Program details

How does !Explore work?

!Explore is designed for youth who have completed grade 11 or 12, and for their pastors and congregations. The program is divided into two parts:

Group Experience

The 18-day Group Experience has three components: Participants have an opportunity to explore the Bible and contemporary church issues with seminary professors as well as experience ministry in an urban setting. At the beginning and end of the 18-day Group Experience, time is spent in a retreat setting designed for team building, leadership development, spiritual disciplines and processing of experiences.

Congregational Experience

Participants work with a pastoral mentor, usually in their home congregation. This experience should immediately preceed or follow the group experience and involves 20 hours per week for five weeks. Along with being introduced to practical ministry tasks, participants are exposed to spiritual disciplines and theological issues.

See more information in the !Explore brochure for 2008 and 2009

Read about two participants who swapped churches in summer 2007.

!Explore 2008 and 2009

AMBS invites applications by youth and their pastors for both of the next two summers, 2008 and 2009.

!Explore 2008
  • Group Experience dates: June 30 to July 17, 2008.
  • One group of 15 youth will be invited to participate.
  • Youth will receive a stipend of $500 from AMBS and $500 from the sponsoring congregation.
  • There is no charge to participate in this experience; however, youth will be responsible to pay for their transportation to and from AMBS. Limited travel assistance is available for those traveling the greatest distance to AMBS or who have the greatest need of assistance.
  • AMBS will hold a $1,000 scholarship for !Explore participants who come to study at AMBS after they graduate from college.
!Explore 2009
  • Dates: Tentatively July 6 to July 24, 2009
  • Ten youth and their pastors will apply together and be selected in pairs for the entire program. The major component of !Explore 2009 will be participation in Mennonite World Conference in Asuncion, Paraguay.
  • Each participant (youth and pastor) can expect to pay between $1,500 and $2,500.
  • The key elements of !Explore will be preserved (practical ministry skills, theological reflection, spiritual disciplines, service opportunities, leadership development, visiting congregations) but many will happen in the context of South America.

Application instructions

  • Youth who currently are in grade 11 and grade 12 may apply for summer 2008. Youth who are currently in grade 10 and grade 11 may apply for summer 2009.
  • Youth who currently are in grade 11 may apply for either summer or for both and may express a preference if they apply for both. Youth will be accepted for only one of the summers, 2008 or 2009.
  • Applications for both summers are due at the same time:
    February 29, 2008.
  • Application forms are available now on the How to Participate page.

More about !Explore

The18-day Group Experience has three components. It begins and ends with time at Amigo Centre where participants concentrate on team building, leadership development, spiritual disciplines, and processing our experiences to date. Six days are spent exploring inner-city ministry to become more aware of ministry and theological issues unique to the urban setting. And six days are spent at AMBS where participants are introduced to seminary life and engage in theological discussions with professors, through mini-classes, panel discussions and informal conversations.

The congregational experience involves 20 hours per week, with the youth working alongside a pastoral leader in different ministry settings. Youth establish a Learning Covenant, selecting three pastoral tasks, one spiritual discipline and one theological issue to focus on. In team ministry settings, one pastor will function as the primary mentor, but the youth may work in conjunction with all pastoral leaders throughout the summer.

At the end of the summer, the young person will write a 10-page reflection paper on their experience in the congregation. They will submit a copy of the paper to the !Explore office.

A brief history of !Explore

!Explore originated with AMBS's desire to respond to the leadership needs in the Mennonite Church with an approach that is faithful, thoughtful and hopeful. AMBS believes that young people need to be encouraged to listen to God's voice as they begin vocational discernment, and that congregational leaders and other adults can play an integral role in helping youth make vocational choices. AMBS believes that many youth are capable of serious theological reflection and long to have a positive impact on both their congregations and the larger community.

The first four years of !Explore are being funded through a generous grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. It is the hope of AMBS that through the partnerships !Explore establishes with participating congregations, the program can be sustained beyond the grant period and can become a useful tool to the church within the framework of the Mennonite Church's Culture of Call.