By Ps. Akeem Ambrose
On May 18-20, the youth of the Mount Olive Seventh-day Adventist church put on a youth rally in Montreal, Quebec under the theme “Jesus is”. This youth rally was held at the Lasalle New Life Seventh-day Adventist Church. The purpose of this trip was to provide an opportunity for youth to minister and share the love of Jesus. This was a three-way collaborative ministry between Mount Olive Seventh-day Adventist Church, Burman University, and Lasalle New Life Seventh-day Adventist Church. This partnership also promoted post-secondary Christian education. The attendees were given the opportunity to minister for Jesus with their peers. In doing so, they were engaged in worship, leadership, physical activity, building self-esteem and healthy relationships in a Christian environment. Throughout this experience, the connections made served as an opportunity to encourage, mentor, and foster wholesome Christian leadership skills, it also created relationships with the youth in Montreal.
The grand total cost of the trip was $13,600 with the bulk of the trip being covered by various fundraising initiatives such as: the winter wonderland, a fundraising concert, and several basketball tournaments. Burman University also helped to lower our cost by donating $1000! The youth from Mount Olive worked very hard to fundraise and make this trip possible! The program went from Friday night and ended on Saturday night. The youth that attended were all held to a high standard since they’re representing: both Mount Olive Seventh-day Adventist church and Burman University. The weekend was filled with as much work as it was fun. It was extremely important to stay on task throughout the weekend. The worship experience created was unique and heavenly! It was beautiful to see children who don’t usually get involved ready and willing to help! All 60 young people were working side by side to get the ball rolling and I truly witnessed Jesus working in them.
I have been doing youth rallies for quite some time around different parts of Western Canada and I have always used young people to minister and execute these types of programs. Seeing how things unfolded throughout the weekend reaffirmed why I began doing this. Before the weekend was over many young people were asking me when the next opportunity to serve would be. This kind of excitement will help stimulate young leaders in our church and show this unique generation it is fun to work for Jesus. What I learned from this weekend is that,” young people love ministry but, we need to captive their minds while the holy spirit captivates their hearts” (Akeem Ambrose). Forcing young people to worship or attend a service is more destructive than helpful. If we can challenge them and create opportunities for them to lead, I think we’d be one step closer to helping our future leaders evolve.
Youth Perspective- Suzzanna Small
In May 2018 the youth at Mount Olive Seventh-day Adventist Church raised enough funds to have the opportunity to go out and spread the word of God at La Salle New life Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montreal, Quebec. This youth rally program took place over the period May 18-20, 2018 and was called “Jesus is”. Here all youth were given the chance to minister for Jesus with their peers.
The trip was consisted of engaging in worship such as sharing testimonies, personal experience with God, and Christian leadership. Within these three days the youth received guidance from their mentors including Pastors Akeem Ambrose, Alisha Gill, Pastor Sherry and Tiniel. With their help the youth learned to build and strengthen their relationship with God. Therefore, they were able to put on a wonderful program where everyone felt the power of Christ.
Some special aspects of the of the programs included prayer activities, skits, praise and worship as well as hand written sermons. This excursion wasn’t just about an experience to go to another province and to minister; but it was more of an opportunity for the youth to have a stronger connection with God enabling them to walk closer with Him in the future.