By Danielle Beneteau and Tera Michelson
Last month, you sent us to the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. Held each year, the event’s goals are to renew, educate, and connect the leaders of children, youth, and family ministries at ELCA congregations around the country. The four-day conference crammed every waking minute with learning, collaboration and worship. The theme of this year’s Extravaganza was Disrupt, centered around the life and ministry of Moses.
We met God there in the 600 eager faces of youth leaders of all ages from all places, in the sharing of ideas and frustrations, successes and failures. It renewed us with possibilities and hope, educated us with wise words from youth ministry experts and connected us with other people like us—people that love Jesus and kids and are called by God to serve children, youth, and families. The 2019 Extravaganza did not disappoint. God showed up in big ways!
We share here our Top Three Takeaways, so you can feel like you were there with us.
- Youth and their families are busy.
You already knew this one, didn’t you? Calendars and inboxes are full, gas tanks and refrigerators are empty. Our on-the-go families require youth ministry to be relevant and accessible. Today’s effective faith formation might not look like what you expect. You may see more hands-on activities, small group projects, online connections and at-home experiences. Each LOL family is different, and we must embrace and applaud how that shapes our church and informs how we lead God’s work in the world.
- Youth Ministry takes a village.
Youth Ministry is all about relationships. It is at its finest when every church member takes on the challenge to engage its young people. All adults have what it takes to be youth leaders. Our youth are asking us to be the three A’s: authentic, available, and affirming. It’s the little things that make a big impact:
- greet youth by name and with joy
- carve out time to talk with youth in the pews or halls
- share your stories
- ask them questions
- encourage their gifts, skills, and personalities
- invite youth to participate in your favorite ministry area
- pray for our students by name
- Disruptions can be good for us.
Our lives are full of disruptions. We tend to think of them as negative, chaos-causing disturbances that interrupt, confuse, and play havoc with our lives. Disruptions command our attention. We disrupted our regularly-scheduled January to attend this conference. (Just ask our families—it certainly was a disruption to be missing two active moms!) This event challenged us to view disruptions as times when God breaks through our norm and connects with us in a new way. The challenges of Youth Ministry are disruptive opportunities that lead us to evaluate, refocus, and adjust. Even in the chaos, sometimes especially in the chaos, God shows up.
Thank you for disrupting our lives with this event and the privilege of serving alongside LOL’s youth and families on a journey of faith.
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