Category: The Network
Let’s Think About Dreams: Extravaganza 2024
Every Extravaganza has a theme. A theme gives direction and guidance to the planing team. A theme gives context for participants. And a theme gives space for the Holy Spirit to work within us…to move us together. Because we can cover great distance when we travel together. The theme for Extravaganza 2024 is “Dream”. Every ...
Holy Curiosity
In the movie “Jerry McGuire,” the title character, played by Tom Cruise, says at one point “We live in a cynical world.” It was a moment of deep truth in an otherwise funny but pretty forgettable movie. We live in a cynical world. We all see it. Everyday. All around us. In our community, I ...
ELCA and the Network Receive Lilly Grant for Faith Formation
CHICAGO (Jan. 18, 2023) — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), partnered with the ELCA Youth Ministry Network, has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Formation Lab Project. The goal of the project is to help congregations move past prescriptive, outdated models of youth ministry that often separate ...
We Welcome Alyssa Engedal to the Network Team
The Network is excited to welcome Alyssa Engedal to the Network leadership team. This Fall, Alyssa will begin serving as the Network’s finance director. Alyssa currently serves as the Faith Formation Minister at Immanuel Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In that role, Alyssa provides leadership for ministries with children, youth and ...
Introducing: Oasis
Hello Network! Members of the Network community are invited to come together for “Oasis: A Place Between” on November 10. Oasis is a digital webinar and a time of learning and connection that is designed for both volunteers and professionals who work in children, youth and family ministry. And for members of the Network at ...
The Network is Hiring!
Hello friends! The Network is searching for an individual who can take on the role of Financial Director for our organization. We need to fill this position because our current Financial Director, Debbie Clipson, is retiring. (There will be more about her retirement, and our deep gratitude to her in an upcoming blog post, when ...
Network Membership Pricing Changes
Hello friends! I hope your summer is off to a great start and that mixed in with VBS, mission trips, camp, campfires, worship and “all the things,” you also get a chance for some rest and re-creation. The last two+ years have been…something…and taking an opportunity to breathe and rest is a critical part of ...
Giving Things Away
Recently, I had a conversation with someone who had just joined the Network. They had called with a couple of questions about how to access some of the Network resources. In the course of our conversation, they told me (a few different times) how excited they were to be a part of this community. I ...
Reflections on Extravaganza 2022 Evaluations
Hello Network friends, We have completed compiling and analyzing the evaluations from Extravaganza 2022, held in early February in Minneapolis and online. First, I want to thank all of you who took the time to fill out an evaluation form. We had an good rate of return on these evaluations. In 2022, there were a ...
The 2022 Tom Hunstad Award Recipient: Rev. Regina Goodrich!
by Rev. Dan Fugate; Chairperson of the Network Board of Directors The recipient of the 2022 Thomas Hunstad Award is so accomplished and has provided so much leadership in the church in general and in the area of children, youth, and family ministry in general, that we have a hard time trying to choose what ...
Network is a Verb 