As Executive Council prepares to meet, each office of the Episcopal Church submits a report on their activity during the previous quarter. As Team Leader for the Office of Formation and Vocation I prepare the report, which includes activities in involving Young Adults and Campus Ministries.
As you know, the Young Adult and Campus Ministries position is currently open. Human Resources Department is working closely with COO Stacy Sauls, Deputy COO and Mission Director Sam McDonald, and the Formation and Vocation Ministries Team to fill the position. We had an almost overwhelming number of applicants in the initial pool and the process is well under way to making a new hire later this fall.
In the meantime, here are the activities that our office has been working on over the past 3 months:
- Work on the new initiatives in the Mission Mark Three arena enters the next phase this fall when an exploratory meeting for launching a Gap Year Program prototype will be hosted by David Copely, Missioner for Global Missions, myself, and our new Missioner for Young Adult and Campus Ministry.
- Memorial Day Weekend, Jason Sierra joined Sarah Eagle Heart in bringing 4 young adults from the Why Serve? program to the Taize Pilgrimage of Trust on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Thanks to widespread publicity by the Two Bulls family and Rita Powell, Missioner for Youth in the Diocese of South Dakota, Episcopalians made up a large percentage of the close to 600 mostly young adult participants, coming en masse from nearby dioceses like Colorado and Minnesota as well as from as far as Southeast Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts and El Camino Real.
- The Ecumenical Campus Ministry Team and Young Adult Ministry Council worked to help host Shared Space, an ecumenical young adult and campus ministries conference that took place June 26-29, 2013, in Chicago. Over 100 Episcopalians participated and were the largest denominational cohort registered. In addition to participating in ecumenical keynote and worship sessions the Episcopalians gathered at St. James Commons for workshops and networking. Several Mission Network staff members joined the Formation and Vocation Ministries Team for a variety of workshops and conversations; Jason Sierra, Sam McDonald, Tom Brackett, Ruth-Ann Collins, and myself. Glenn Libby, Diocese of Los Angeles, and Jason Sierra, DFMS, were honored with ministry achievement awards at the closing banquet, as was the Rev. Lucas Mix, Diocese of Arizona, who was honored with the Sam Portaro Award for Creative Expression and Intellectual Inquiry for his work with the Hill Society.
- The Young Adults and Campus Ministries Office collaborated with the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado on Water and the West: An EcoJustice Immersion Experience for Young Adults, scheduled for November 1-3 in Colorado. Targeted at 18-35 year olds, this event will focus on Mission Mark 5 through meaningful prayer, conversation, teaching, and experience in exploring the justice of water accessibility as informed by our Christian heritage and environmental context.
- The Formation and Vocation Ministries Team renewed a consulting contract with Wendy Johnson to continue managing social media in coordination with our constituent Councils, Networks, and Communications Office. Wendy is supporting Bronwyn as team leader in maintaining communication and connectivity with the Young Adult and Campus Ministry communities during the discernment and hiring process for a new missioner and is specifically helping update the Campus Missions Map on the website.
In this next quarter, I look forward to welcoming a new team member and supporting the transition of this ministry.
As always, please share any thoughts or feedback in the comments below and know that your ministries are in my prayers as we move into this new program year.
Faithfully,
Bronwyn
Filed under: Young Adults and Campus Ministries