More than a weekend away

Each year the Ontario MB Conference holds a leadership building weekend for adult youth leaders, as well as students in leadership roles in their youth groups. Leanne Unruh of Grantham MB Church, St. Catharines, reflects on the 2006 event, Oct. 20–22 at Camp Crossroads.

Two participants at Ontario’s leadership building weekend.

God took one weekend – the youth leadership retreat – and gave me what I needed, when I hadn’t realized I needed anything at all.

God knew I needed much more than a weekend away. I needed to refocus after a long summer and nearly two months of my first year of university. After returning from the two-week SOAR Montreal program in July, I’d become content to stay where I was with God. I’d become more and more caught up in my daily life.

Speaker Eric Wingender, president of École de Théologie Évangélique de Montréal, opened the weekend chapel sessions by posing the question: why are you a Christian?

This is a question high school students will encounter and perhaps struggle with in the next few years, if they haven’t already. It’s one I get in university, and at work. I’ve heard all kinds of answers, from “because my parents are” to theological discussions too long for this article.

Eric proposed an answer that’s simple but profound: we are Christians because of Jesus. That sounds pretty basic. We get it.

Or do we? Do we really follow Jesus? We need to take a look at our lives, at what we do and why. We go to church; we follow the rules and expectations. But are we following the rules and expectations because they coincide with Jesus’ character, or for other reasons?

Jesus was all about breaking cultural rules and expectations when they were wrong. For example, he loved all people and treated them equally, even in a society that required a good person not to associate with certain people. Jesus spent his time with the tax collector, the prostitute, the woman at the well. We too need to learn to love and accept everyone equally, keeping in mind this doesn’t mean condoning their sin.

This brings me to the other key point of the weekend: community. If you ask any youth what they remember about the weekend, they’ll probably say, “Uh, hanging out.” Simply spending time with other people, other members of the church. Why does this stand out?

There’s a sense of understanding, of common purpose. This sense of unity that makes the church a community comes from Jesus, the anchor of our lives, our reference point and guide.

This retreat took me back to the basics of the church, the basics of our faith.