By Christina Crook

Leading youth worship at the ONE event.

On October 18, in an amazing show of unity, over 2,000 teens braved one of Vancouver’s worst rain storms to gather at the ONE event – for worship, mutual encouragement and to learn about reaching out in their high schools.

 The term ONE is familiar to today’s teens, most famously as the name of a campaign to end poverty, established by  U2 front man Bono. The slogan permeates today’s youth culture though MySpace banners and white wrist bands. But the teens who gathered at Glad Tidings Christian Fellowship for the ONE rally came together as one in Jesus Christ.

More than 70 churches and youth groups from across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley were represented.

Jason Ng, age 18 and a member of the event’s youth leadership team, described the purpose of ONE as two-fold:

“Firstly, it is about bringing people together from different denominations and cultural backgrounds as ONE. “Secondly, this event supports teens within their high school context, giving us a vision outside of our church and enabling us to connect with students in our schools.”

Organizers for the event included several regional youth networks: Breakout, canadafire, No Boundaries, OneLife and Coastal Church’s Regeneration.

An eclectic worship team led by Jeff Wong, a pastor at Point Grey Community Church, along with local DJs AK45 and ‘matthew16: 26,’ inspired deep, unifying worship. Dutch Christian Reformed kids worshipped alongside Chinese Pentecostal kids; Baptists and former Sikhs all sang with one voice.

BCCN spoke with Mika Kostamo, youth pastor at Cedar Grove Church and a leader of BreakOut.

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ONE, he said, “is about a number of networks coming together. There really is no hype. We’re just coming together to connect with each other – and God. I think the ripple effects from this event will be large. Youth are inspired when they hear about their peers reaching out. Through events like ONE, students’ passion for reaching their friends increases.”

“I think the biggest impact of this event is on people’s perceptions about church,” said Ng. “I’ve gone all my life to Chinese churches; but events like ONE have helped me realize there is a wider community out there, and we can do more together than on our own.”

ONE was promoted through regional youth networks, churches, local youth groups and online. On the day of the event, ONE’s Facebook group indicated well over 800 were planning to attend.

“This generation wants unity” said the event’s emcee, pastor Paul Wang Jr. “They don’t know about past disunity and splits in the church. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and they want consistency.

“Schools are getting bigger and bigger – and churches are shrinking. We need to ask, why is that? We felt that if the churches aren’t going to connect, then we need to unite the students right where they are – in their schools. This is the purpose of ONE, and it is our prayer that this unity among the youth, this commitment to the mission of Jesus, is an encouragement to the older generation.”  

Stephanie Teerling, age 15, of North Surrey High School, told BCCN events such as ONE “give us the chance to share ideas with each other and hear about the good things going on in each other’s schools – and that’s encouraging!”

A major related event is happening this month. The Canadian Youth Workers Conference is scheduled November 29 – December 2, in Vancouver. Contact: www.cywc.com.

November 2007