The Young Adult Summit
Written by Julie Zorn
There's something special about being at Camp Mikell in the Fall-the deep hues of orange and yellow enriching the landscape, the crisp chill in the air, and the warm fireplace roaring in the ODH. But the weekend of October 17-19 was made even more special as over 70 young adults from 11 provinces and both bishops from the Diocese of Atlanta came together for the second annual Young Adult Summit.
As young adults, we find ourselves in the sometimes-difficult process of transitioning between the comfort of living at home and establishing our own careers and families, all while looking for our place in the church. With a focus on empowering young adults to grow in our faith and live out the Gospel in our own lives, the Young Adult Summit offered the perfect mix of workshops, panel discussions and time for fellowship-all geared toward that very goal.
The weekend's theme was "Make like a tree and bear fruit," and it wasn't until Bishop Alexander's keynote on Friday evening that I truly connected with this part of our Great Commission. He said, and I paraphrase here, that we are not asked to go out and do anything that we were not designed to do. An apple tree bears apples. An orange tree bears oranges. As Christians, we bear love-the very love that we were shown by our Lord Jesus Christ. In the time of our lives that is filled with so much complexity, the simplicity of that message resonated with me. We are asked to bear love.
As the weekend progressed, I could see how that very love was amazingly present. It could be seen in the dedication all of the presenters to their various workshops, in the staff's hard work to ensure that the weekend ran smoothly, and in all of the participants who gathered together.
The Summit was such a great testament to the strength of young adult ministries. In the span of three days, I personally reconnected with the Great Commission and rediscovered the joy of being engulfed in a large community of young adults. I was reminded that even though we don't often find each other in the pews of our parishes, there is an incredible amount of committed and passionate young adult Episcopalians out there. It has often been said that young adults are the future of our church, and looking around the ODH on that crisp October weekend, I couldn't have been more excited about the months and years that lie ahead.
