Youth Outreach
I was excited as I was walking into the school library. The teacher in charge had invited me to attend the student committee meeting of the Chinese cultural group of a local high school. "What an opportunity this is to meet with these students!", I told myself. A month later, the same group of students helped me to organize mailing 500 plus letters to all the Chinese parents for the coming Chinese Parents Night.
The way these students conducted the meeting and organized the mailing really impressed me. Most of them were O.A.C. students. They were mature, capable and eloquent in expressing their ideas. As I get to know these students better, I find them no different than any student in a typical youth fellowship in our Chinese churches. Both have similar background, share similar struggles and they all embrace life with enthusiasm. The only difference between the two, if there is any; is that they do not share the same faith commitment in their lives. And sadly, there are not too many opportunities around to even make frequent contacts with them. It is precisely because of this reason that AFC is constantly exploring various means to reach out to these students. Other than helping to establish C.C.F.s on many different campuses as well as annual events such as Teens Conference and Campus Challenge, there are year round sports related events, various summer mission activities and topical seminars related to issues like career planning, AFC is also expanding to include community outreach as a new way to get in touch with the students in the community.
Due to the Ontario government budget cut and the public school reform, there begins a great need in the school community. Many occasions thus arise for the Chinese Christian community to get involved in meeting those needs. So far, AFC has begun to establish some close contacts with Scarborough high schools. E.S.L. tutorial groups have been set up when qualified Christian young adults volunteer as tutors. At the same time, AFC is sponsoring school events specifically related to the needs of the Chinese students and their families. Through these events, the Chinese Christian community has opportunities to establish new contacts with students whom previously we have not been able to reach. At the same time, we have demonstrated wonderful witnesses of love in action to the public community.
Other than this, AFC has organized a group of energetic and talented Christian young people from various churches who name themselves F.L.Y. - Future Led by Youth. The purpose of this group is twofold: to demonstrate to others in the community that God has given young people great potentials and creativity; secondly, Christian youth does care for other young people in the community particularly in their struggles with sexuality. By God's grace, we are in the process of planning a comprehensive survey researching this area of the Chinese youth in Metro Toronto. Moreover, the group members are hosting a commercial radio program aiming at discussing similar issues. We have also scheduled for a variety of events in the Chinese community to raise public awareness regarding sexual struggles in the young people, Christians and non-Christians alike.
For the past twenty five years, AFC has been faithful in responding to the mission of reaching out to the students on campus. Even with the rapid changes of youth trend and culture, AFC will continue to seek new avenues to reach out to young people.
[ Newsletter ] [ Book House ] [ Vancouver Ministry ]
[ Chinese Christian Fellowship ] [ E-mail Directory ] [ Other Links ]
Copyright © 1998 Ambassadors for Christ in Canada.
All rights reserved.