Happening: Youth event restarted, renewed for the future

More than 80 youth and adult leaders spent the weekend at Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island for Happening #1 March 1-3, the restart of Happening for youth in our diocese, and plans are already under way for Happening #2 in 2020.

Happening is a spiritual retreat for high school students, a youth led experience that has been offered in many Episcopal dioceses for decades. Our diocese held Happening retreats until around 2001.

Last year, a pair of old high school friends, Jay Hart and Ian Bonnet, who had participated in Happening together in the late 1980s began working to restart and renew Happening for The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, hoping to make Happening possible for their own high school-age children.

With support from the diocese and with leadership from clergy, staff and youth at Grace Church Cathedral, they formed a team that spent months working to offer Happening to youth from all across our diocese. Mr. Bonnet and Mr. Hart served as Lay Directors for Happening #1.

The Episcopal dioceses of Atlanta, Upper South Carolina and North Carolina also played a big part in this effort, sending teams to support this weekend's event as well as welcoming our youth to their own diocesan Happening events for training. In addition to a big youth presence from Grace, youth from St. Thomas, North Charleston; St. George's, Summerville, St. Stephen's, Charleston; and Calvary, Charleston participated.

A Happening Weekend includes talks done by the youth, lots of singing and praying, and a few surprises along the way. 

Mark your calendars for March 27-29, 2020 for Happening #2. If you are interested in helping, or have stories of your own Happening experience to share, please be in touch with Andrea McKellar, Diocesan Ministry Developer, at [email protected].

The next diocesan youth event is the Bishop's Lock-In at Grace Church Cathedral April 12-13. For details on that and other upcoming opportunities for youth, check out our youth page at episcopalchurchsc.org/youth and on Instagram at @tecscyouth.