- Sky Force
Sky Force (operating as Sky Force of Canada) is an
Evangelical Christian youth program, designed for churches which desire to offer a social, spiritual teaching and outreach program to children of elementary school age.Overview
Sky Force is intended to be a comprehensive youth program for Evangelical churches from ages four to fourteen. The focus of the national organization is to provide oversight, planning and materials for its members, Canadian churches. The organization provides training and study materials in English and most of the material has recently been translated into French, due to interest by churches in the province of Quebec. Some churches from the United States of America have shown interest in the program at various times as well.
History
"Sky Force" began as Sky Teens in 1954 at Waverly Road Baptist Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is affiliated with the
Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada . It was designed for youth, ages twelve to fourteen. Other churches in the area soon started a similar group for youth in their churches.Another program called Sky Cadets was started a few years later for slightly younger children, ages nine to eleven. These groups later merged and organized as Evangelical Baptist Sky Force of Canada.
A younger age group for ages six to eight was added to Sky Force, called Sky Jets, and then a pre-school group for ages four and five, called Mini-Jets.
Origins of the Program
The pastor at the Waverly Road church was Rev. J. F. Holiday, who was an Air Force chaplain during W.W. II. The youth pastor for the church was Rev. Roy Lawson, who eventually led the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada as their Secretary-General.
They wanted to address the growing problem of restless youth in the 1950s, and designed the "Sky Teens" program to provide a safe, fun environment, which would also provide an opportunity to build relationships and teach them about practical life and spiritual matters.
External links
* Sky Force of Canada official website [http://skyforce.org]
* Picture of Waverly Road Baptist Church, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: [http://boldts.net/album/TCH.4.shtml]
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