Diocesan News Releases
Metro East Convocation organizes youth events
By David Champion, All Saints, Portland
Apr 6, 2006, 13:51

At their March 12 meeting delegates of the Metro-East Convocation, which consists of 13 member churches, voted in favor of initiating a series of convocation youth events (on the fifth Sunday of each month) in an effort to increase the number of young people at church and to share limited resources.

The four convocation youth events approved at the convocation meeting for 2006 are:

an ice skating party on April 30, a swimming party on July 30, a Halloween Party on October 29, and a New Year’s Eve Party on December 31.

On April 30, youth will at Grace Memorial, Portland at 6 pm to enjoy pizza, ice cream and games.  At 7:15 p.m., they will take a five-minute trip to Lloyd Center to enjoy an hour of ice-skating during which they will have exclusive use of the ice rink.

On July 30, convocation youth will have exclusive use of Dishman Pool on 77 NE Knott, Portland, for two hours and then walk next door to have dinner at St. Philip the Deacon.

On October 29, a Halloween Party at All Saints, Portland, will include a magic show, a clown, pumpkin carving, and lots of food and games.

On December 31, the New Year’s Eve Party will take place at St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukie from 7-9 pm. Convocation youth will have the option between going home after midnight, or staying the night at St. John’s.  There is the possibility of having a live band play at the party.

Few if any of the thirteen churches in the convocation have enough youth, financial resources or leaders to undertake any one of the above events, but together they will do so at little cost or effort.  Each church in the convocation has been asked to contribute $40 for each event. At each event, one of the churches serves as the host that organizes the support team for the event.  The host church is either the event site or the one closest to it.

It is hoped that the above events will generate a sense of community among the youth of the convocation thereby helping to create a more extensive, intensive convocation youth ministry—one that is fully involved in mission, discipleship and evangelism.  For now, however, the key objective is getting the youth of the thirteen churches together.

The organizers of the new convocation youth ministry hope to capitalize on two key favorable conditions.  The first is the sense of community that was created in the convocation at the Day of Sacrament and Song on February 25 (see the March 2006 Oregon Episcopal Church news online [http://www.diocese-oregon.org/index.shtml]). It is generally agreed that the event was very successful and whetted the appetite among clergy and laity in the convocation for more cooperative ventures and programs.

The second factor is that the churches of the Metro-East Convocation are relatively close together.  According to MapQuest, one can drive from St. Andrew’s to St. Philip the Deacon to Grace Memorial to St. Michael and All Angels in less than 30 minutes.  Even the churches in the convocation furthest from each other—St. Andrew’s in North Portland and Holy Cross in Boring—are only 37 minutes apart by car.

If you want more information about the convocation youth ministry or want to join the convocation youth ministry, please contact David Champion, the youth group coordinator at All Saints, at 503-775-1380 or modernherodotus@hotmail.com.