wfn.org | ELCA Connects with Youth and Young Adults on www.SOULFUEL.ORG

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 13, 1999

ELCA CONNECTS WITH YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS ON www.SOULFUEL.ORG
99-313-JR**

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Youth and young adults of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are launching www.soulfuel.org -- a
Web site dedicated to provide faith resources for 18- to 32- year-olds.
     "Soulfuel is a place where youth and young adults can explore
their faith questions, pain, gifts, pursuits and triumphs, and it is a
place to be real with one another before God and before each other,"
said Desiree Quintana, project coordinator. Quintana is chair of
"Connect with Youth and Young Adults," one of seven ELCA "Initiatives to
Prepare for a New Century," significant areas of ministry for the 21st
century.
     Quintana said the Web site has three goals.  The first is to
provide resources to help young Christians live out their faith in day-to-day situations, she said.  That feature of the Web site is called
"Faith in Daily life."
     The second goal is to publish an online magazine called, "The
Well: A Place of Living Water."  The magazine will feature Bible study
and "first-hand stories of God's love and lessons in individual lives,"
said Quintana.  The first issue will be available in February 2000.
     The third goal of the Web site is to provide resources for youth
and young adults who are looking for service and volunteer opportunities
in their communities.
     "The Web site is an important step for the future of young people
in the ELCA," said Quintana.  "We must honor the angst, joy and
spiritual exploration of young people, because that is how young people
live and seek community every day.  We must remember who we are, how we
began and how we are both matter and divinity.  We must recognize that
the secular world is attempting to offer our community of young people
popsicle-stick-support in a world of ever-changing moral reality," she
said.
     Content for www.soulfuel.org is being developed by youth, young
adults and "those who wish directly to impact youth and young adults in
the ELCA and ecumenically," Quintana said.  She said suggestions,
submissions and questions can be sent via electronic-mail to
www.soulfuel@yahoo.com.

[**Jonathan Rietz, Tulsa, Okla., is communication coordinator for the
"Connect with Youth and Young Adults" ELCA initiative.]

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html