The GO Project

YOUTH: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to serve a community outside of your own experience?

YOUTH LEADERS: Have you ever been frustrated at the lack of mission and outreach possibilities geared towards the teachings and theology of your ministry?

PARENTS: Have you craved for your young person to have a deeper sense of service that is grown in the radical roots and fertile soil of Jesus’ ministry?

CONGREGATIONS: Have you longed to discover how you might discern the needs of your own community?

THE GO PROJECT is a Youth Mission Program organized for the wider church by Islington United Church. It is a response to years of discernment from various young peoples experiences of mission and outreach programs. While there are fantastic programs available, there are few that respond to the unique ministry of the United Church of Canada and their partners.

YOUTH GRADE 9 TO AGE 19 and their leaders will have an opportunity to serve the communities of Islington, in the west end of Toronto and downtown Halifax in the summer of 2009, while practicing the gifts of discernment, youth listen to the needs of their own community while serving in another.

BE IMMERSED in these active and growing communities for 10 days, from July 6-16 (Toronto) or July 20-30 (Halifax)

COME be a part of this change:
- Participate in a community-focused children’s program
- Reach out to youth through community programming, shelters and street cafes
- Support seniors and newcomers through community clean up and home projects
- Practice pastoral skills through visiting
- Serve the basic needs of community members through the food bank and clothing share programs
- Learn about and care for the environment through community action and awareness programs

CONTACT: Michael Shewburg at 416.239.1131x31
Email: thegoproject@islingtonunited.org
www.islingtonunited.org/goproject


LISTEN: WHAT PAST PARTICIPANTS AND LEADERS HAVE SAID

FROM PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS
Mission has no borders, nor limitations or barriers. I learned that it starts with one, someone like me. I learned that the pull that I thought I felt to come here was God pulling me to mission. Yes, I have faith that God is leading me to a life of mission, through this experience, I am almost sure of it! I learned to Listen for to God's voice in my life words and re-discovered how to serve my community. I was encouraged to Pause from my everyday life to take a deeper look into the world and community around me; I really saw how I can make a difference. I Prayed by serving god in my own way and found the courage to use the gifts that I have received from God.  I am ready to pass on the new love that has been given to me. I am ready to Repeat this experience by passing on what I have discovered in my community, and within my every day life.

FROM ADULT LEADERS:
I was privileged to attend GO as a leader/support to youth in Saskatchewan. I think this program is really valuable to the ministry that I do with others throughout the year, and know that the experience for the youth who I attended with can be integrated more meaningfully and intentionally into our local experiences, now that we have returned home. I encourage leaders to attend the GO Project with youth from their regions.

HOW THE GO PROJECT CONTINUES TO TRANSFORM LIVES:
It's been one year since I participated in the GO project mission experience. It was a phenomenal opportunity to learn about serving, volunteering, and leadership while building friendships and memories, which I still hold to a year later.  On the GO project, I discovered mission isn't just about traveling abroad (to Toronto or oversees), but in a broader sense, it is about being present in the lives of others.  My experience with the GO Project led me to a trip I took this past summer to work in a Ukrainian orphanage.  With the creative ideas I came home with from Toronto, as well as confidence in myself, I have been able to truly understand the value of changing my mindset from "me" to "we."