Young Adult Initiatives

A key strength of FTE’s work is the opportunity we provide for young adults to connect with a diverse community of like-minded peers who are also discerning their calling. Our Discernment Retreats are central to this experience, offering young adult discerners a space to engage with new models of ministry, build deep and meaningful connections, and begin to see themselves as future leaders in the church and their communities.

One past participant shared, “FTE helped me overcome a lot of antipathy towards the church. My fellows and mentors helped me get beyond my hurt and disdain for other Christians and Christian communities by modeling a way of being Christian and of being of the church that was inspiring, beautiful, and something I wanted to be a part of. I fell in love with that vision of what church could be, which made it possible for me to fall in love with the realities of church that fall so short of that vision, because I could understand how they were striving imperfectly to fulfill a vision of beloved community. Now I’m a congregational pastor, something I never expected, but which I feel I’m made for, and which delights and fulfills me every day.”