Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/82

Contributor - Alex Kroon

Title - Youth in Training

Topic - Youth

Youth in Training is an experience offered to teenagers interested in expanding as a Christian, developing leadership skills, meeting other young people, and having a great time. It is a two-year course, with the first summer session at Camp Shalom, and the second summer out in the field.

For the two weeks you're with your fellow "yit's" you're in your own small world. You have your home base of tents and trailers way out in nowhere, and spend most of your time as a group. That's what makes YIT special: the fellowship you have both in and out of your training sessions. This last summer we realized we had all opened up and become a close group.

YIT was created by Evert VanBeek and Rev. John Drost. Rev. Frank Guinta and Mr. Van Beek are the leaders. If it wasn't for Evert's beard, knowledge, private trailer and the fact he taught some of the sessions, you would reason that he too was a "yit". He participates in all the activities and instills humour and order into the situation.

Our resident Italian, ex-sailor and Reformed Church minister was Frank Guinta. He taught our Bible survey and the Christian life and doctrines. We were impressed by his wisdom and strong belief. He kept us in line and awake, and he kept his humour. Rev. Drost and Rev. VandenBerg of Cambridge, also helped by teaching prayer and evangelism, respectively.

Youth in Training is a concentrated course. Many hours are spent in session each day. Luckily, we could use an air conditioned room. It isn't easy learning so much, yet it doesn't have to be boring. I came away from YIT with a file folder bulging with ditto's and pamphlets and a full notebook.

In our Bible survey we covered the first books of the Bible, the Gospels and some epistles. We were given a complete survey to keep. We studied principles of Christian life such as authority, forgiveness and our salvation.

Leadership was covered. We learned how to set up and teach a lesson with behavioural objectives, and we had a practical application of this when we taught one of the camper's Bible studies. Much of the material was learned by doing fun little exercises. For example, once we paired off and sat back to back. One person would draw a picture with instructions limited to, "join the two little circles I told you to draw with a straight line, etc." Then we did the same thing facing each other and with less limitations. Through exercises like this, we learned communication methods.

We learned five basic doctrines: justification, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation and sanctification. Through films and role playing we went through part of the "Four Spiritual Laws" Evangelism Method. We also studied in detail prayer and quiet time.

That was an outline of what we learned in two weeks. As one "yit" put it, "the hundred dollars you pay (the fee for the two weeks) is just for the food, what you learn is priceless".

Between and after "work", we had the pool to ourselves once or twice a day, and even managed an early morning swim just after midnight the odd time. We had some good singers and myself, so we did a tremendous amount of singing around the campfire, after meals, on our weekend road trip and for two churches (Drayton and Exeter).

Another highlight was our canoe trip on the Grand River. We canoed for roughly six hours through rapids, around rocks, and "into rocks". Two of us were able to change the name of the program to "Youth in Tipping". If you find a pair of sunglasses, a shirt or a pair of socks in the Grand River, you know where to send them. We camped along the river overnight and had a great time. The toast over the fire in the morning was delicious (I guess you had to be there to appreciate it). On the weekend we piled into our "Yitmobile" and went out to eat and to a movie on Saturday night. Sunday morning we went to Drayton and Exeter churches to explain the YIT program and provide some publicity for our work.

What "yit's" gain from the program is definitely priceless. First of all, we learned an awful lot. We came away in high spirits with a new view of Christianity. We made new friends and felt the warmth of the group. When you're put together as a group for two weeks you learn how to get along with people. We will all remember the canoe trip, the people, the singing, the weekend, and the times we shared our inner feelings about each other and ourselves.

A good term to describe Youth in Training, is that it is a mountaintop experience" if you want it to be. The leaders are excellent and so is the program. YIT is something to look back on and something to look forward with.

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