQ churches, specifically with youth ministries and their progressions. Through prayer and discussion, we’ve come up with a 3-tier engagement approach that will help us better evaluate our ministry. (Note: The tiers are not indicative of importance; they simply provide us with three different ways to measure engagement.) TIER 1 Every year, we will compile

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