Mancelona, Michigan
2022
To support, connect, and amplify Christian college students who deeply care about God's earth by creating liturgies of restoration that students can live out in their everyday lives as they connect worship and the mission to serve.
Summarize your grant project and how it will address a need in your worshiping community.
Because we see environmentally-conscious young adults turning outside the church to find supportive community, we hope to implement a project that supports, connects, and amplifies Christian college students who deeply care about God's earth. This project will help these students practice liturgies of restoration - habits that help students see a deeper connection between worship and our mission to serve, protect and restore God's earth - beyond their time on an Au Sable campus.
What two questions might you ask about worship in the coming year that will generate theological reflection and shape your project?
How is your work - as a student or in the work force - an outworking of worship?
Where are you finding hope and signs of God’s kingdom in the midst of our mounting ecological crises?
How will your project impact the worship life and habits of the congregation?
Our project will continue to establish the basis of liturgies of restoration with Au Sable students by providing spiritual formation support during summer courses. We will also provide follow-up connections for students after their time on Au Sable’s campus through the creation of digital resources designed to help students live out liturgies of restoration in their everyday lives, career paths, and in their home colleges and churches.
What might be your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
Our project works with college students and our main challenge is remaining connected to them amidst the whirlwind of their lives.
What do you hope to learn from the Grants Event and other grant recipients?
We are looking to identify effective ways to provide spiritual formation from a distance. While technology often disrupts and distracts from spiritual growth, we are curious if there are tools that can be utilized that will lead to authentic connection.