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Finding God

Many Years ago, in France, a famous astrologer concluded a lecture, saying, "I have swept the universe with my telescope and I find no God."  Where upon, a famous musician replied from the audience: "That statement is as unreasonable as for me to say, 'I have taken this violin apart.  I have examined each piece with a microscope and I find no music'"

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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

  1. To provide a group where young people can discover that Christianity is relevant to them through performing contemporary Christian music. 

  2. To provide a ministry of contemporary Christian music.

  3. To provide a group for young people to explore their musical abilities to discover what place music has in their lives.

  4. To increase young people's self-esteem and self-confidence through the disciplines of  performances.

  5. To provide a positive alternate peer group.

Chaverim is a group of young Christian singers and musicians aged 12 to 20. Chaverim members represent many denominations-Alliance, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian and United, to name a few.  Chaverim started in Vasey United Church and now rehearses at Grace United Church in Barrie.  The members of Chaverim come from  the Midland, Orillia, Barrie and Stayner areas of Ontario.  Each season, Chaverim performs up to 30 times in locations across Ontario.  We join congregations for Sunday morning and evening worship as well as evening praise services. Being a member of Chaverim is a way to express our Christian beliefs through music, which is something we all enjoy.  It also gives us a chance to meet people we wouldn't meet if there were no Chaverim.  We have a lot of fun in Chaverim. We all like to sing and perform Christian music.  Because we're good friends and love to do what we do, Chaverim is one reason each member looks forward to weekends when we perform.

Led by Rev. Karen Hilfman-Millson the members wrote a covenant to follow to make the group more life-giving.

CHAVERIM COVENANT

In order to make Chaverim a special and wonderful group in which to participate, we, the members and leaders of Chaverim, promise to:

  • work at working together
  • be intentional about showing we are responsible by
    • treating buildings with respect
    • treating each other with respect
    • engaging only in behavior that a leader could walk in on anytime
    • focusing when it's time to focus
    • taking responsibility to focus yourself
    • becoming an active participant on our teams
  • listening with the intention of hearing and understanding
  • encouraging others
  • working through issues until we get to a satisfactory solution
  • using a clap or chant with echo or response to attain quiet and focus
  • being honest about expressing feeling with patience and calmness
    • speaking to someone if hurt by something or angry about something
  • creating opportunities for input
  • communicating and explaining decisions
  • being welcoming and inclusive

If we are not following the covenant, the process will be for someone to ask the person if they realize they have violated the covenant; if they do realize, the person will ask why the covenant has been broken. Further consequences will be developed at a future time if the covenant is repeatedly broken.