Young Adult Festival

Lem Moncur, Laurie Jean and Garrett Braaf ready to learn a dance at a workshop on Native American cultural expressions in worship

July 14, 2009

This is the third General Convention to include a Young Adult Festival, a gathering of young adults 18-30 years old from the Episcopal Church and around the Anglican Communion. The event began Friday, July 10, and concludes today.

In keeping with the Ubuntu theme of General Convention, the theme for YAF has been “Together”—and the young adults were together, with each other in workshops and special events, with the deputies and bishops in hearings and legislative sessions, and with all the participants in General Convention in worship at the daily Eucharists.

Three young adults from Southeast Florida participated in YAF: Lem Moncur, from Historic St. Agnes, Miami; Laurie Jean, from St. Paul et les Martyrs d’Haiti, Miami: and Garrett Braaf, from St. Benedict’s, Plantation.

Moncur, who has worked with Young Adult Ministry for several years, said he was glad to have others from our diocese participating in this YAF.

Jean said she liked “some of” the workshops and the opportunity to be with other young adults. “What I didn’t like was waking up at 6 a.m. and going to bed at 2 a.m.,” she said. “But,” she added, “It was worth it!”

Braaf, a Gospel hip-hop artist and student at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, told Episcopal Life’s Convention Daily on Saturday that he sees the issue of young adult participation in the Church as being in God's hands. “We as humans can't perceive God's plan. The people that are supposed to be at a place will be there. God knows what's best – it's not about the numbers.”

A last night’s YAF closing reception he said that what he appreciated most about YAF was “the fellowship with a lot of folks just like me, looking for a Christian home” after graduating from youth group.

Click here to hear Moncur, Jean and Braaf talk about their YAF experience.

Click here for more on YAF and Young Adult Ministry in the Episcopal Church.