YA retreat helps young people remember their identity together

It is good to be together! This is something that the church through its existence has recognized and that we had the opportunity to celebrate again with 96 young adults from 11 EMC churches.

Creativity on display during free time.

The desire for the Young Adult retreat weekend (Feb 28-Mar 2, 2025) was especially to remind ourselves of where wereceive our purpose and value. Jesse Penner, Pleasant Valley Church, did a particularly good job as he asked us to consider the three ways that we tend to identify ourselves: (1) by what we do, (2) by what we have, and (3) by what others say about us. While these are all problematic in their own ways, he said, they are similar in that they are all shaky ground upon which to place our identity.

If we place our value and identity in what we do (i.e. our job), what happens when things go poorly at work, or worse,when we lose our job? If it’s in what we have, what about when our things break or are lost? If it’s in the opinion ofothers, what happens when that opinion shifts? All of these, it turns out, provide little to no stability for our identity and prove to be a poor foundation.

Rather, Penner went on, our identity must rest fully upon our status as image bearers of God and our adoption tothe family of God through Christ’s sacrifice. As image bearers, our value is dependent upon the One we represent and we can rest assured that, because God does not change, neither does our value or purpose. A sure foundation indeed. Similarly, as God’s adopted children, we can hold firmly to the truth that God is faithful and true to his word—he does not break covenant. There is no concern that our adoption might suddenly be undone on a whim. Our position before God is firm and certain, regardless of what we may experience in this world.

Jesse Penner, pastor of Pleasant Valley Church, speaks during a main session of the young adult retreat.

It takes effort to keep this as our primary identity, though! How quick we are to forget. Fortunately, there are many goodways that we can remind ourselves and one another. The retreat acted as a microcosm of what is required: (1) we remain oriented toward God, (2) we can best do that by staying in community, and (3) we must be intentional about our actions within community.

The good news of this is that there are many great ways to build and maintain community: A semi-competitive game ofbroomball that lasts, perhaps, a bit too long, a board game that gets more rambunctious than expected, and a meal atwhich we linger to talk after we’ve finished eating all build up the body of Christ and all create the space needed for usto be encouragers of one another to remain rooted in God, regardless of what comes.

And so, we can be grateful for the experience that we had at the retreat, and look forward to it again, as we seek toremain firmly rooted in the identity that we were created to have.

Many thanks to all those who helped to plan and coordinate the retreat. See you next year!