wfn.org | ELCA Youth Meet ELCA Bishops At Gathering

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 18, 2003

ELCA Youth Meet ELCA Bishops At Gathering
03-YG-05-JB

     ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Teenagers and bishops of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met together in small groups
here to discuss a variety of spiritual, social and church issues.
Their session called, "Get It Off Your Chest," is part of the
Learning Village here at the ELCA Youth Gathering.
     The ELCA Youth Gathering is meeting July 16-20 and July 23-
27 at the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center.  The
two events bring together some 40,000 high-school-age and adult
Lutherans from across the country and around the world to
participate in worship, community service, Bible study and fun.
     "They asked questions such as, 'What do we do about worship?
We want to be involved, but we don't feel there's a place for
us,'" said the Rev. Kari A.S. Brendefur, King of Glory Lutheran
Church, Boise, Idaho.  Brendefur volunteered to coordinate the
youth and bishops' Learning Village sessions.  The ELCA has 65
synods across the country and Caribbean, each headed by a bishop.
     Youth asked questions about their place in "aging
congregations," where to attend college, sacraments and issues
such as human sexuality.  "Some kids have come in asking for
prayer," she said.
     "I've been surprised not only with their questions but also
with their insights," Brendefur said.  "The bishops have been
very good about inviting conversation with the youth rather than
just talking at them."
     Youth have articulated their faith in "deep and inspiring
ways," she said.  Hearing the youth interact with the bishops has
given Brendefur "great hope for the church," she said.
     "It is really a lot of fun to hear about their
congregations," said the Rev. Gerald L. Mansholt, bishop of the
ELCA Central States Synods, Kansas City, Mo.  "This reaffirms the
call to be attentive to our youth.  A primary posture of youth
ministry is to listen to our youth."
     While the questions that youth are asking bishops may
involve social issues in the world and the church, most of the
initial questions are about spirituality, said the Rev. Andrea
DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the ELCA South Dakota Synod, Sioux
Falls.
     "I'm hearing questions about spiritual life, questions about
scripture and how to understand it," she said.	"I hear questions
about call (to ministry) and what does God want me to do with my
life."
     The kind of questions and conversations the bishops are
having with youth is not surprising, said DeGroot-Nesdahl.
     "My experience with young people is that this kind of depth
and 'groundedness' is not surprising at all," she said.  "This is
exactly the foundation on which our church will blossom and grow,
spiritually and in terms of vision and strategy about how we
carry out programs that are mission-focused."
     When DeGroot-Nesdahl was younger, women could not be pastors
in the Lutheran church.  When women were able to enter the
ordained ministry more than 30 years ago, she recalled the
pastors and other adults who guided her.  "All contributed to a
sense of call," she said.  "When the church said, 'We will ordain
women,' I was able and ready to say that I think that's the route
God is calling me to."
     She added that youth events, such as the ELCA Youth
Gathering, have always "been opportunities to fill my cup."

Information from the ELCA Youth Gathering can be found at
http://www.elca.org/gathering/home.html on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news