“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God.” (Matt. 5:9)
Based on this passage and the surrounding verses, next summer’s EYE theme will be Pathway to Peace. The Mission Planning Team wants to focus on this vital message in a hurting world. “Path to Peace represents both the inward and outward actions we are called to engage as members of the Jesus Movement,” explained Bronwyn Clark Skov, Presiding Bishop’s Staff Officer for Youth Ministry. “Embracing this theme, the 2017 Episcopal Youth Event will focus on helping participants identify how they can engage peacemaking and reconciliation in their communities.”
The Episcopal Youth Event is held every three years in accordance with General Convention Resolution #1982-D079. Teenagers from across the Episcopal Church convene to realize their full ministry as active members of the Body of Christ, through worship, leadership training, and education. The last EYE was held in Philadelphia in 2014.
“For me, EYE was the first time I got to experience how big and diverse the Episcopal Church is,” says Lizzie Anderson, alumna of the 2008 EYE. “Learning from others’ traditions and pieties opened my eyes to all the different possibilities of worship and practice while still maintaining the core of our Common Prayer. It was what inspired me to be involved in the Church as a Deputy to General Convention.” Anderson was a member of the Official Youth Presence at General Convention in 2009, and has since then been elected as a deputy to Convention three times.
EYE is designed for youth who will be in grades 9-12 the previous school year (2016-17). EYE17 will be held on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmund, OK, in partnership with the Diocese of Oklahoma. The event will be July 10-14, 2017. Registration for EYE17 occurs at the diocesan level and will be available in January.
More on EYE17 here http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eye