In The Loop What’s Happening at SPU

Immerse: the Youth Discipleship Academy

The School of Theology received a four-year, $600,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment to establish Immerse, the Seattle Pacific University Youth Discipleship Academy, a one-week summer intensive to encourage high school students to grow in their Christian discipleship.

Participants will experience components of identity formation through classroom instruction from theology faculty, the practice of worship and other spiritual disciplines, application of faith to contemporary real-world issues, small and large group community building, and recreational opportunities unique to the Pacific Northwest.

It will also feature a weekend follow-up retreat at Camp Casey in the fall. SPU is one of a number of schools across the country that are participating in Lilly’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative that funds programs at a select group of private four-year colleges and universities. The grants are part of the endowment’s commitment to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church and society.

Associate Professor of Theology, Discipleship, and Ministry Mike Langford is the principal investigator of the grant and serves as the executive director of the project. The program will launch in Summer 2016.

Learn more at spu.edu/immerse.