This past weekend 25 young adults gathered at Camp Sonrise Mountain for the inaugural Young Adult Weekend. The weekend was specifically promoted and designed for those between the ages of 18 – 30, which places this group into the larger generational designation known as “Gen Z,” highlighting those born between 1997 – 2012.
There were two goals for each young adult who participated in the weekend. First, that everyone would leave the weekend with clarity about where they are in their relationship with Jesus. Second, that everyone would have an idea about at least one next step to take to grow in that relationship. Everything was designed to assist in accomplishing these two items.
The retreat was planned by me and Nicole Seese (who did an awesome job in planning the various activities). Our schedule included items like a welcome picnic on Friday and a scavenger hunt on Saturday afternoon. There were four worship sessions spread throughout the weekend with teaching times led by a variety of individuals including a Winebrenner student, a member of our Board of Trustees, and a graduate and former member of our Board.
A highlight for the weekend was a workshop by Kurt Caddy, which led everyone through the process of making their own Kintsugi bowl. Kintsugi is a Japanese art form that reconstructs an object that has been broken – but, because the artwork is rebuilt using gold adhesive, the finished rebuilt project is actually more valuable than the original. Kurt led the group through the activity and laced the spiritual truths throughout:
This resonated with the young adults – as well as the staff – since all of us are working from a place of brokenness and trusting God for redemption. This was a beautiful way to engage multiple senses for the purposes of reflecting upon God’s truth.
A theme that was present in multiple conversations throughout the weekend is a desire for relationship and belonging. I heard various comments that sounded similar to “I’ve never been with a group of this many Christians before” or “I value the types of conversations I’ve been able to have this weekend.”
While there was several who attended who were able to reminisce about their church camp memories an eye-opening point of awareness was how many have neither spent time at Camp Sonrise Mountain before or attended any church camp ever. It was incredibly encouraging to be invited into the spiritual journey of so many young adults!
Next week, we’ll continue to dig into some of the themes that emerged during this weekend and explore some of the opportunities and challenges of engaging young adults as they seek to grow in their relationship with Jesus.
- Brent C. Sleasman, President