Exploration 2011 is a discernment event for 18 to 26 year olds thinking about ordained ministry within The United Methodist Church. The event takes place Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13 at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri.
Attending Exploration is one of the best places to go to (spiritually and physically!) to be present with God and with community as you discern how to authentically respond to the call God has placed upon your life.
A lot of “nuts and bolts” resources will be at Exploration, which is great for “Type A” people who like to know what will be available. At the event, you’ll be able to:
- Visit the seminary fair, where all thirteen United Methodist seminaries and theological schools will have tables and admissions staff available to answer your question
- Engage with your peers in a small group led by a current seminarian
- Attend workshops on the topics that interest you: ordination options, understanding the differences between deacon and elder, being a young adult in ministerial leadership, ministering to youth, funding your theological education, endorsement, chaplaincy, ministry in the local church, cross-cultural and cross-racial ministry, and more
- Attend worship, where you will have the opportunity to think, listen to God, and mull over what it is that God is asking of you
- Be in fellowship with hundreds of other United Methodist young adults who are grappling with the same questions you are
I serve at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, one of the thirteen United Methodist seminaries. As the Director of Admissions, I have the privilege of hearing many, many stories from people about what they feel called to be and to do. As an ordained deacon, I feel privileged to be present with people as they discern what their vocation – or vocations – may be in the next stage of their lives.
If you are thinking about ordained ministry (or thinking of a life of vocation as an intentional layperson) and you are between the ages of 18 to 26, we’d love to see you at Exploration. I have heard from previous attendees that it is a formational event, and one that shaped their self-understanding and opened their eyes to ministry options they never even could have imagined before attending.
Want to read more first-person accounts about Exploration? Here are posts by some of my friends and colleagues from across the connection:
Anastasia Kidd – Exploring Your Calling…via The Scientific Method
Anna Guillozet – Passion and Possibility in St. Louis
Ashlee Allee – Praying for Exploration 2011
Daniel K. Dawson - Day of Prayer and Blogging (talks about extension ministry! woo!)
Daniel K. Dawson - Day of Prayer and Blogging (talks about extension ministry! woo!)
Juan Huertas – Passion and Possibility: Exploration 2011
Melissa Meyers – Passion and Possibility
Jeremy Smith – Passion, Possibility and Shoeless People
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