I spent last week at a youth camp, Institute 2010: God’s All Stars, which is a ministry of the Conference Council on Youth Ministry of the Kansas East Annual Conference. This post is part of a series reflecting on the week and making applications for the local church.
Institute is an institution with the good and the bad that it brings. There are rich traditions and a history that brings the past to light and looks to the future. Many of the adult leaders at camp this summer remember an experience of the very same camp when they were young. One of the pastors among the adult leaders remembers feeling first called to ministry in the very place where we had morning worship during the week. However, the rich history has the side effect of narrowing the vision of what could be possible for a camp among the high school students of the Kansas East Conference. There are some practices that are clearly leftovers from time gone by and while faithful have ceased to be relevant.
What about in your local church? How has the past shaped who the community is today? In what ways does the history shape both the present and the future?
Rev. Andrew Conard 
2 replies on “Institut(ion): In Every Sense of the Word (3 of 5)”
I’m enjoying your series on Institute. As someone new to the conference I am still familiarizing myself with Institute but find it to be a really positive experience for the youth that attend. As part of the Adult Coordinating Team for June this year and for the joint session next year I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on which aspects you found most relevant and which traditions you feel have lost their relevance. We want to make Institute even better than it has been in the past and its easier to do that with lots of input from people at all points of the Institute-experience spectrum. Thanks for being a servant to the July session this year! 🙂
I too am enjoying your viewpoint of Institute. It has evolved already from when I was there back in the 70’s. We used to take a mission trip to a close by mission area. Mine was to go to the mental hospital at Osawatomie. I’m interested in what things you think are no longer relevant. Our first Vision Team meeting is August 21, where we will start planning for next year.