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Dear Pastors, Parents, and Youth Leaders,
We are thrilled to invite you and your youth in grades 6-9 to our What Really Matters Overnight Retreat this fall! What Really Matters is a great addition to any Youth or Confirmation program, as youth explore their faith, meet new friends, and dive into topics that affect their daily lives in engaging, interactive ways. This year’s What Really Matters theme will be “Relationships”. We will dive deeper into what it means to love God and love each other in today’s culture, and help with questions along the way.
All youth in grades 6-9 are invited to attend this retreat as we pray, play and get to know each other. This year, our overnight retreat is scheduled from Saturday 11/9/24 at 2pm – Sunday 11/10/24 at 2pm. The cost will be $65 per person. Scholarships are available for those with financial need; please contact srea@sepa.org with your request.
Registration opens October 10 and closes October 24! (Yes, this is a tight window, but we need to let the camp know so they can order enough food for us.)
You will receive an email confirmation upon registration. Please check your spam folder if you do not receive it within a day. You will also receive an email with more information as the retreat approaches.
All participants must complete and return a medical release form and a gathering covenant, which will be emailed to you with your registration confirmation. Additionally, in accordance with PA law, ALL adult leaders attending What Really Matters? must complete and email or mail to the Synod Office a (1) PA State Criminal Background Check, (2) Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Abuse Clearance, and (3) FBI Fingerprint Clearance. If you have submitted these documents to the synod since June 1, 2024 there is no need to resubmit – simply let us know that we should have them on file. Similarly, if you have already obtained these checks for your church, simply send a copy of each check to us at the Synod Office. All background checks are due to the synod office NO LATER THAN October 31, 2024.
To help with the registration process, you will need the following information when you register:
- Participant Name
- Participant Grade
- Participant Gender
- Adult Email Addresses
- Adult Cell Numbers
-Dietary Restriction Info
Your payment may be made online by credit card or you may mail in a check. Please know that if your registration takes more than 15 minutes to enter, you should group it into batches so as not to time out the system. All payments, documents, and background checks may be mailed to the Synod Office:
Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA
Pastor Skyle Rea
7241 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19119
All registration questions and required documents may also be scanned and sent directly to srea@sepa.org.
I look forward to seeing you at Bear Creek Camp for our What Really Matters Retreat as we explore and grow into God’s love.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Skyle Rea
Assistant to the Bishop – Youth and Young Adult Discipleship
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