Purpose
The purpose of DiscoveryBound and Adventure Unlimited is to provide appealing, inspiring, and stimulating educational, social, recreational and service activities for Christian Scientists and their friends in an atmosphere conducive to the recognition of the practicality and effectiveness of Christian Science.
History of Adventure Unlimited Field Program
John "Cap" and Marianne Andrews, the founders of Adventure Unlimited, started a local Chapter-based program as a response to campers returning home from their summer camp experience, wanting to continue the inspiration and fellowship in their home communities on a year-round basis. In 1965, after running the Adventure Unlimited Ranches for several years they built an infrastructure to support local community based activities, called the Chapter or Field Program.
After the first local Chapter activity was launched in Barrington, IL, Chapters around the country spread to over 120 communities. In addition, regional and national activities for Christian Science young people, their families and friends are held across the United States and in a few other countries.
DiscoveryBound
 With financial support and encouragement from The Daycroft School Foundation and recognizing that several other organizations share our mission of service to young Christian Scientists, A/U proactively reached out to The Principia, The Cedars Camps, Crystal Lake Camps, Leelanau-Kohahna, Newfound-Owatonna and Camp Bow-Isle in an effort to work even more closely together to provide year-round support for young our Christian Science youth.
Each of these organizations is led by inspired, dedicated staff and volunteers, and offers unique learning environments and programs to support youth. It is our sincere hope that by working more closely together and optimizing the strengths of these different organizations, we (all of us) can have an even broader impact on the lives of young Christian Scientists.
With this in mind, we have changed the name of A/U's year-round Chapter-based Field Programs to DiscoveryBound. This new name enables more young people, regardless of camp or school affiliation, to feel welcome and included in local, regional and national activities.
Structure and Outreach
DiscoveryBound employs a small staff to oversee its nationwide youth and family activities. This group consists  of full-time employees in our Greenwood Village office and full/part-time regional Field Directors in various regions around the country.
The staff is there to support, strengthen and build local Chapters around the country. These individual, volunteer-run Chapters provide activities for Christian Scientists and their friends, in and around their communities and have autonomy in selecting activities for their area in accordance with the DiscoveryBound purpose.
In addition, the DiscoveryBound staff also plans and coordinates Regional, National and International events to unite Chapters and individual Christian Scientists for spiritual growth, fun and fellowship. These events take place in different places around the country and abroad, including the various Christian Science camps and facilities.
DiscoveryBound is designed as an outreach program where non-Science friends are encouraged to participate.
Chapter Programs
A DiscoveryBound Chapter is a group of Christian Scientists, of all ages, which has an authorized Charter from the A/U Board of Trustees, to conduct activities which promote the purpose of DiscoveryBound in their local area. Each Chapter determines and serves the specific needs of its community.
Chapters are run by volunteer adult boards and teen councils, and are responsible for organizing local activities.
A Chapter may choose to have activities for one, a combination, or all of the following:
Grade school students
Middle school students
High school students
Young adults
Adults and/or
Families.
Regional Activities
Regional activities are programs sponsored by more than one Chapter, often with design and production support from the DiscoveryBound full-time staff. These events are generally longer than a normal Chapter activity and span a weekend. Activities usually take on a recreational, social, service or educational theme.
Regionals are designed to bring together a wider audience, as participants have the opportunity to meet others not only from their respective Chapter but also individuals from around a larger geographic area.
National and International Events
National events, like Regional activities provide teens and adults an opportunity to interact with individuals from around the country and world. These mostly, extended weekend programs include training conferences, recreational weekends, and travel programs.
Past programs have included biennial teen leadership conferences, trips to visit The Mother Church Center and other historical sites of Boston, adult Chapter Worker training conferences, and an annual Colorado Winter Weekend including skiing/boarding and other winter activities.
DiscoveryBound also offers international travel opportunities for teens to experience and grow spiritually by traveling abroad. In the past these trips have taken students to multiple countries in Europe and to join our contingent in Australia.
Our Strategic Vision
Our vision is to develop a sustainable program that will reach the entire Christian Science community by providing year-round programming in local communities and abroad. To do this we plan to work closely with other secular Christian Science organizations to strengthen our base audience. Our goal is to establish more active and affiliate Chapters across the United States. We also plan to extend our work beyond the States to include Canada, England and more of Australia.
We plan to accomplish this by providing increased support to Chapter workers and Chapter development; as well as continue to provide various regional and national events. |
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