wfn.org | Youth group serves in Wilderness

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-07-01 13:49
Priority: 3
Message ID: 99899783E410D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Youth group serves in Wilderness

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July 1, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<News@MBM.org>

Illinois youth group serves in 'wilderness' through Group Venture

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (GCMC/MBM) - Driving more than 30 minutes uphill on a
gravel road, a Group Venture team from Metamora (Ill.) Mennonite Church
didn't know where they would end up or what sort of service opportunities   

existed in the middle of nowhere, Oregon.

"I thought this place was going to be a dump because when we came up it   
was really
dark and we couldn't see anything. All I saw was this gravel road and I   
said
'Great, what am I getting myself into?'" said Sam Bonnell about the youth   

group's trip to Drift Creek Camp outside of Lincoln City, Ore. Once he
arrived, however, Bonnell realized he was in God's territory. "It's the
most beautiful country I've ever seen," he said.  "I get a lot of God's   
creation
out of it. It's immense and beautiful. I love it."

As is the case for many Mennonite youth groups, the Metamora high-school
group takes a trip every year, alternating between the Mennonite youth
convention and a weeklong service excursion. Two years ago the group   
served
in Toronto, working in agencies and learning about urban living. This   
year
they were worlds away from Ontario, in terms of geography and   
surroundings.

"In Toronto, we were in the inner city, and there were a lot of different   

cultures and different people around there," said 16-year-old Jill Zoss.
"Up here, it's wilderness and you've got a good 35-minute drive to
civilization."

For each excursion, the Metamora Mennonite Church group turned to Group
Venture, a joint program of Mennonite Board of Missions of the Mennonite
Church and the Commission on Home Ministries of the General Conference
Mennonite Church.  A unique Mennonite service program, Group Venture
facilitates and resources a connection between youth groups seeking a
short-term experience in service with 30 to 40 sites throughout North
America. While Group Venture maintains a long-term relationship with the
sites, the program does not shape the content of the service experience.   
For
nearly 12 years, more than 9,000 people in 500 high-school-age youth   
groups
have served and experienced people of different communities and cultures
 through Group Venture.

The group worked in secluded natural areas, clearing hiking trails,
painting cabins and cleaning up Drift Creek for the summer rush of   
campers.
When camp staffers arrived later in the week, the Metamora group helped
prepare meals and clean up afterwards during orientation.

"In Toronto we worked more with people, and here we work with ourselves,"   
said
Brad Rogers. "The work's different, but it's all for the same purpose."
    

While service projects often evoke images of soup kitchens and homeless
shelters in urban settings, group leaders say there's plenty to learn   
from
 working surrounded by nature.

"I think they've learned about God and God's creation," said Vicki   
Surratt,
one of four group sponsors that accompanied Metamora's 13 youth.  "Being
out here, it's so peaceful, they don't have to worry about any of the   
things
they usually do."

Group members also learn to respect the nature that surrounds them. Ron
Sears, who along with wife, Jeanne, serves as administrator of Drift   
Creek,
said the camp offers groups a unique chance to be close to God in a   
pristine
setting in an old-growth forest.

"They get a chance just to get away from the stuff of life, the busyness   
of life.
They're still busy, but there's no television, no radio, there's no phone   

where they're staying and it's 35-40 minutes to McDonald's," Sears said.   
"So
they get a chance to experience a different kind of place.  It's a great   
place to
be to experience God. You can allow God's spirit to work in you and His   
voice can
be heard."  For their part, the Metamora youth said they welcomed a break   
from
remote controls and stereo systems.  "I can do without that stuff," said
Metamora High School freshman Rachel Sutter.  "But you never really know
until you get away from it that you don't need it in your everyday   
lives."

According to sponsor Willis Surratt, the group always has fun and has no
trouble entertaining themselves, so life away from modern-day
technologies is no big deal. He said the group chose Drift Creek in part
because it offered them an opportunity to be a close community in a   
setting
far away from Metamora.

"I think the kids get a break also from daily stresses because they have   
a lot of
peer pressure put upon them now. Here, they're accepted in our group and
they're accepted for who they are. Nobody criticizes them and nobody   
makes
fun of them," he said. "They get a feeling of belonging to something.   
There's
no pressure except for what they put on themselves to be a better   
Christian."

The Group Venture may not have felt pressure at Drift Creek, but   
according to
Sears and the sponsors, they worked hard. Their days were simple: work,   
play,
eat, sleep. But the group said they learned plenty from simplicity. From
working together to paint a cabin and fill pot holes to experiencing God   
in
nature, the group learned that service learning can happen anywhere,
whether it's in a city of millions of people or in a forest of thousands   
of trees.

* * *

Matt Kauffman Smith       PHOTO AVAILABLE