wfn.org | ELCA Convenes Summit on Youth and Young Adults

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 25, 1999

ELCA CONVENES SUMMIT ON YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS
99-07-40-MR

     ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), who are committed to supporting and nurturing the
Christian faith lives of children and young adults, gathered for the
third annual "ELCA Summit on Youth" here Feb. 5-8.
     The summit brought together 770 young people, professional youth
workers, clergy and leaders from camps, colleges, seminaries and social
service agencies under the theme "Strengthening Our Church for the 21st
Century."  Board members of the ELCA Lutheran Youth Organization and the
ELCA Council of Synod Lutheran Youth Organization Presidents also took
part in the summit.
     "You are the fulfillment of a dream that started two years ago,
when the ELCA decided that one of the seven most important things for it
to do right now was to connect with youth and young adults," said the
Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA.  Anderson was the
summit moderator.
     "This youth summit has been designed 'to create the space' where
the body of Jesus Christ will come together, where we can celebrate what
we are doing well, where we can integrate what we are doing so that each
of our ministries can strengthen everyone else's, and where we can
activate the involvement of every young person in the life of the
church," he said.
     The greatest achievement of the summit, Anderson said, was to
develop some simple, practical ways to keep young people involved in the
church as they move through their high school years into adulthood.
     "We will lose half of our [young people] who are already in [the
church] by the time they are 25 years old, and we could certainly do
better with those who do not yet know that Jesus loves them," he said.
     "Connecting with Youth and Young Adults" is one of seven ELCA
"Initiatives for a New Century."  The Initiatives represent significant
areas of the church's ministry.
     Terry L. Bowes, Longmont, Colo., led Bible studies at the summit.
Bowes coordinates the ELCA's "Help the Children" Initiative team.
     "Lutheran young people are not the future of the church.  They are
the church in the present, the now," said Bowes.  "God loves and needs
young people."
     The summit featured keynote presenters, music, workshops, caucuses
and worship.  Workshop topics ranged from faith formation in the youth
culture to family ministries.
     Amy Hartman, a resource staff member of "Alliance for Speaking
Truths on Prostitution" (A-STOP), led a workshop on youth and the sex
industry.
     "The average age of entry into prostitution is 14," said Hartman.
"Prostitution is about the recruitment of people by clever adults.  It
is about abuse, violence and exploitation.  It is one person's body
being sold for the gratification of another."
     "Wise as Serpents," a video resource for developing street-smart
children, was featured in the workshop.
     A-STOP is an organization that "speaks out about the exploitation
of the sex industry in the Minneapolis area and other parts of the
nation," said Hartman.  The organization was founded in 1990 by the Rev.
Alvin S. Erickson, an ELCA pastor from Minneapolis.  Erickson is
director for A-STOP.
     Keynote presenters included the Rev. Roland D. Martinson,
professor of pastoral care and ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minn.; the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the South Dakota
Synod, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and the Rev. Dennis "Tiger" McLuen, executive
director of the Youth Ministry Leadership Center for Youth and Family
Ministry, Minneapolis.
     "About 15,000 kids came to my courthouse last year.  That is an
unacceptable number," said Chief Presiding Judge Glenda Hatchett,
Juvenile Court of Fulton County, Georgia.  "We have got to figure out
what faith has given us and put that into action in our communities."
Hatchett was a keynote presenter.
     "We have got to be in the business of reclamation -- calling our
children 'sons and daughters' and claiming them as our children.  We not
only have to be in the business of reclamation but in the important
business of keeping promises to this generation of children," she said.
     "We have to ask leaders of this country hard questions, such as:
How do we keep semi-automatic guns out of the hands of children and
fools.  We need to get this insidious poison outside of our
communities," Hatchett said.
     "Agape is the love of God operating in the human heart," said 
22-year-old David Scherer, a senior at Gustavus Adolphus College, St.
Peter, Minn.
     Scherer is a communications major and speaks fluent Spanish.  He
blends his studies and cross-cultural experience to create a 'hip-hop'
music ministry.
     "Hip-hop music is the voice of young people.  It is our
conversation," he said.  Throughout his keynote presentation, Scherer
took Bible verses and set them to "Hip hop" rhythms and dance.
     A focal point of the summit highlighted the annual meetings of the
ELCA Youth Ministry Network -- an organization that brings together
youth ministry professionals from ELCA congregations -- and the ELCA
Council of Synod Lutheran Youth Organization Presidents (CSLYOPS).
     "The church is made up of all different kinds of people with one
goal -- Jesus Christ," said Rafael Malpica, Living Waters Lutheran
Church, Lake in the Hills, Ill.  "The family of God is for everyone and
young people must communicate that message.  If not, who is?"  Malpica,
a junior in high school, is president of the Lutheran Youth Organization
(LYO) for the ELCA's Northern Illinois Synod.
     Members of CSLYOPS developed a list of concerns about ELCA youth
ministries.
     "In our congregations adults are not always supportive of youth
activities," said Natalie Frollick, Kinsman Lutheran Church, Spring,
Texas.  "We feel that is condescending and limits our abilities to be
creative."  Frollick is LYO president of the ELCA's Texas-Louisiana Gulf
Coast Synod, Houston.
     CSLYOPS cited their disappointment with stereotypes and
discrimination of youth, lack of communication and respect, being a
Christian in a non-Christian world and the lack of participation and
excitement about church from other young people.  Members of CSLYOPS
plan to share their concerns "with adults in their task of empowering
youth."
     Peter Benson, director for the Search Institute, Minneapolis,
closed the summit with a focus on the critical significance of "assets"
for the ministry of the church and the faith formation of young people.
The Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization that
contributes to the knowledge base of youth development and translates
research on children into practical ideas, services and resources for
families, churches and other communities.
     Most people recognize that influences such as caring, families,
educational commitments, social skills and other assets are important
for healthy development.  Yet our society doesn't seem to know how to
make sure young people experience and develop these things, he said.
     "This is a society where the developmental structure is eroding
for young people," said Benson.
     The summit was organized by the ELCA Youth Ministry Network and
youth ministries of the ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries.
The network's purpose is to "promote and encourage the ministry and
well-being of ELCA youth workers."  The Rev. Thomas A. Hunstad, Westwood
Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, serves as president of the network.
     Youth Ministries of the ELCA's Division for Congregational
Ministries works in alliance with the ELCA's 65 synods and 11,000
congregations to provide resources and programs "so that youth might be
empowered to live out their Christian faith as leaders."
     The summit was funded in part by Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal
benefit society, Minneapolis.
     The fourth annual summit on youth will take place Feb. 3-7, 2000
in St. Louis. 
     The national ELCA Youth Gathering will take place June 28-July 2
and July 5-9, 2000, in St. Louis.  The Gathering will bring together
45,000 high-school aged people under the theme "Dancing at the
Crossroads."  Young people attending the Gathering will have an
opportunity to learn about faith through Bible study, worship in mass
gatherings at the TWA Dome, participate in structured learning
activities, interact through "hotel life" experiences and perform a
variety of community service projects.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html