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Connection
MISSION AND OUTREACH
Vacation Bible School Fun with the St. John’s Summer
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PRESBYTERIAN
WINTER 2022
presbyterian.ca
By Rebekah Dieleman, Certified Child Life Specialist. Rebekah has been involved in the summer student program at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont., since 2017
The summer student program at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont., serves our congregation, and surrounding churches in our community, by assisting with the summer camp programs and pro- viding support for children with special needs.
Initially funded by a grant from The Presbyterian Church in Cana- da’s Creative Ministry to Children & Youth Fund, this year support also came from the Presbytery of Oak Ridges Youth Fund and the
Canada Summer Jobs program. The 2022 summer team in- cluded four university/high school students—Kayla Gunn, Adam Howe, David Howe, Brooke Wap- pel—lead by Program Director Rebekah Dieleman. The team led Vacation Bible School (VBS) camps at St. John’s Presbyterian, and many churches across the region, who resumed in-person
programming this summer.
This year, our team kicked off the summer by leading two weeks of VBS at St. John’s Pres- byterian. Over 30 children and nine youth volunteers from the community attended our camps, and we provided one-on-one sup- port for four children with special needs. Our program was called “Monumental: Celebrating God’s
Greatness.” The days were filled with music, Bible stories, crafts, games, science experiments and team activities. We included theme days that correlated with that day’s Bible story as well as daily verses for the children to learn. Each week also included a water day with fun outdoor team- building activities for the children to enjoy. It is always so rewarding to see the children’s excitement
grow throughout the week as they learn more about God and make memories with their new friends at camp. We also love to see their confidence grow and we provide many opportunities for the chil- dren to lead in helping with wor- ship and prayer.
Following the weeks of camp in our own church, the summer stu- dent team served at Bradford Bap- tist Church, Richmond Hill Presby- terian Church, and Trinity Anglican Church, to assist with their VBS programming, including providing one-on-one suppor t to campers.
By running our VBS program- ming, our main objective is to teach children about Jesus in a fun and interactive way, creating space for them to build upon their faith and their relationship with
Team
God. We also want to create a camp environment that is posi- tive, supportive and encouraging to all our campers. We place a big emphasis on creating adaptable programming that is inclusive for the developmental needs of all children, to allow everyone the opportunity to attend camp. This is achieved through planning and training a strong team of leaders that motivate and encourage one another. With our summer student team, we have the opportunity to provide this care at our VBS, as well as help to provide adaptable programming at various summer camps in our community. The hope with this initiative is to cre- ate inclusive camp programming that welcomes all children and families in our community.
volunteer to serve, mingle, wash dishes, make coffee and, of course, clean up. One of the fruits of this endeavour was in seeing the students offer to help in the serving and clean up. We have enjoyed serving shoulder to shoulder with them and will continue to do so in the future. We are excited to see how Jesus will continue to lead us to bear fruit from this outreach.
The meals are provided by Feeding Windsor-Essex, a mis- sion group with a goal to ensure all people in Windsor-Essex receive healthy, well-balanced meals, regardless of socio-eco- nomic barriers. We are happy to know that by par tnering with them, we are also suppor ting their mission as we carry out ours. We give thanks to The Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Avondbloem Experimen- tal Fund for the funds needed to help launch this program.
Our goal is to continue meet- ing and eating once a month, broaden it to include professors, faculty and staff, invite speakers, and more.
Outreach to Post-Secondary Students in Windsor
By Pastor Shalini Sankarlal, leadership team, University Community Church in Windsor, Ont.
In the early part of the winter, University Community Church in Windsor, Ont., began an outreach program to the students at the nearby university and college. One mission goal for our church is to be a home away from home for students, star ting with mak- ing connections with them.
What better way than over meals! During Covid we began
providing “take away” meals for students, twice a month. It was great to meet the students and learn more about them. But the brevity of the moment was not enough. Students and the people of UCC wanted to converse more with each other. So, in the spring when the pandemic restrictions were lifted, we held our first in- person sit-down meal, and it cer tainly was a success.
We served well over 150 stu- dents, even though we anticipat- ed 75! For our second meal, we served over 160 students. We
continued during July and Au- gust, serving more meals once
a month (including takeouts). We have had many congregants