Immerse expanding for 2020

Immerse, South Carolina Methodist Youth Program’s youth discipleship event, is expanding this year to now offer two similar but different events, Beach Immerse and Mountain Immerse, each with the focus of helping youth dive deeper in their faith.

Beach Immerse will be at Surfside United Methodist Church Aug. 5-8, while the Mountain Immerse event will be Nov. 13-15 at Asbury Hills Camp & Retreat Center in the Upstate.

“The beauty of Immerse is that we're shifting and redesigning what we offer at Immerse to fit the needs of students,” said the Rev. Katie Brock, design team chair. “Our new Beach Immerse offers an opportunity to branch out to include more students from around the conference. And our Mountain Immerse will offer a new conference fall retreat experience.”

As the name implies, the purpose of the events are to immerse participants in their faith—to help them dive deeper into what it means to live as a young disciple of Jesus Christ. Through powerful worship, challenging messages and community-building family groups, youth will find themselves stretched to draw closer to God through this event.

Family groups, small groups that gather throughout the even, have been a foundational element that have set Immerse apart as youth have an opportunity to connect with peers to discuss the content of the event and think about how the theme of the week can be applied to their personal lives. This year Immerse plans to offer three different “tracks” (Discipleship, Leadership and Exploration) for youth to choose a focus for their family group.

The Discipleship track will be similar to the family group experience that has been a part of Immerse up to this point. It offers young people the opportunity to dive deeper into the content of the event and consider how what they are learning throughout the weekend may impact their everyday lives.

The Leadership track will offer youth leadership skills in order to equip them to serve in leadership within their youth groups, local church and beyond.

The Exploration track is designed specifically for youth who may feel that God may be calling them into vocational ministry. This track is to be an aid in answering many questions youth may have about a call to ministry including: what vocational ministry can look like, how to know if they are called and more.

“Along with the location changes, we're excited to offer tracks within our family groups that will allow students to explore what it means to be called into ordained ministry, how they can be leaders within their church and community, as well as ways they can grow as faithful disciples,” Brock said. “We pray that through the Immerse experience we will see a generation of young people rise and own their faith as they develop into strong disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Registration is currently open at scmyp.org/immerse. Cost for Beach Immerse is $60 per person which is covers program only, which means each youth group would be responsible for securing lodging and meals for their group on top of the program fee. Mountain Immerse in an all-inclusive weekend retreat that will cost $170 per person which includes meals, lodging, and programming. For those who register before April 1, each registration will include a free Immerse T-shirt.

For questions, email [email protected].