Camp offers university students in-person community
Camp in Arden, Ont., is providing university students a place to live and learn together
EACH YEAR InterVarsity Christian Fellowship runs the LEAD (Learning, Experience and Discipleship) program, a yearlong discipleship program for high school graduates taking a gap year and waiting to begin postsecondary education. Participants live at an IVCF-owned camp and participate in Bible studies and discipleship classes while serving in various ministries (www.IVCF.ca/Lead).
“It’s one of the highlights of our ministry year,” says Anne Douglas, director of Circle Square Ranch Big Clear Lake, one of the program’s regular locations. This year they allowed university or college students whose classes have gone online because of the pandemic to join LEAD. The experience can’t fully replicate living on campus, but it gives students an opportunity to learn how to live in community while also “teaching them the skills and habits around pursuing God,” she says.
This year’s five participants are all women – two are university students who have helped each other cope better with the stress of online learning. They also attend Bible studies and read assigned books about Christian living, as well as complete coursework for their university programs.
Faith Yohane, a first-year student in education and child and youth studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., joined the LEAD program because she “wanted to do something meaningful with this year.” Yohane, whose summer job as the camp’s head lifeguard was cancelled because of the pandemic, had originally planned to spend her gap year overseas. After the pandemic hit she enrolled at Trent and the LEAD program.
“I’ve learned the importance of community,” says Yohane. “I learned that I can’t really do any of this without God. I kind of knew that, but it’s taken on a new meaning for me. I need to rely on God daily for every single day of school.”