Tag: ELCA
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 The goal of the project is to help congregations move past prescriptive, outdated models of youth ministry that often separate ...
New ELCA Recommendations on How and How Long We Keep Our Data
Hello friends, Last week, a Network member posted in our Facebook group that they had noticed new recommendations from the ELCA about how long congregations retain registration data about events with children and youth. These recommendations had been updated in May of 2021. You can see the document that lists these recommendations here. The new ...
Gathering Transitions: Thank You to Molly Beck Dean
Dear friends, At this year’s Extravaganza, ELCA staff members and many of the team leaders from the ELCA Youth Gathering were present to talk about the cancellation of the 2022 Gathering and the transition to the 2024 Youth Gathering. And at this event, Deacon Tammy Jones West was introduced as the new Interim Director of the ...
What the Gathering’s Cancellation Means
Hello friends, By now, you have probably seen the notification from the ELCA Youth Gathering, letting the community know that the 2022 Youth Gathering in Minneapolis will not take place. Instead, the Gathering leadership will pivot and begin working on the 2024 event. We want to let you know that the 2022 Extravaganza, scheduled for ...
Reflections on Extravaganza 2021 Evaluations
Hello friends! I hope you’re well and that your Lenten season is one of reflection, peace and grace. After the Extravaganza, over 300 of you took a few minutes to fill out the event evaluation form to let us know what your experience was like. Thank you to all who filled out the evaluations. We ...
Helping Young Adults Find Their Place
Our friends and partners from the Lutheran Outdoor Ministry Network have developed an amazing new online tool, a mobile app, to help our young adults locate an outdoor ministry site where they might want to serve in the summers. The impact of outdoor ministry on the lives of our young people is powerful. A week ...
An Extravaganza Update: Moving to Online Only
Dear friends, I want to give you a quick update on Extravaganza 2021. We find ourselves having to “live into” our theme of “Holding Loosely” as we do our planning. We have made the difficult decision to cancel the “in person” portion of the event at the Hilton in Minneapolis and instead focus all of ...
The Network Releases Statement on Race, Inclusion and Ministry
Note: Over the last two months, the Network Board of Directors has engaged in deep listening and conversation around issues of race, justice and inclusivity. While these conversations have been a part of the board’s agenda for years, the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd, and the subsequent events and conversations, increased our focus ...
An Update from this Week’s Board Meeting
Dear Network friends, The ELCA Youth Ministry Network’s Board of Directors met this week for its regular spring meeting and had good conversation and made some important decisions in the life of the Network that I wanted to share with you. The meeting was originally scheduled to happen at the ELCA offices in Chicago. Because ...
The Holy Spirit is Apparently “Boundless”
Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. When “coincidences” like this happen, my eyes widen a bit, and then I catch my breath and realize that the Holy Spirit is at work. Let me start at the beginning: So 3 years ago, the Extravaganza team leaders were together for their regular March meeting to ...
Network is a Verb 