Spiritual Development Weekend 2018

For around 20 years, Methodist Children’s Home (MCH) has hosted spiritually focused weekends for its young residents. The time is meant to challenge youth to discuss and grow in their faith.

This year’s Spiritual Development (SD) Weekend took place March 16-18 and included a concert, worship services, speakers and a lunch for seniors. The Spiritual Development ministers have been taking residents through the book of Acts and discussing the early church. The theme of “story” continued throughout the weekend as they focused on how each person has a part in the overall story of God’s people.

Residents were treated to a concert on Friday evening and welcomed musical guests Austin Lanier and Capital G. Kim Clark, director of spiritual development at MCH, said Capital G participated in SD weekend before and one of the MCH ministers had heard Lanier at a prior event. The artists also spoke to students during events on Saturday.

“We desire to expose our students to a variety of men and women living lives of service to Christ,” Clark said. “We hope our students see that following Christ is a daily choice that can (and should) be the focus and purpose of how they spend their time, talent and efforts. Sometimes, hearing from a successful artist/speaker outside of this community helps us convey that.”

During the concert, several MCH students also performed their original pieces including poetry, piano, and raps.

Clark said hosting a lunch on Saturday for seniors who will be graduating in May allowed SD ministers time to speak with the youth one-on-one as they prepare to transition from the residential program.

“We always look forward to time alone with the seniors,” she said. “We want to make them feel special because graduating is a huge accomplishment, but we also want to have some frank discussions about what can be expected after graduation. Our hope is they will start incorporating practices and habits into their lives while they are here that will make it easier for them to make good choices in the future.

“We ask them to identify adults in their lives that will be on their side and offer assistance,” she added. “We ask them what their plan is after graduation, and we talk about what it looks like to continue their journey with Christ when no one is making them get up for church on Sunday morning.”

Spiritual Development Weekend closed with a worship service on Sunday morning to conclude the events.