Once your group has decided to reserve a Discovery Weekend, the group picks a Theme that is both interesting and relevant to them. The group then prepares for the weekend using DEPTH’s Curriculum. During the weekend, they learn more about the theme and visit at least one Community Partner organization that is addressing the issue in a Chicago community. Young people get the opportunity to have dynamic conversations with different kinds of ministers who demonstrate God’s call in their lives. They also learn more about college and seminary life as they spend time with CTS and Elmhurst student Hosts, CTS student Interns and CTS faculty and staff. Then, through different kinds of activities, reflection and prayer, participants consider how God might be calling them to address the issue after they leave their DEPTH weekend.
The experience doesn’t end there. Each group will receive additional DEPTH Curriculum to help them discover how their weekend topic is at work in their own communities and encourage them to continue responding to God’s call as ministers who make a difference at home.
During Discovery Weekends, youth and adult participants from an individual church meet people of faith and get to know organizations that do ministry in the Chicago area. By experiencing ministry in action, young people discover how they can be ministers in their own communities today, and how God might be calling them to minister in the future.