Volume 7, number 2
January 27, 2003
Youth minister balances local and national concerns
Elkhart, Ind.
Photo: Campion
When Anne Campion and her family moved to Stratford, Ontario, 13 years ago, they didn’t find a church right away. Little did she know that her new church home would eventually lead her to become youth ministry director with Mennonite Church Canada.
After considerable scouting around, an un-churched acquaintance suggested Avon Mennonite Church. “My neighbour is the pastor there,” said the friend. “I don’t attend church, but if I did, I would go to that church.”
Although Campion had never dreamed of visiting a Mennonite church (“What I knew of Mennonites was the stereotype horse and buggy and country back roads”), her first visit to Avon turned out to be positive.
Alone with a two-year-old and an infant, Anne was assisted by young adult Dan Lebold with taking off jackets and finding a seat. When the children began to fuss, Lebold’s mother, Audrey, leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry about the noise. We love children here.”
This inviting atmosphere encouraged Campion to return to Avon. She also found the people there supportive of her gifts.
Gary Horst, pastor at Avon, noticed Anne’s passion for youth early on. “Anne is great at seeing or imagining what could be, and challenges others to consider new possibilities,” says Horst.
Raised in a Baptist church with urban missionaries for parents, Campion says she grew up “learning the importance of joining personal acceptance of Christ as saviour to living out my relationship with Christ in discipleship.” Coming to Avon was “not foreign but an ongoing joining of Christ as lord and saviour. What was added was the peace theology, which is significant, which I already had within me without having been taught it.”
The congregation invited Campion to become a youth sponsor in 1991.
In 1995, she felt a personal call to pastoral ministry “which I fought,” she says. But the support of fellow members affirmed her efforts with youth.
“I believe that the church is God’s people and that youth are to be a part of the church,” says Campion. In September 1999, the church invited her to be associate pastor.
Larissa Friesen, a Canadian Mennonite University student, experienced Campion’s gifts during a youth pastor practicum assignment. “Anne was a mentor to me, much more than just a supervisor,” says Friesen.
In February 2002, Campion was asked to be director of youth ministry for Mennonite Church Canada Formation. This half-time position allows her to continue her work at Avon. Much of her MC Canada role revolves around planning national youth events such as the upcoming assembly in St. Catharines (July 9-13), and resourcing youth leaders. She will also put significant effort into shaping an ongoing vision for youth ministry.
Justina Heese, executive secretary of MC Canada Formation, sees Anne using her enthusiasm to get youth excited about what God can accomplish in their lives. “She is alive with energy,” says Heese.
While Campion’s local youth group offers an eye into issues the national church needs to consider, the broader viewpoint she gains from her national position challenges the youth at Avon. Maintaining a balance between denominational and local ministries is important to Campion.
“We have to work together to figure it out,” she says.
— MC Canada release by Allison Peters
The writer is a student at Canadian Mennonite University.
Born’s life spanned 80 years and 3 continents. He grew up in Manitoba where he met his wife, Esther. He studied at Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg and Tabor College in Kansas, and received a masters degree in education at Emporia State Teacher’s College, also in Kansas. He later received a Master of Christian Studies at Regent College and did doctoral studies at Fuller Seminary in California.