Broadcast Fall 2012: News from Episcopal Young Adult & Campus Ministries

welcomes you

Marked for Mission

Dear friends and colleagues,

We as Episcopalians and Anglicans understand our engagement with God's mission to be marked by five characteristics, otherwise known as the Five Marks of Mission:

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
To respond to human need by loving service
To seek to transform unjust structures of society
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

And this summer at the triennial gathering of the Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, we created a churchwide budget that reflects this understanding of mission.

While General Convention and the governance of the church can often seem far from life in the pews, we are hopeful that this visionary document represents a refocusing of the church's priorities and its self-understanding to a missional engagement with the world.

The Winds of Change: Episcopal Chaplains' Gathering

This year’s Episcopal Chaplains’ Gathering took place June 24-25, at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut, and was energized by the changes in the church, campus ministry and the world, and therefore was most appropriately themed “The Winds of Change.” Campus Chaplains representing all eight domestic provinces met to ask questions, build relationships and take action to gain more knowledge and encouragement before returning to their campuses and students.

Reading the Budget

The 2013-2015 budget passed by General Convention this summer contains some major shifts in funding for Young Adult and Campus Ministries. (We invite you to follow along with that budget on page 15 of this document) First of all, the funding for both Young Adult Ministries, and Campus Ministries (previously two distinct budget headings) have been combined with Youth Ministries, Children’s Ministries, Older Adult Ministries and Lifelong Formation under the heading “Formation and Vocation Ministries” (line 63). This heading falls under the second mark of mission, To Teach, Baptize and Nurture New Believers. This move was made in order to encourage coordination and collaboration between these age-specific networks as we strive to bridge the gap. Funding in this area is divided into seven lines:

Young Adult Festival: Fully Participating in General Convention

Jonathan York and The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson

I had heard that General Convention was difficult – if not impossible – to describe to someone who had not attended. I never realized how true that was until I attended a General Convention for myself.

Being at General Convention 2012 with the Young Adult Festival was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had. It was wonderful to get to meet so many other active young adults from within the church and get to play a role in the leadership of the church for the next three years. It was also incredibly busy – a typical day for me required waking up at 6 or 7 a.m. and running nonstop from hearing to convention floor and back until about midnight.

Young Adult and Campus Ministry Survey

Interest in faith-related topics with young adults

Last winter, the Young Adult and Campus Ministries office issued an informal survey in order to better meet the needs of the Young Adult and Campus Ministry communities we serve. The survey asked about you and your ministry, what kinds of content you would like to see, what format you would like for resources, and other content you would like to share.

We had 184 respondents to the survey from 64 dioceses. The survey gave us good information that is being used to help focus our work in the next triennium.

You can find a brief summary of the survey here or the full survey and results here.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact us. Special thanks to all those who took the time to fill out the survey and give us input.

View Webpage Version

Fall 2012

Welcome to the newly updated newsletter of Episcopal Young Adult and Campus Ministries, a tool for keeping up to speed with what's happening around the church. We know it has been a while, but a lot has changed at the churchwide level. (We hope our Facebook page has helped keep you in the loop.) Please pass this around and watch for more events, opportunities and resources from Episcopal Young Adult and Campus Ministries.

Save the Date!

Chaplain's Conference
July 26-29, 2013
Loyola University, Chicago
Keynote: Diana Butler Bass

Information Update:
Don't be left off the map!

Please help us update the information we have about your ministry! We are hoping to have ALL Young Adult and Campus Ministries fill out this brief profile so we not only have the correct information, but so we can also share it with others!

We are currently working on a project with the Office of Communication that will allow us to map and share this information, so don't be left off the map!

Fill in your ministry profile today.

If you have questions, please contact The Rev. Shannon Kelly.

Artwork Submissions for Advent Meditations

For years, the Young Adult and Campus Ministries Office has created Advent meditation guides in booklets and PDF documents. This year, we want to take it virtual by creating a blog post for each day of Advent.

We are asking young adults, mentors and people who work with young adults to contribute art for the website. We invite you to submit artwork and/or if you know artists, encourage them to submit their work. Artwork must be original art, submitted electronically in .jpg or .png format.

Four or five of the pieces will be featured as our artwork for each week. Other artwork will be displayed throughout Advent in creative ways on the site.

To submit your artwork or if you have questions, please contact The Rev. Shannon Kelly. Watch your email for the meditation subscription link, coming soon.

A Word on the Team

While we are still figuring out what next year will bring, we do know that for the next three months we are lucky to have two incredible consultants helping Jason and Valerie out in the office. The Rev. Shannon Kelly is currently serving as the Young Adult Network Development Coordinator and the Rev. Glenn Libby is coordinating Campus Ministries. We give thanks for their service and the resource they are to the entire network.