EPISCOPAL YOUTH EVENT

The Episcopal Youth Event will be held July 4-8, 2023, at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. This event is open to Episcopal youth in grades 9-12 during the 2022-23 academic year and their adult mentors.

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Stay tuned for more details. 

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What is the Episcopal Youth Event?

EYE is a triennial event offered to youth throughout the Episcopal Church. Over 1000 individuals (high school students, adult mentors, and Bishops from around the church) gather and live on a college campus for the entirety of EYE. The week is spent in worship, large group presentations, youth-led small group sessions, workshops on a variety of topics, and time to hang out and meet people from around the world. You may ask, “Why would a student want to go?” Well, you will meet people from all over the country and the world. You will get to know others who share your beliefs and some who also disagree with your views, but with whom you can discuss differences and still be friends. You will be able to take part in and also serve in liturgical services. You will also take part in a mission experience where you will serve others and God.

 

Here’s a great video from the Diocese of California: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbzKNxO0gvs

 

Why would you want your youth to go?

An ancient and widely-practiced tradition for worship communities was to send pilgrims out on a spiritual journey. Knowing that the entire community could not travel to a holy place for prayer and supplication, they would choose a few individuals and send them to represent the entire community. This is what you would be doing in sending your youth. The young person you send will grow and experience things in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Then he or she will return and relay that experience with your community. All will grow and change because of this one pilgrim’s experience. While we encourage everyone to apply, we will be prayerfully discerning the members of our delegation. Preference will be given to Episcopal students (those of other denominations may also apply), and we will do our best to make sure the delegation represents the diversity of our Diocese. This is not intended to be a parish youth event – all those attending should represent the entire Diocese.

 

Adults interested in being a part of the EYE team need to let our registrar, Rachel Iversen know.

Adult mentors have a tough job, because they need to be disciplined, friendly, spiritual, easy to get along with, and flexible when problems occur. We will be discerning the make-up of our delegation in terms of both youth and adults. I know that we have so many amazing people in our Diocese, but we want to make sure that we choose the right ones for this difficult, but very rewarding task. I hope you will consider talking with me about this opportunity.