Youth Movements Reaching Their Cities
“We had 32 schools represented amongst our youth group.”
This was the spark that marked a turning point among a handful of youth pastors in Calgary. James Clarence, Associate Pastor of Next Gen & Discipleship at First Assembly, is one of the founding members of the 403 Youth Network in Calgary. It’s a family of churches from different denominations that are convinced the only way to see their city reached with the love of Jesus is to do it together. But for years, that was easier said than done.
Before the 403 Youth Network began in 2016, there were other groupings of pastors and youth workers seeking to collaborate for the sake of unity and the kingdom. Often however, it was easier for leaders to be primarily concerned about their own ministries and events and it was tempting to see these networks as a way to garner support for their own work.
The question lingered, “what is the purpose of us trying to work together?”
That’s where the students come in. Like many cities and towns across Canada, Calgary is one made up of suburbs with numerous large churches that draw people from neighborhoods all over the city. This leads to dozens of students who attend numerous schools in each youth group. This posed a challenge when there was a push for students to run Youth Alpha in their schools. Seeing the average youth group only had a handful of students in any one school, it made it difficult to build a team. And in some cases, schools would suddenly have multiple youth alphas spring up at the same time being led by different students. This challenge, though, created an opportunity.
“What if we got our kids together who go to the same schools, but different churches, and they ran Alphas together at their schools?”
This question posed by a number of youth pastors, like James at First Assembly and Brent Sellers at Rockpointe Church, brought them together to begin training their students to run Alphas. That year they saw over 30 alphas launched by youth across Calgary. The spark for collaboration was created.
As youth pastors across the city began to partner in the work of Alpha training and empowering their students, further dreams began to be born for rallies, conferences, and ways to support each other as youth workers with common missions and challenges. They marked out the purpose for working together. James describes the goal:
“To craft environments and experiences where young people:
Encounter the presence of Jesus
Invite and experience Holy Spirit power;
Receive practical training and resources;
Practice the ministry of prayer;
Are sent to reach their city.”
And so the movement began.
Since its inception, the 403 Youth Network has expanded to include over 40 churches collaborating together. Each year they choose a theme to focus on, like prayer, service, or sharing their faith that guide their emphasis for rallies, conferences, and other city-wide initiatives. Through this, hundreds of students are being shaped as disciples with a shared language and vision to reach their friends, schools, and city for Jesus.
Some of the big wins, James says, have been seeing how these gatherings help students connect with other Christians at their schools. The eternal impact of students having peers in their classes that know Jesus and can walk with them day-to-day, even when not from the same church, is significant. Not only has it strengthened the faith of students, but the youth workers involved are growing in friendship and learning from each other thanks to the unique gifts and strengths they all bring to the table.
James shares that some of the best moments take place at ‘Lunch & Learns’ or Pastors Retreats where they get to celebrate together what God is doing in everyone’s ministries and also walk through the shared difficulties of ministry.
“It reminds you that it’s bigger than your church, it’s about the Church. It’s shifted the culture of our city.”
With the significant steps made in youth ministry, the network has also begun to expand to connect post-secondary pastors and leaders to see similar collaboration amongst their ministries. In the years to come, the prayer is for youth groups and university students across the city to increasingly serve their neighbourhoods, communities, and local organizations to the glory of Jesus’ name.
The beautiful part of this story is that it’s not the only one. For decades there have been significant moves of God amongst youth and young people because a group of leaders have joined arms in unity for the mission of the Church. The 403 Network story is one of many that reflect Jesus' prayer in John 17 that we would “be brought to complete unity” and that we would “be one” as Jesus is with the Father.
Across Canada right now there are numerous church networks for youth and young people making a real difference in the lives of students. Vancouver has the 604 Network, Edmonton the 780, Winnipeg the 204 and multiple others exist in Ontario and Atlantic Canada. Is your church involved with one of these networks? If not, you can reach out to some of the leaders on their websites or Instagram channels.
Thanks to James Clarence for sharing this story and youth workers across the country for doing such meaningful work. We hope this story encourages and inspires you!
James Clarence
Associate Pastor of Next Gen & Discipleship at First Assembly - Calgary, AB