Maroc - CANADIANMENNONITE.ORG - A La Une - 30/Aug 14:33

Not your typical youth mission trip

“That was a test. True servants are always listening.”   Jacques was our new friend. He was always barefoot and wouldn’t say how he had ended up living in his van, but he spoke six languages, and he enjoyed chatting with us about faith and making the world a better place. For a few days, he was always popping up out of nowhere— to share another life lesson or a bowl of oatmeal with our group of 17 teenagers and seven adults from Stratford, Ontario, in Montreal for a week of learning.   That evening, Jacques asked our group whether someone would be willing to get him another glass of water. When one youth said yes, Jacques responded that he wasn’t actually thirsty, that he was testing our servanthood.   We were in Montreal to learn. What might have once been called a “missions trip” we called a “learning experience.”   At our first planning meeting, we reminded the youth and their parents we wouldn’t make a big difference in a week. Instead, we would be guests, meeting people and organizations making a difference, letting their passion rub off on us, gaining new perspectives, and listening to the Spirit’s guidance.   As Jacques would say, we would be servants who are always listening.   In Montreal, we stayed at Hochma, a Mennonite Church Eastern Canada church in the Hochelaga neighbourhood. Hochma once also hosted a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. No longer involved in that ministry, they still actively serve their community and rent space to a small francophone congregation.   We packed meals at the Mada Centre, a kosher Jewish soup kitchen, food delivery service and community centre. Their goal is to ensure that everyone has access to food, including Jewish and Muslim families requiring foods that meet their religious needs. Mada delivers more than 10,000 free kosher meals every week, food that also suits halal dietary needs.   We packed thousands of snacks at Welcome Hall Mission, a food bank supporting those with very low incomes. We volunteered alongside a group of investment bankers, an American Catholic group and people from a local service program.   One day, the teens navigated their way (without adult help) to a downtown neighbourhood to see the effects of gentrification and rising rental prices. There we toured an urban garden program run by Innovate Youth and visited their Solidarity Market offering fresh produce for those in need.   We weeded gardens and planted potatoes at the Sun Youth urban agriculture project we had visited two years before with another group. The clientele had completely changed.   Since most of our youth didn’t speak French, they often felt awkward as we arrived at an organization. But they soon came to see we could connect over sports, music and working together toward something bigger than ourselves. One night we joined RDB, a Haitian church new to MCEC, for an evening of basket- ball and popsicles.   We also didn’t know how we would be received. Montreal was once called “the city of a hundred steeples.” While the churches are still there, so is the reminder of the historic hurts the church caused in Quebec. I wondered whether 24 English-speaking Mennonite tourists would be met with hostility , bitterness and judgment on the Métro, and whether the organizations we partnered with would be critical of who we were.   But in every conversation, whether volunteering, travelling or eating late-night poutine, we were met with joy, curiosity and love. Our Mada host said, “Even though I am a Jew and you are a Christian, we have the same heart.” Another host said, “I have no idea what Mennonite means, but you’re here and that is beautiful.”   One evening, our youth were exploring our neighbourhood when they heard a quiet voice ask, “Can you help me?”   The man was blind, carrying many bags of groceries. Rather than continuing to explore the city, they carried his bags and helped him navigate to his apartment, but they also learned where he had gone to school, what his occupation was and how he had come to be in need.   One  of the teens said, “Before Montreal, if I saw a blind man, I would be unsure what to do. I learned that day that everyone has a story. That man had an amazing life uprooted by an accident. I learned not to judge a book by its cover.”   They were listening servants.   Stephen Kennedy is the Youth and Family Pastor of Avon Church in Stratford, Ontario.   Avon Church youth in a Montreal urban garden and community centre. Photo: Stephen Kennedy Share this page: