Children & Youth Ministry
Ministry Visions
Children and Youth leaders from around the diocese met to form a common vision for their ministries. This visions bubbled up naturally and represent the collective belief of what is important for our young people.
To help faith grow naturally in the lives of children and young families.
How we do this: We believe children and young families are not the future of the church; they are the present. To raise up young believers who hold this to be true, we need to meet children and families where they are, helping them to fit faith into their lives naturally as they grow, reassuring them that they do not need to change who they are in order to “fit” into faith. This can be done by offering bite-sized faith that is easily digestible and considers the reality of church attendance by children and young families. We can offer children opportunities to learn the stories through Christian Education, to participate in church services, through reading, ushering, acolyting, greeting etc, and to explore different kinds of church services, community service, and fellowship activities. We can allow children to be fully who they are, recognizing that they receive church differently than adults, but have important things to offer. By doing this, children and young families feel seen and valued and can grow deep roots in faith and community.
To raise up youth who are not dependent on one congregation to nurture their faith.
How we do this: When our young people leave home and make their way in the world, we want them to feel home at any Episcopal Church. For that to happen, we recognize that their faith journey cannot be formed by one congregation alone. Collectively, we will support and encourage participation in local youth groups or parish ministries (where youth can learn how the values of faith in their own community), in diocesan offered retreats and missions (where youth can explore their faith together in a safe, peer influenced community), and in Episcopal summer camp at Cathedral Ridge (where youth can grow and play in faith in a setting that is set apart for them). We believe that these three areas are all intertwined and that each is vital for fully formed faith in our young people.
Formation Areas
Our camp programs encourage youth and young adults to build self-confidence by practicing their faith as they serve others and take on physical and leadership challenges. The result is a deeply authentic experience of spiritual life grounded in communities of faith to address real life. We work through a love of the outdoors, through the physical and emotional inspiration of adventure and challenge courses, and through simple table fellowship under the aspen trees. All of our programs are led by trained lay and clergy leaders who model servant leadership and hospitality.
Cathedral Ridge offers:
- Family camps in June
- Youth camps in July
- Leadership camps
The Formation Team in the Office of the Bishop sponsors several events for youth from all over the Episcopal Church in Colorado. We like to call these events “the cherry on top”. They are not meant to replace formation at the parish level, but rather, to be the extra event that makes formation throughout the year just that much sweeter. They are a chance for youth to come together from all around the state to play, learn, and grow together. These opportunities for formation and fellowship are fully planned and led from the Office of the Bishop alongside the Youth Council of the Episcopal Church in Colorado. It is our hope that not only the youth, but the leaders as well can take time to connect with their peers in a location set apart for them.
The Diocesan Retreats are:
- Fall Quest in November- Open to all 6th-12th Graders
- Spring Middle School Lock-In in April
- Spring High School Weekend in April
YES CO trips were seeds planted by a small group of youth leaders who came together over 12 years ago to build and plan multi-parish service trip opportunities. In the past decade, YES CO has planned more than 20 trips for middle and high school youth. YES has taken youth all over the country doing mission and service work in a variety off states, cities, and even traveled out of the country twice. As YES has evolved over this time, we are moving into new opportunities to bring parishes and youth together to serve and care for communities around us. YES trips offer another important component to the youth’s formation journey. Young people often learn more about themselves and who God is when they are away from their everyday life and have the opportunity to be a little uncomfortable in a new community environment. As we look to the future of YES trips, we will be allowing for both service and pilgrimage experiences. With this combination of trips, youth will have a greater ability to fully explore and discover God’s love around them and learn how they can carry that love into the world.
YES opportunities include:
- One-Day Missions in October and March
- Week-long Service Trip in June
- Week-long high school pilgrimage or EYE (in rotation)
New this year is the Youth Council for the Episcopal Church in Colorado (YOCO). The Youth Council was formed as a way to offer youth a greater voice and participation in the planning and execution of their own ministry. To draw from the energy and talent of our young people and provide leadership opportunities and training during the high school experience as it applies to youth ministry and community building. YOCO is sponsored and run through the combined efforts of the Office of the Bishop, YES CO, and Cathedral Ridge. YOCO members will plan and lead diocesan youth events and will have voice and say in YES mission and service opportunities and will serve for a year at a time.
Learn more about YOCO
Youth Formation Calendar
October 21, 2023 One Day Mission
The One Day Mission Experience allows youth groups to come together on a Saturday and work for an organization or parish here in Colorado with whatever they need. These One Day experiences can host up to 50 people, youth and adults. We serve both in our local communities and for local churches who need help with their ministry. We serve for 4-5 hours then have lunch and a fun community building activity together. This is great way to reconnect with friends from around the diocese in a one-day opportunity. As soon as we have locations and details, they will be posted on the YES CO Web page.
November 10-12, 2023 Fall Quest- Called to Quest
What do you want to be when you grow up? Whether it’s being asked about your future plans by any and everyone once you hit your junior year or having to pick a focus with magnet schools and intense extracurricular activities, the pressure to have it all figured out can weigh heavily on teen shoulders. But the truth is, it’s okay to not know. Jeramiah 29:1 says For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Join us November 10th-12th at La Foret, in Colorado Springs as we are Called to Quest, embracing the unknown and discovering together what it means to trust God’s plan.
March 2, 2024 One Day Mission
The One Day Mission Experience allows youth groups to come together on a Saturday and work for an organization or parish here in Colorado with whatever they need. These One Day experiences can host up to 50 people, youth and adults. We serve both in our local communities and for local churches who need help with their ministry. We serve for 4-5 hours then have lunch and a fun community building activity together. This is great way to reconnect with friends from around the diocese in a one-day opportunity. As soon as we have locations and details, they will be posted on the YES CO Web page.
April 12-14, 2024 High School Weekend at Cathedral Ridge
Last year we split the spring offering into separate but equal middle school and high school retreats. High School Weekend gives 9th-12th graders the chance to dig deeper into themes that are uniquely high school or on a more mature level. This retreat is purposely smaller and gives equal importance to relationship building, faith formation, and rest. Throughout the weekend students engage in talks, group activates, crafts, nature walks, and many other components building love for each other, love for God, and love for our very own camp, Cathedral Ridge. Like Quest, the weekend is planned and run by students on the youth council (YOCO). High schoolers will arrive after dinner on Friday and the retreat will close with Eucharist on Sunday morning ending before noon. The high school weekend allows teens to grow in vulnerability and faith, preparing them to explore what they believe, as they get closer and closer to embarking on their own in the world.
April 20-21. 2024 Middle School Lock-In at St. John’s Cathedral
Last year was the first middle school lock-in and it was a huge success! Middle schoolers arrive at The Cathedral Saturday morning around 9am and spend the day and evening together in smaller bites of formation and service and larger chunks of relationship building and play. The event ends Sunday morning with the 10:30 am service where the group will worship with The Cathedral community. Families are invited and encouraged to join in worship. The focus of the middle school lock-in is relationship building. We acknowledge that the shift from Sunday school to youth group is a big one, and we believe that middle schoolers need a safe space away to both embrace that change as maturing young people, while still holding space for them to be silly and play. This time away as just middle schoolers allows the youth to build relationships with not only each other, but with the greater church as well. That relationship is a vital steppingstone for growing deeper in faith.
June 9-15, 2024 YES CO Service Trip
Caring for others in loving service is a vital component of Christian practice. During adolescence and the years leading up to it, young people are exploring who they really are in the context of peer relationships. We believe that each person is created in God’s image, unique in their own way. For youth to discover who God intended them to be, in Christian peer community, is life changing. Discovering who they are while serving others is even more so. The YES Summer Service Trip typically hosts up to 40-45 people, youth and adults, and travels out of the state to work in another community. Over the years, we have served after natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and many others. For the past two years, YES has partnered with Youthworks in neighboring state communities to serve in a variety of ways. Often times, the work includes serving in a food bank or distribution center, serving in a homeless shelter, crisis centers, and sometimes with larger organizations like Love Inc, Project Cure, and Habitat Restore. Wherever YES serves, youth and adults can expect to enjoy a wonderful close-knit community, lots of fun, some hard work, and time to grow in our love and faith. The summer 2024 trip is in the process of being planned. As soon as we have a location and details, they will be posted on the YES CO web page.
Family Camps at Cathedral Ridge dates TBD
YES CO Pilgrimage Dates TBD
YES CO hosted the EYE23 Colorado Delegation of youth and adults for the first time this past summer. This amazing trip made us realize the importance of having an offering that took faith formation one step deeper was vital in our rotation of service trips. Moving forward, YES will be offering either a pilgrimage trip for high school youth or EYE the year it is in cycle. These trips will be for youth who are advancing in their faith journey and looking for deeper community experiences. These trips will have more outdoor focused experiences, involve travel to fun locations for several days at a time, and a much deeper formation component. Coming off the great energy from EYE23, we look forward to planning a high school pilgrimage experience for the summer of 2024. As soon as dates and details are available, they will be posted to the YES web page.