Teaching and performing at church convention

Joint worship session on July 4 (watch video) photo by mPress“Excited, scared, freaked out,” is how members of Bethany Christian Schools’ performing arts troupe, Emmaus, felt when they learned they would dance at two worship services (watch country line dance), help lead workshops on dance and improvisation, and perform a coffeehouse at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Pittsburgh this past summer. “Performing on stage for more than a thousand people made me more conscious of getting it right—especially since dance stretches my comfort zone,” says junior Jesse Bontreger. Nervousness aside, the group had fun and received many compliments on their performance, poise, and maturity.

Participating at the national convention was an honor for the group and a way for them to practice performance and leadership skills they had been developing throughout the school year. “Developing student leadership is key to Emmaus,” says the group’s instructor Talashia Keim Yoder. “I often see a major difference in leadership skills of individuals from the beginning of the year to the end.”

Developing leadership—not just performing—skills grows out of Bethany’s Leadership Development Program that equips young people to contribute positively to the life of the church and the world. Keim Yoder provides Emmaus members with the tools they need to lead through workshops, by leading group processes, and with a checklist of what needs to be done in planning. Students choose their theme, material, and work out the details such as choreography and assignment of parts.

Each spring Keim Yoder leads the students in processing what worked well, what didn’t, and what changes should be made. “I have learned to recognize a lot of what goes on in Emmaus as the work of the Holy Spirit,” says Keim Yoder, who also serves as pastor of young adults at College Mennonite Church and recently completed a two-year term on the Mission Leadership Team for Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference.

And that work—the students’ and the Holy Spirit’s—has impacted others in profound ways. The theme the 2010-11 group chose was “Color Outside the Lines,” which celebrated the freedom that can come with being who God created us to be and what happens when each individual contributes to the broader community (view excerpts). Children from local elementary schools who felt affirmed or inspired with hope after watching the group perform talked with group members afterward or sent letters that moved the group to tears. “It was very affirming to me and to our group to receive that kind of response from the kids,” says Bontreger.

While students join Emmaus because they enjoy music, theater, and dance, they are conscious that they are developing leadership skills as they work together to create their program. Bontreger says, “I have learned to voice my opinion, but also to accept feedback and group decision making. This has helped me in church and other school settings.”

For senior Anna Nafziger, the group leadership process increased her confidence to try new things, such as being on the Lent Committee at her church, Berkey Avenue. “At first I wondered why they would want me on the committee. However, because of my experience in Emmaus I learned to share my opinion and came to realize my church committee valued my opinion and had asked me to be on the committee because they wanted my perspective.”

Anna goes on to say, “I have learned to lead in different ways. Sometimes leading is stepping up and taking charge; sometimes leading is stepping back and listening. Leadership is not about being the most important voice, but how to be helpful to the group.”