What does community mean to you? Your friends, your family, the people you live next to, work with, or go to school with? We are all parts of many different communities. Yet, we are all in God's community together.
This summer we'll look at what it means to be community. 

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has begun structuring the entire Episcopal Church on the Jesus Movement. (We are so cutting edge right now!) 
What does that mean? That the ideas of the Jesus Movement "Following Jesus into a Loving, Liberating, and Life-giving relationship with God, with each other, and with creation," are the pinnacle of all decision made for the work, ministry, and governance of the church. 
Read more about his ideas and mission here: 
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/10/22/executive-council-presiding-bishops-opening-remarks-2/

Our theme for the 2017 Episcopal Youth Camp is the Jesus Movement. 
So what is the Jesus Movement and what does that mean to us?

Watch this video to hear Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Please follow along with us as we learn about who Jesus is.

Monday, June 27, 2016 “Jesus as Teacher”
Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
                  Matthew 5:1-12
Prayer Practice: Lectio Divina
 
Tuesday, June 28, 2016 “Jesus as Family”
Readings: Ephesians 2:19-22
                   Matthew 22: 36-40
Prayer Practice: Personalized Lord’s Prayer
 
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 “Jesus as Servant”
Readings: 1 Timothy 6:17-19
                   Mark 10:35-45
Prayer Practice: Praying in Color
 
Thursday, June 30, 2016 “Jesus as Healer”
Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:28-31
                   Luke 8: 43-48
Prayer Practice: Yoga
 
Friday, July 1, 2016 “Jesus as God”
Readings: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
                   Matthew 16:13-20
Prayer Practice: Breath Prayer

Sacrificial, Restorative, and Spirit Filled

In spring this year a number of the camp leaders met with Canon Bill Spaid to do a program ministry review. We discussed questions such as "who do you want to thank," "what are we doing well," and "where do we want to put our energy?" Bill and I then spent some time going over the notes and trying to sort it all out (so much wonderful information and insight was gathered!).

 
Here are my take away thoughts from it:

• We’re doing a great job, and even if we changed nothing, it would still be a life-giving, God-fill, amazing week of camp for many people in our Diocese
• We’ve defined that our overall focus is to develop a community that’s Sacrificial, Restorative, and Spirit Filled
• We do a wonderful job creating such a community for the campers, but we can do much better with our staff
• We need to focus on training, mentoring, and handing off responsibility to others, so the community and program will continue to thrive and grow (even with the continual changes of leadership)

Our next step is to plan programs and different pieces on Staff Training and Leadership Development. We'll be doing this in a number of ways

• Revamp and tweak the Councilor in Training (CiT) program
• Review and renew the staff orientation before camp and in-service training throughout the week
• Support the development of the leaders at camp and help them bring those skills into the diocese and out to the world

​~Gennie

Big announcement (well, for me)...
Changing the name of Family Camp to Weekend Camp. Why?
1) It better describes the experience (it is over the weekend, after all)
2) To call it "Family" may seem exclusive (I, for instance, am a family of one, so when I see "family, I don't always think I'm invited)
3) Everyone looks forward to the weekend (well, maybe!)

So what is this crazy thing we're calling "Weekend Camp?" 
Everyone from the Diocese is invited to gather for at Cran-Hill Ranch for a time of retreat & refreshment, fun & fellowship, games & music.

There will be worship around the camp fire, wonderful home cooking by our amazing volunteers, and time to hang out with life-long friends and meet some new people.

Our education/formation component this year will be focused on the Rule of Life - how do you bring spirituality into your home and world outside of church. This is something I've been spending a lot of time with in terms of families with children. Many of our congregations worry because they either lack Sunday School, or don't think they have a very good program - there's so much anxiety in our community because of that. I (and my team of amazing catechists, clergy, and parents) will help you put some easy spiritual practices into your life.

When is "Weekend Camp"?
July 22-24, 2016. You don't have to attend the entire weekend, you can come for a few hours on one of the days or spend the entire time with us (and everything in between). There is a place to note when you'll be there on the registration form, which will help for bed counts and food.

What is the cost of "Weekend Camp"?
The cost is $50 per person (though if you have little ones who doesn't eat much, they aren't expected to pay). We also have plenty of financial assistance and volunteer opportunities to help with the cost. We don't offset the cost officially if you are spending less time, but it's also alright if you don't pay the full fee.
Cran-Hill ranch has a number of activities included in the fee that we pay to rent the site (including use of the waterfront and boats, hikes, and sports equipment usage), but there are also additional adventures that you can pay for (including archery, a climbing wall, horse back riding, and river tubing). The additional fees vary and you pay Cran-Hill directly. 

Where will I be sleeping at "Weekend Camp"?
There are a number of sleeping arrangements. We rent 3 sites - a retreat house (which is primarily reserved for the volunteers/cooks and those who have special walking needs), cabins (that sleep up to 10 people, so you may need to share with another family or group of friends), and an RV/tent camp site (with water and power hook-ups).

That's the basics of Weekend Camp. There's much more information on the page here: ​http://www.episcopalyouthcamp.org/weekend-camp.html 

I hope to see you all there! Take care and God bless,
​Gennie

This will be the theme for the 2016 Episcopal Youth Camp as we study who Jesus was (and is), what he taught, and what he said. 
I just came across an article with the same title. May be interesting reading.

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/speaking-to-the-soul-who-do-you-say-i-am/

New Dates and Location for Senior Camp
June 28-July 3
Open to students entering grades 9-12 (in fall of 2015)

We look forward to wide participation in our diocesan camp program, but last month I started hearing from students about not being able to attend camp in August, because of band and sports taking up weeks in that month. Over 45 people replied to my recent survey for the dates of senior camp.  We learned that the last week in June worked for the majority of people. I wish that we could accommodate everyone's preference. We are, however, still holding CIT and LIT in August, so high school students have another opportunity to attend if they can't be with us in June.

We will also be holding this camp at a different site - Cran-Hill Ranch will be our host. We'll still have all of our normal activities, along with a few new ones (they have a frisbee golf course and a few other new things!).

Camp this week will end Friday, July 3 - with a 4:00 pm check-out. We're doing this because we guess that many people will be going away for the weekend and we don't want this to compete. We will work diligently to make sure some of our revered traditions will continue while we accommodate a new site and schedule.

I know that change is difficult (and scary, and upsetting), but it also can be fun and exciting. Those who've been to senior camp know that they can have a lot of say about what we do and you can make it great - this year we'll be no different! The site has big playing fields, cabins with heated floors and facilities in the same building, and we'll be able to have camp fires, a tubing trip and ropes course activity (and may even be able to go on a horseback riding trail ride). 

Parables

What are parables? Why are they in the Bible? Which parables do you remember from your childhood? Have you ever heard an old parable in a new way?

Show me the way is the theme for the 2015 Episcopal Youth Camp - and we'll be focusing on parables and how Jesus used stories to show the way. We'll also be focusing on different themes with each of the parables. These are the parables that we will probably be using (remember, things may change in the next 10 months). 

• Good Samaritan - neighbor and diversity
• Prodigal Son (aka the Generous Father) - you are truly loved
• Workers in the Field - justice and outreach
• Scattering the seeds (aka the Sower) - spreading the Good News and being open to it, evangelism and prayer practices
• The Bridesmaids - be prepared, you don't know what your future is going to be, discernment
• The Kingdom parables (kind of lumped together) - God's world

We'll be looking at these in different ways, as is relevant to the age group. The younger children will learn about God's love and where we are in relationship with God. For the older children and youth, we'll look at what these teach us about the character of Jesus and how people need to struggle with that individually. The older group will also look at their relationships with Jesus and also take a look at the stories we read and watch today and what way they show us (theological reflection!).

For all ages, the parables sometimes seem simple and we say "this is nice" and then put them aside as not relevant - perhaps because they're told in the context of an agricultural society and use characters that we're not familiar with. So what happens when we put these stories into a modern day context? Who in your world would be the "Samaritan" that people don't think they should help?

I look forward to seeing where the staff and campers take this theme - it should be a good one, with some wonderful discussions!

Take care and God bless,
Gennie

Greetings one and all!
Our first planning meeting is being scheduled 
Saturday, October 18
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Diocesan Office
(Kalamazoo MI - corner of Burdick and Walnut Streets)

Please let me know if you can make it!