Exploring Your Call, a summer program for youth, will take place at Bethany Theological Seminary on June 17-27, 2011. This ten-day event provides the opportunity for young people entering their junior or senior year of high school in Fall 2011 to explore faith and vocation through courses, congregational involvement, community service projects, personal and spiritual enrichment, and recreation. Ruthann Knechel Johansen, president of the Seminary, says, “Initiatives like this are crucial for the long term health and witness of the church. I am pleased that Bethany will once again offer Exploring Your Call.”
Exploring Your Call events were held at Bethany from 2001-2005. Participants report that Exploring Your Call sparked their interest in doing advanced Biblical and theological work in a seminary environment, gave them a lively introduction to the work of pastoral ministry, and enabled them to meet peers who were serious about their Christian faith. Many continue to stay in contact with each other. Currently six Bethany students are former Exploring Your Call participants, and their strong encouragement was an important factor in reviving the program. “It was during Exploring Your Call that I first seriously considered ministry as a vocation,” says Dylan Haro of San Diego, Calif., a first-year Bethany student. “I also felt a deep connection to the denomination through the friends I made, both peers and leaders.” Bekah Hoff of Bethel, Pa., a middler student, adds that “Exploring Your Call participants had the freedom to share our experiences, and we grew through each other.”
More information and an online application for Exploring Your Call can be found at http://www.bethanyseminary.edu/eyc/ [1]. A generous grant from Barnabas Ltd. covers all costs except transportation to and from Richmond. Persons who have additional questions may contact eyc@bethanyseminary.edu [2] or 800-287-8822.