Human Formation: Guiding Disciples into An Integrated Walk With Jesus

We’ve worked closely with individuals who have walked with us – psychologists, pastors, mentors, consultants, and more, who have helped refine and shape the individuals within our team to live more integrated lives. We have continually searched out growth as a team and between team members, growing in an understanding of ourselves and interpersonal relationships for the sake of the kingdom.

Since the beginning of Glass Canvas, we’ve been living shared values and a way of relating to one another in work that has set the foundation for where we are now. How we work has always been just as much of a priority as what we actually do. We prioritize first and foremost of our shared values: speaking the unspoken, co innovating with one another and clients, creating from God-centered identity and each of us operating within our calling and anointing. The commitment we have to these has demanded a maturing way of relating to ourselves, others, and God. It has been a process of cultivating personal maturity, emotional balance, moral character, and interpersonal skills among our team, propelling us into a culture of human formation.

We’ve been formed by the experience of so many experts in ministry, psychology, leadership, and theology. The number is too vast to name them all but the wisdom poured into us has felt like an exponential grace. We’ve taken it all in with deep intentionally, internalizing each step as a team. It’s been a refining experience but shaped the way we approach all our partners–that there is mutual benefit in our shared journey of Kingdom work. The result has been that the Glass Canvas team has been grafted into a way of accompaniment that infuses all we do, from our personal walks with Jesus to our work to how we interact as coworkers on mission together.

It’s the level of human formation in Glass Canvas that has drawn others to our work and culture.

Felt-Need content to invite people into the way of Jesus

We launched Behold in 2020 with the Archdiocese of Vancouver as a way to help bridge the gap between ideas Jesus taught and our lived-out, everyday life with Him. We desired to see all disciples integrate Jesus deeply into their way of life.

We focused on themes deeply relevant to life like building a healthy marriage, our relationship to money, parenting, anxiety and stress, discovering our real purpose, learning how to hear God, amongst others.

Content spoke to the real needs, questions, longings, burdens, and dreams of parishioners and helped them integrate the heart of Jesus into them.

Signal Hill equips young people to value every person by providing dynamic and relevant presentations, retreats, and support resources for high school students. Each year, they hold a Value Project Summit, an immersive experience where students gain the experience of their value in creative ways. At the end of the conference, students take what they’ve learned back to their schools and host their own Value Project week.

For several years, we worked with them to create the "VP" environment and installations, we developed the human formation methodology, and strategized and delivered all the talks.

During one of the summits, we created custom books for every attendee, each with an individual’s name, a sketch of their face, and a personalized message about their value. Because the theme was “glow in the dark”, we also added hidden, personalized messages inside that could be found with a black light. Each of these small details affirmed the overall theme of not being afraid to stand out for your uniqueness and value.

In 2020, we worked with a local artist to create a mural that revealed a three-fold hidden message to help drive home the conference message. When students entered the room, it was only lit with monochrome (sodium-vapour) lighting, drawing all colours out of the room and making everything look sepia yellow. The letters on the board read, “Value is Conditional.”

When white light was introduced later on, it revealed the full message underneath: “Your Value is Unconditional”. The lighting emphasized the message of their talks—there is value in every person despite. At the end of the weekend, a black light revealed the names of every student in the room across the mural, emphasizing that how we perceive the world is not always as it exists.

While we were an agency for ministries and faith-based organizations during this project, it points to our heart and work in human formation and accompaniment since the very beginning of Glass Canvas.