2024 - Tracks & Seminars

Culture - Practical insights and solutions For Today

• Rethinking Identity (Sid Koop)

  • The most significant question our students are asking is the question of identity... who am I? Culture tells them to first "look in", then around and maybe finally up in order to affirm whatever identity their emotions have chosen for themself. This process leaves our students fragile, insecure, self protective and ultimately without freedom. The Gospel flips the cultural script on it's head. The Gospel calls us to look up, than around and finally in, to figure out what needs to be re-ordered to align with the identity God has given to us...the identity we have been created for. This is freedom. How do we build our youth ministry so that it helps students discover who they actually are...and embrace the resilient, loving, and freedom giving identity they have been made for?

• Harnessing the Power of Social Media (Krista Penner)

  • The history of the Church in Canada has left a distinct mark of injustice and pain on its Indigenous Neighbours. With the wounds left by such a history running deep between the Church and Canada’s Indigenous People, how can these wounds begin to heal? How can we walk as one? In this interview style seminar, we’ll be exploring how Youth Ministries and the Church can work to better reach the Indigenous Youth and Communities in their areas through the stories and experience of those who have come to Christ from within those communities.

Discipleship - learning to follow jesus

• Understanding and Responding To The Influence of Pornography In The Lives of Youth (Rob Rhea)

  • The presence and influence of pornography across our culture is pervasive and cannot be ignored. This is especially true in the lives of adolescents. The “always-on, always-on-you” smartphone has helped foster serious levels of use of pornography among many of the youth in our churches. This session will focus on describing the ways pornography is especially harmful for an adolescent and will explore practical ways to equip youth workers in this important conversation.

• Transformed by Grace: Faith, Sexuality & Gender (Kyla Gillespie)

  • Kyla will be walking us through her personal testimony of what it was like to wrestle with same sex attraction and gender identity as a young child, youth and adult. Kyla will be opening up the conversation around faith, sexuality and gender. This can be a difficult conversation to navigate and we need such wisdom in how to walk with others who are wrestling in these areas. Being better equipped on how to love and walk alongside those who are LGBTQ+ is vital. What better example do we have but Jesus, full of grace and truth. We as Christian’s need both.

• Strength in Numbers: How you can help Youth struggling with Substance Abuse (Colin Lancelot)

  • When we look at the issue of substance abuse, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. According to a recent study in Canada, 60% of illicit drug users are between the ages of 15 and 24. In this workshop, Colin will dive into what practical support looks like to help young people who are struggling with substance abuse.

Ministry Tools - helpful tips for your youth ministry

• Building youth leadership (Peter Bird)

  • What are we accomplishing? What are we building? Where are we going to be next year, or the year after? Often, after the hype and chaos subsided, these were questions I found myself asking as I wondered if the efforts of our weekly youth nights would have any lasting effects. And it was this question that led me to the development and implementation of an intentional and structured approach to welcoming youth in The City Youth’s Leader in Training program. In this seminar, we will explore what can happen when youth step into intentional mentorships in their faith and leadership, and how a youth ministry can build these structures into its approach to ministry.

• No Lines To Cross (Wes Linde)

  • With so many leaders over the past number of years crossing lines and boundaries with students, is there any hope? What about same-gender one-on-one connection, have we come to the end of that as well? Students need healthy adult connection more than ever and this session is all about making healthy and achievable boundaries with youth that will be God-honouring, discipleship oriented, and ensure safety for both the leader and the student.

• This isn’t working! Helping Youth Encounter Jesus in Their Daily Devotions (Allen de Jong)

  • Do you ever feel like you’re just going through the motions when you’re settling down to do your devotions? Does it feel like a struggle connecting with God? Do you struggle to even DO devotions regularly? Come be a part of the conversation as we try to define what a healthy quiet time should look like, learn some new ways to encounter Jesus in your daily devotions, and then teach our students to do the same.