![\"CWS](\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/CWS-Group-small.jpg\")
<\/a>Cornelsen wasn\u2019t the only CMU student at camp. All 17 members of CWM\u2019s 2015 leadership team and more than half of its senior counsellors were CMU students or alumni.<\/p>\n
\u201cCMU prepares people who become stronger leaders,\u201d says Rebecca Klassen-Wiebe, a 2015 graduate who ran the summer program at CWM\u2019s Camp Assiniboia this past summer.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s by working as a residence assistant (RA), being a member of student council, leading worship in chapel, or playing on a sports team, CMU offers a variety of leadership opportunities.<\/p>\n
Klassen-Wiebe knows people who found the confidence to work at camp after being in leadership roles at CMU.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an easier progression because they had more experiences in other areas of their life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Working at camp has also prepared students to lead at CMU.<\/p>\n
Andrew Brown, a History and Politics major in his final year of study, was inspired to become a camp counsellor in high school because he wanted to give children the same great experience his counsellors gave him as a camper.<\/p>\n
Brown describes himself as a naturally reserved, quiet introvert. Working at camp helped him grow and mature by pushing him out of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, it gave him the confidence to work as an RA at CMU.<\/p>\n
His reasons for taking on that role were similar to his reasons for wanting to be a camp counsellor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to step up and offer that great experience you had to other people,\u201d Brown says. \u201cYou want to be that person and help facilitate the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breanna Heinrichs, a Music major, says studying at CMU has equipped her to be a better song leader at camp.<\/p>\n
She recalls working at camp one summer after taking a class on leading worship, in which she learned practical skills as well as explored the theology of worship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found I could bring that understanding (to worship at camp), whether I articulated it explicitly with my fellow song leaders or not,\u201d Heinrichs says.<\/p>\n
Klassen-Wiebe adds that studying theology at CMU has made her a better counsellor and leader at camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that base of knowledge, you have a wider spectrum of (things) to pull from when you\u2019re talking about faith with campers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Having so many CMU students involved with CWM is exciting, says CMU President Cheryl Pauls.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I’ve had opportunity to see CMU students in action through CWM, I’ve sat back with deep hope for the future of the church and thought, \u2018Wow, what an honour CMU has to walk alongside young adults of such fine character, commitment, and courage,\u2019\u201d Pauls says. \u201cCMU is deeply invested in leadership development, and the uptake and effectiveness of emerging leaders through camping ministry is most heartening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camping ministry is vital to Mennonite Church Manitoba\u2019s mission, says Ken Warkentin, the organization\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe at Mennonite Church Manitoba are very pleased to work in cooperation with CMU in this ministry,\u201d Warkentin says. \u201cWe appreciate the integrated approach to education that CMU provides. This approach infuses the intellectual and spiritual development of the student with Christian Anabaptist values and worldview. Even though there is no direct link between CMU and Mennonite Church Manitoba, we recognize the importance of this university in our ongoing ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Heinrichs, working at CWM is \u201ca way of serving the church in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good work and also, it\u2019s a good fit with a lot of what CMU is all about: community, the church, and figuring out ways of being the church,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Cornelsen agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cCMU and camp bleed over in terms of the way we try to express God\u2019s vision for how we should live\u2026 as people being the church,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re both important expressions of the church\u2019s values and the way the church can be some kind of visible alternative to other parts of mainstream society.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that during the course of their studies, CMU students learn about a lot of things that are wrong with the world. Ultimately, though, optimism and hope undergird each lesson.<\/p>\n
The same is true for camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cCMU and camp both teach us to live as if the story of the Bible matters,\u201d Cornelsen says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summer may be a distant memory for most people, but Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student Jonas Cornelsen fondly recalls how he spent July and August \u2013 working as the Bible instructor at Camp Koinonia. The camp is one of three run by Mennonite Church Manitoba\u2019s Camps with Meaning (CWM) ministry. Cornelsen, who is majoring in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,170],"tags":[689,688],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5345"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5350,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345\/revisions\/5350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}