Ewart Jones
Network Chair
Ministry with Young Adults
1225 Texas Avenue
Houston Tx 77002
800-318-4452
ejones@epicenter.org

A life-long Episcopalian, Ewart Jones is Diocesan Missioner for Youth for the Diocese of Texas. He is responsible for the training of youth workers, providing a clearinghouse of youth event information (diocesan, provincial and national), planning and implementing diocesan youth events, administering any available scholarship assistance for youth to participate in youth activities, serving as a speaker for youth and church-wide events, and assisting with the development of EYC programs on the congregational level.

Ewart holds a B.B.S in Public Communication, and has done Master's work in Communication.
He was a youth minister for 10 years prior to joining the diocesan staff.

What is the purpose of this Network’s ministry? To engage young adults in the life of the Episcopal Church through advocacy, resources and relationships.

What is the structure of this Network? We are currently working on this by finding contacts in each of the dioceses and making them aware that the network is being started

Beyond "Contemporary" Worship

By James Derkits and Kevin Schubert

How many years can we still call a particular style “contemporary,” without it changing much? The great gift that “contemporary” worship, and what is commonly known as praise music, gave us Generation X’ers and Y’ers is the realization that there are options out there.

We have found praise music (worship music led by guitar and/or a band using flowing seventies melodies) to be very liberating when we first heard them in a camp setting. It was a style of music we could call our own, and when we participated in leading that style of music while in high school and into college, it gave us a sense of connection back to that camp community. It was our brand of music. Not our parents’ (or, not all of our parents’). It was a gift that the evangelical portion of the church, particularly the Cursillio community and leaders at our camp gave us to help search for an authentic expression. We could go on singing the praises of praise music, except we can’t go on for long with much integrity.

There came a point when we started paying close attention to what we were singing in those praise songs, and comparing the lyrics to what we were singing in our traditional hymns. It became clear that the rich metaphors and mystery found in the hymns drew us closer to a clearer understanding of the vastness of God, and a broader understanding of our relationship with God. One drawback of “contemporary” music, from our perspective, is that the theology tends to be narrowly focused (Jesus suffered, I benefit) instead of the wide variety of understandings in the relationship between God and humanity found in the story of Scripture, not to mention our full year of seasons.

Another drawback is that some of the music carries undertones of unconscious/repressed sexuality. Sexuality and spirituality may go hand in hand, and we stand with the tradition of Solomon, that the sexual and romantic metaphor can be an approach to understanding the desire of our hearts, i.e. to be in communion with God. But that theme should be explored honestly and openly. Some of the lines in praise songs hint at frustrations needing to be expressed in another venue.

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Young Adult Facebook Groups

Arkansas Vocare
Camino
Diocese of Texas
Diocese of West Texas
Episcopal Campus Ministries
Episcopal College Students
The Epicoposse
Episcopal Young Adults
Vocare
Vocare Diocese of West TX
Vocare Texase DOT

For Your Information

Recognition & Invitation • Young adults (18-30 year olds) enrich our communities with a variety of gifts, experiences and perspectives. • The inclusion of young adults in the life of the church requires a sincere and intentional invitation. Community & Empowerment • Young adults experience a variety of transitions; a community of faith creates an atmosphere of support during this stage of life. • Out of this sense of community, young adults will seek ways to live out their Christian calling. • We have an obligation to empower young adults in their life in Christ. Mentoring Environments • The presence of young adults in our parishes provides them an opportunity to engage with God through the Episcopal tradition and experience. • A mentoring parish recognizes, challenges, supports, inspires, and engages young adults in order to foster their faith. • The prophetic voice of young adulthood can challenge the church to more fully live into its calling as the body of Christ. Our Responsibility to Young Adults • We have allowed the language of Christian faith to be largely co-opted. We must impart the wealth and worth of the Christian story to young adults. • We must engage a generation of young adults in honest and sophisticated conversation about God and the calling and worth of every human being. • We must also equip young adults with the tools of our tradition for facing the tough ethical, moral, ecological, relational and religious challenges of the broader world.

The Office of Young Adult Ministry works with people from the ages of 18-30. The website is designed to provide information about events, opportunites for young adults to discern where God is calling them, and resources for people who work with young adults. This office recognizes we work with a very diverse age range who can be at very different points in their lives. Nevertheless, we seek to incorporate all into the body of Christ and recognize we all have gifts for ministry.

Find a Young Adult Ministry (listed by diocese)

National Young Adult Council

Members of the Committee on Young Adult Ministry (CYAM) Left to right: Lemuel Moncur (SE Florida), P’tricia Egbert (Kentucky), Carlton Allen (N California), Ewart Jones (Texas), Lucas Grubbs (Idaho), Nicole Seiferth (New York), Moises Quezada (Dominican Republic), missing from photo - Wendy Barrett (Honduras).

February 2010

Dear friends and colleagues,

Another six months have passed since we last wrote at length about our Office’s vision for our shared work with the 18-30 year olds of our church and our world. Many things have changed in that time at all levels of the church. Parishes, dioceses, provinces and the Church Center have all had to undergo often painful transformations responding to economic and cultural changes. And yet, we again are reminded of our call to give thanks, to rejoice in blessings, and to seek out and serve ‘the least of these.’

The disaster in Haiti has reminded us of the incredible prosperity and responsibility we own in relation to huge portions of our world. The U.S. legislature’s struggle to pass health care reform has highlighted both our common vision and our differences. In all this, the body of Christ is called both to serve in humility and to lead in unity. In particular, the generation with whom we minister must learn both to serve and to lead grounded in our faith, our tradition, and our communities. How will we equip them to do so? This is a question before us all. And in particular, the question before us at the Church Center is how best to equip and support you in equipping them.

Reconfiguration at the Church Center

As we shared with you last fall, the Church Center has gone through some major shifts, financially and structurally, following General Convention. Our work has been reorganized into smaller teams based on commonalities of vision and structure. Young Adult and Campus Ministries has landed on the Life Long Christian Formation and Vocations team along with Children’s Formation, Youth Formation, Adult Formation, and Life Long Formation. Bronwyn Skov, Officer for Youth Formation will lead our team.

This new configuration promises to help focus our efforts on supporting and equipping ministers to address transitions between life stages and to develop a commonality of vision for all of Christian formation and life-long discernment and vocation. It will also aid us in addressing the needs and concerns of the those of you who are asked to take on more than one program area. This new configuration will not exclude ongoing and future collaboration with other program areas. For example our collaboration with Mission Personnel on the Young Adult Service Corps and with Ethnic and Intercultural Ministries on the Why Serve (formerly Does It Fit?) conference will continue. We are also pursuing greater collaboration with Transition Ministry which will allow for the creation of a fulltime Officer for Young Adult Discernment and Vocation.

Communications Update

As you may have noticed, the Broadcast main page has been redesigned to help you access past issues by topic. This is part of our continued effort to improve communications with you and between you. You may also have observed that the Episcopal Church website has undergone a thorough re-design. While Young Adult Ministry can still be found by typing in episcopalchurch.org/youngadults and Campus Ministry with episcopalchurch.org/campusministries, you can also access both pages under the Networking tab on the website. In particular, we invite you to use this site to access event, internship, and employment opportunities under the Inspire heading. We are also working on cleaning out and updating our resources page. If there are particular resource topics you would like to see addressed, we invite you to email us and share your ideas and needs.

Regional Networks

In the world of young Adult Ministry many of you have heard some buzz about the new Regional Networks. These networks consist of small groupings (8-10) of bishop-appointed Diocesan Young Adult Coordinators, one for each diocese. These informal, voluntary, and mutable groupings are designed to spark conversation and resource sharing between geographically and culturally similar dioceses. They are not designed to replace the provincial structure, or be another required meeting, but are simply opportunities for greater collaboration and feedback. Currently these groups are being facilitated by members of the Committee for Young Adult Ministry, but hopefully will take on a life of their own and become communities of support for dioceses and ministers. We invite your questions and feedback on this new venture.

New Campus Ministry Start-up Grants

Dioceses and parishes are invited to submit proposals for grants to assist in the start-up of new campus ministries or the re-start of dormant campus ministries. A total of $300,000 is available in this triennium, and grants will be awarded from that amount over a two-year period beginning in July 2010. It is expected that the diocese, parish, or campus ministry will match the amount awarded in the grant. Completed proposals must be received by March 31, 2010. They will be reviewed by the Provincial Coordinators for Campus Ministry and make recommendations to the Office for Young Adult and Campus Ministries. Follow this link to the application.

Leadership Development Resources

Finally, we continue in our effort to better equip, resource and support you in your ministries. We look forward to “The Art of Resurrection,” at the College Chaplains’ Conference from June 30 – July 3 in Athens, GA, the Diocesan Young Adult Coordinators’ meeting, September 17-19 in Linthicum Heights, MD and the College Student gathering “Gather Around the Table” December 28, 2010-January 1, 2010 at YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, CO.

These are all opportunities for gathering and sharing our many stories and gifts for ministry while sharing innovative resources and opportunities for collaboration. For those unable to join us we are continuing to explore online training resources for both young adult and campus ministers.

Please keep an eye on the website as well as the right sidebar of broadcast as these are rolled out over the coming months. As always, it is our joy to work with you, to hear from you and to share with you in your frustrations and your successes. We want to help you share your story, to empower those with whom you work, and to uphold you in your ministry in whatever way we can. You are in our prayers and our thanksgivings.

Peace,
Douglas and Jason