By the Rev. Nick Kigeak, Arviat
From August the 30th to September 2nd, I and a team of 14 others ran the Teens Encounter Christ program. Because of Covid the last TEC was in 2019, and it’s been really good to have it back up and running again. Candidates (youth participants) and team members came from Arviat, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit, Gjoa Haven, Coral Harbour, Pond Inlet, Yellowknife, Tuktoyaktuk and Hay River.
As the Diocesan Youth Coordinator for the Diocese of the Arctic, my goal is to form up a big strong youth-focused team around the Diocese, and to form strong young leaders to minister to their friends and communities, and to go on to be the next generation of leaders, lay ministers, and perhaps even clergy for their churches. TEC isn’t a one-time event. It is meant to be a ‘movement’, for those young people who came this year to be involved in the planning of the next one, eventually becoming the leaders and even delivering the talks as they mature and get more experience.
It would be good to just keep TEC running regularly, but that isn’t our goal. Our goal is much bigger, we want TEC to run three or four times per year, one in the Eastern Arctic, one in Yellowknife for the West, one in the Kivalliq (central region), and one in Nunavik (northern Quebec). The young people coming back to help can be on the team in another region, because one of the great parts of TEC is for the young people and leaders getting to meet with, pray with, and make friends with others from all across the diocese. This will also help make the entire diocese strong as those young people become future leaders.
Sometimes youth ministry gets forgotten because of all the busyness with funerals, pastoral visits, preparing for services, vestry meetings, and taking care of the church buildings. Running the Teens Encounter Christ program weekend has made me realize more deeply that youth ministry is just as important as any other ministries that are held in churches. God calls all Christian people to be part of the work that Jesus gave to his disciples, and 1 Timothy 4:12 says “let no one despise you for your youth”. Even though it is hard work to organize a youth ministry and get it started, it is something we should do because God is calling these young people to be part of the Church and part of spreading the Gospel. Just before TEC I said that I needed a two-week vacation, but really my love for youth ministry has grown more.
Everything in the Arctic is expensive. The Candidates (and most team members) from Hay River and Yellowknife could drive, but everyone else needed to fly in, and flights in the North are very expensive. There is also the challenge that most communities don’t have flights to all the other places every day, for example the two young women (age 16) from Pond Inlet had to fly to Iqaluit on Thursday, spend the night there, then fly to Yellowknife on Friday, and going back they had to spend and extra night before flying back to Iqaluit, and didn’t get back to Pond until the next day. For me, I needed to take flights on two different airlines to get from Arviat to Yellowknife. The young man (17) from Tuktoyaktuk had to catch a ride down to Inuvik, because there are no flights from Tuk. This is what it’s like travelling in the north, so we are used to it, but it is very different than in the South where youth can just drive to another community!
I am so grateful to everyone who was involved, especially all the people helping behind the scenes and praying for the Candidates through the weekend. We also couldn’t do a program like this without funding. Thank you to the many people who donated, and the parishes that sent in money to help with flights. It cost about $30,000 for the weekend. To grow to 3 or 4 regional TECs will make each one be cheaper in some ways, but it will probably cost $100,000 each year. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the silver and gold, so we will trust in him. I look forward into working with more youth in the future, and I look forward into making TEC happen annually.
TEC was the greatest experience I’ve ever had in my life! It got me closer to God and I’ve met new great friends… it felt like I was back in my childhood.
Angeline Kiyoapik (16, Pond Inlet)
My time at TEC was amazing! From the teaching, to the volunteers, and even the food. It’s bizarre to think that, when I was first signing up for the retreat, I was slightly doubtful about it. Yet I still thought it would be worth a try because I did want to learn and understand the Bible and how it does influence people. I feel like I really did need to go on this trip because, as much as I thought I knew about God, there was way more, opening a whole new perspective for me. Aside from learning, we did some pretty exciting activities, such as, pedal boating, camp fires, hiking and just enjoyed being out in nature. Also getting to know everyone was wonderful. I totally want to come back to help with the next one! I would certainly recommend this program to anyone that I know that needs a refresher in life and Bible study. All in all, I’m positive the retreat helped me in more ways than I thought it would.
Tasha Ningeocheak (20, Coral Harbour)
It was great being able to to take part in TEC 2024. I did TEC back in 2019 as a candidate, and this is the first one since then, and it is so great to be back as a youth leader. One thing I was privileged to see was the new generation of Christians that the Lord is raising up. He is raising up Warriors and Worshippers who worship in Spirit and in Truth. It was also wonderful to see the younger generation and the old generation coming together to work and learn from one another. One such image was seeing Rev. Nick Kigeak (the Coordinator) and his sister Anikan Takkiruq (a Candidate) singing and leading worship together. I am looking forward to the next one and will do it again.
Matthew Mukunya, Yellowknife
My role in TEC was to help coordinate the many sort of mini church services that are part of the TEC weekend. This was a unique challenge, since TEC walks candidates through the Triduum – that is, the end of Holy Week and Easter Sunday – in a very short time. We also incorporated more informal services, to make space for healing and teaching about the Holy Spirit.
The Rev. Rebecca Osborn, Rankin Inlet
Since TEC was developed in the south at a larger venue with bigger teams, it was a learning process to adapt the structure of the weekend for our small group. However, the ancient Anglican liturgies have a certain power and reverence built into them, and in my opinion they were always meant to be adapted to the language and culture of the people doing the work, so I think we managed OK. I’m super thankful for the team of leaders that came together quickly and patiently to create a variety of spaces for the candidates to receive from Jesus over the weekend. I hope that we can learn from our experiences so that we can easily provide this experience to small groups of teens in different regions of our large diocese.
