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SALLT: Stories, Service Learning & StatisticsUnlimited MissionsCalendar of Youth Ministry Events & ProgramsMuch more...

Journal of Youth & Family Ministry

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ELCAYouth

GatheringJuly 22-26, 2009

New Orleans, LA

This is more than a service project. It is learning how Jesus calls us

to service as a way of life.

Registration opens September 15, 2008www.elca.org/gathering

CHOOSE NOW to make the ELCA Youth Gathering your congregation’s mission experience in 2009.

IMAGINE what 36,000 young people and adults can do together for the sake of long-term Gulf Coast recovery.

Contribute to the RECOVERY in New Orleans while practicing Jesus’ model of accompaniment.

Publication InformationPublished by: ELCA Youth Ministry Network www.elcaymnet.org

Subscription Information: call 866-ELCANET (352-2638) or visit www.elcaymnet.org connect@elcaymnet.org

Contributing Writers: Randy Brandt, Todd Buegler, Dave Ellingson, Heidi Hagstrom, Mark Jackson, Sunitha Mortha, John Potts, Debbie Sladek

Design and Layout: Impression Media Group www.impressionmediagroup.com

Copy Editor: Debbie Sladek

Connect Editorial Board: Rod Boriack, Todd Buegler, Anna Mercedes, Andy Root, Debbie Sladek, Michael Sladek, Rozella Poston

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network exists to strengthen and empower adult youth ministry leaders in service to Christ as a part of God’s mission.

Molly Beck-Dean: Board ChairpersonJeff May: Board MemberRev. Beverly Conway: Board MemberRev. Dave Ellingson: Board ChaplainRev. Dr. Nathan Frambach: Board Member

Charlene Rollins: Board MemberYvonne Steindal: Board MemberRev. Larry Wagner: Board MemberBill Bixby: ELCA Youth & Family MinistryTodd Buegler: Executive Director

Baptismal (November ‘08)Grounded (February ‘09)

Excellence (May ‘09)Welcoming (August ‘09)

Welcome! 4

SALLT: Stories, Service Learning and Statistics 5

Unlimited Missions 8

Short-Term Mission Trips 10

Servant Transformation: A Parent’s Perspective 11

Have a Heart Transplant: Bible Study 12

On The Way 14

Calendar of Events 17

Table of Contents

ELCA Youth Ministry Network Board

Future Connect Themes:

RENEW | EDUCATE | CONNECT

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Dear friends,

As I write this, I am sitting on our church bus somewhere in central Illinois. It is the final day of a twelve-day mission trip. We’re on our way home to Maple Grove, Minnesota from Macon, Georgia. Our group of twenty-six young people and adult leaders just spent a week in Macon working with their Habitat for Humanity chapter (where we had a great experience… I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a place to serve!) followed by a couple of days camping in Smokey Mountain National Park to celebrate.

So now we’re on the bus. One of our stellar volunteers is driving; pretty much the entire group is asleep except for the two in the group who never seem to sleep, but who are plugged in to their iPods, and are definitely jamming in their own worlds. Soon, they will awaken, and it might be a full-bus game of Uno, a pillow fight, or a set of practical jokes that will break out.

We’ve been on the road… we’re tired and unwashed… we are maybe a day or two from the interior of the bus being declared a Federal Hazmat site.

You know what this is like. You’ve done this before.

So as I look back on these young people, whom I have come to know and love over the past twelve days, I have to ask myself a question: “Did it make any difference?”

I know our experience was fun. I know that it was meaningful for our young people (the race to put up photos tomorrow on Facebook sites will attest to that.) And the seniors are talking with regret about this being their last “full” mission trip, and the sophomores and juniors are pledging to each other that they will be back next year. By all obvious accounts, it was a success.

But did it make a difference? Was this trip transformational? Did it change lives, both in Macon and within our group? In a truly relational experience with the Habitat chapter and the homeowner families, the transformation must be reciprocal.

So did this trip make a difference? Did it form faith? Did it transform families? Did it affect those whose lives intersected with ours? If so, how? Did young people catch a glimpse of the living Christ in their experience, in their community? Were they able to sense what God was doing? Or was it all lost in the laughter and the practical jokes that tend to accompany our trips?

How do we know?

In this issue, we wanted to take on “Spiritual Formation.” Mission trips have been a staple of the youth and family ministry diet for the last twenty years or so. But how do we know if what we have been up to has been a “service project” or the work of “servant formation”? And what is the distinction? Both are valuable, but the latter seems to be more aligned with the values we hold as critical. And the timing of this issue is not accidental. We know that not everyone reading this will be participating in the ELCA Youth Gathering. But we can’t ignore that next summer, some 40,000 ELCA young people are going to land on the City of New Orleans to experience face-to-face, hand-in-hand service through the new design of the Gathering. We need to be thinking about and planning for the experience of these young people.

We won’t pretend to have all of the answers in this issue. No. But we do want to tackle the questions. And we invite your response, by e-mail or on the web (www.elcaymnet.org). There is much wisdom in our community. It is one of the ways God works. Let’s harness that together.

Networked in Christ,

Rev. Todd BueglerExecutive Director – ELCA Youth Ministry Network

Pastor, Lord of Life Lutheran Church; Maple Grove, MN

Welcome!

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SALLT: Stories, Service Learning and Statisticsby Dave Ellingson & Mark Jackson

StoriesI (Dave) can still remember vividly the Sunday afternoon when my

father told us we were going to do a service project. My sister (age nine) and I (age ten) would much rather have gone to play in the woods behind our house. Instead, we piled into the car and drove to a former army base in New Jersey that was being used to house refugees fleeing Hungary after Russia’s invasion.

My lack of enthusiasm was magnified by the sight of long lines of people waiting to receive food and clothing. My dad, who worked for the American Bible Society, had procured hundreds of Hungarian Bibles for us to pass out at the end of the line. As I surveyed the crowd, my mother told me the only clothes and possessions these refugees had they were either wearing or carrying with them. My reticence and fear quickly subsided as I began my service. Despite the obvious language barrier, I discovered that the simple gift of a Bible brought an instantaneous response: An old grandmother in a black overcoat eagerly reached out her ancient hands, receiving the gift as tears flowed down her wrinkled face. A small boy hugged the Bible to his chest like a lifesaver. Person after person responded with joy evidenced in smiles, tears, handshakes, and embraces.

One particular encounter stands out these many years later. As one young man approached to receive his Bible, a generous smile revealed a sparkling gold tooth. In halting English, the man looked me in the eye and said, “God bless you!” Fifty years later, I remem-ber the encounter as if it were yesterday. That afternoon I learned a lesson that I have never forgotten: God can use each of us to be a blessing to others, and in the process we are blessed in return.

I suspect that each person reading this article could tell similar, powerful stories about the role of service in their lives. The service may have been vivid and dramatic, such as building a house with Habitat for Humanity, or it may have been quiet and anonymous like listening to a lonely, older person at a nursing home. It may have occurred on a mission trip to another part of the world, or it might have happened in a simple act of care for a neighbor. Whether big or small, dramatic or simple, international or local, service has trans-forming power. Jesus reminded his disciples the most important commandments are to “love God” and “love your neighbor” (Mark 12:28-31). We love and experience God when we serve our neighbor who is hungry, in prison, naked, or thirsty. Jesus said, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these… you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

We bless others with God’s love and are blessed with God’s pres-ence through acts of service. They are not optional, but are at the very heart of Christian life and faith. James puts it bluntly: “Faith

without works is dead” (James 2:26). So, service is the fruit of a lively faith and when we serve, we grow in our faith and are trans-formed into the likeness of Christ! The circle of love is complete as we love others “because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19)

The SALLT Project and Service LearningIn 2004, Thrivent Financial for

Lutherans introduced the Youth Leadership Initiative: Developing Youth Leaders Through Service Learning grant program. Awards

were made to camps, colleges, and organizations to develop serv-ing learning partnership programs and to expand service learning opportunities in faith communities. Trinity Lutheran College, in cooperation with Lutherwood Camp & Retreat Center and several Seattle-area ministry organizations, received a grant to develop the Service And Learning Leadership Team (SALLT) Project.

We knew the stories of how transformative service can be in the lives of young people, yet we also noticed that service experiences can be “mountain-top” experiences, often superficial or short-lived. The SALLT Project seeks to discover WHY service learning is power-ful, WHAT the intended outcomes are, and HOW service learning can be used effectively in planning service experiences.

Research suggests the greater the intentionality of the service learning process, the deeper and more long-lasting the results or outcomes. Accordingly, the SALLT Project named four distinct components necessary for intentional service learning: preparation, action, reflection, and celebration1.

Reading ScriptureWhen one reads the Bible through the lens of service, story after

story illustrates this basic Christian teaching. The scriptures

become a kind of “service manual” for the people of God.

• What biblical stories come to mind when you think

of service?

• What stories of service have had an impact on your

faith life?

• In what ways did service transform and grow your faith?

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Preparation: Preparation often focuses on the logistics of raising money, gathering supplies, and making travel arrangements. However, good preparation includes an effort to build community, share expectations, acquire skills that will be needed in the service experience, learn about a culture the group will be working among, or “listen” to the needs of a community to learn what type of as-sistance or support is actually needed (versus imposing our own expectations).

Action: Most attention is typically placed on the “action” of serving, and certainly we know that youth learn most by what they do and experience, not by what they simply hear or see. Therefore, our service must be meaningful and engaging. Leaders must also caution themselves against evaluating activities on only what is visible and measurable (building, cleaning, feeding) and neglecting less quantifiable but deeply meaningful activities (listening, playing, observing). A good reminder: youth often learn and grow when they are involved in activities that move beyond their comfort zones.

Reflection: Often overlooked or delayed, the reflection stage has been called the “linchpin” of the service learning process, because it is through critical reflection that individuals create meaning and gain new knowledge from their experiences. In look-ing back, thinking over, and sharing about experiences, youth begin to see the connections, often in “Ah-ha!” moments when suddenly “it all makes sense.” Reflection can happen in a variety of creative ways, including small group discussions, art, dance, journaling, and story telling.

Celebration: This step ties together preparation, action, and reflection. It is the juncture where youth look back to see what has happened and also look ahead to what might happen. It is a time of worship, because we recognize and rejoice in the ways God has called us to serve, guided our serving, has been present in the lives of those with whom we have served, and challenges us to continue to live a life of service.

Where does this process lead? What actually happens when we serve? How are our lives transformed? The SALLT Project has identi-fied six distinct outcomes of the service learning process: compas-sion, community, advocacy, lifelong servanthood, leadership, and exploration of vocation.

Compassion: Serving involves coming alongside of our neigh-bors and in that closeness we begin to see, sense, feel, and experi-ence “the other.” Service learning seeks to develop young people who hold a deep and hopeful sense of compassion for the world and God’s people.

Community: When we serve, we experience a deepened sense of community in our youth group as we prepare, act, reflect, and celebrate. Acquaintances become friends, and equally important is the community created with those we serve as we become a part of each other’s lives.

Advocacy: Often our limited help doesn’t address underlying social problems. For example: We feed, but people are still hungry. Through service learning, youth begin to ask the deeper, tougher “why?” questions, probing the root causes of homelessness, hunger, poverty, environmental destruction, etc.

Lifelong Servanthood: The Christian life involves a call to lifelong servanthood; it is a basic practice of faith that calls us to repeated and frequent displays of service, no matter the size of the task, context, amount of preparation, or recognition received. The more a young person “practices” service, the more it becomes a regular part of their daily life in the years to come.

Leadership: As young people actively serve, they grow in their sense of how they can make a difference in the world and how they can be leaders among their peers and in their churches and com-munities. Service invites a variety of gifts to be used and shared, giving youth confidence in their ability to become servant leaders. Adults take an important role in presenting leadership opportunities for youth and provide a steady measure of support.

Exploration of Vocation: Theologian Frederick Buechner said, “Vocation is where the world’s greatest need and a person’s greatest joy meet.” Service learning provides a vocational “learning labora-tory” where young people experiment with how their gifts, passions, and values intersect with the world’s most pressing needs. As youth live out their faith in daily life, they see opportunities to apply their Christian beliefs and values in homes, families, communities, churches, and the workplace.

Service Learning Statistics: Jesus, Justice, JazzRecognizing the dynamic power of service in the faith develop-

ment of young people, the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans will incorporate a major service component. Under the theme “Jesus, Justice, Jazz,” 36,000 youth and adults will serve in a

Get InvolvedIf you are interested in being a part of this research project,

contact Dr. David Ellingson at Trinity Lutheran College, (800)

843-5659 or ellingson@tlc.edu. Training for participating congre-

gations will begin with an Intensive Care Workshop prior to the

2009 ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza in New Orleans.

The SALLT Project also invites you to share your service learning

stories on our website: (www.sallt.org) and to participate in our

research to further document the power of service in the faith

development of young people.

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Rev. Dr. David Ellingson, coordinator of the

Service And Learning Leadership Team (SALLT) Project,

is Professor of Children, Youth & Family Studies at

Trinity Lutheran College, near Seattle, Wash. He

teaches courses in youth and family ministry, human

development, justice issues, and youth spirituality.

Prior to joining Trinity, he served as regional coordinator of youth and family

ministries for ELCA Region 1.

Mark Jackson serves as Professor and Depart-

ment Chair for Children, Youth & Family Studies at

Trinity Lutheran College. He teaches courses in youth

and family ministry, Christian education, program

planning, and organization administration. One of

his current study interests involves the role of service

learning and mission experiences in a comprehensive congregational youth

ministry program.

variety of capacities for three days, in the Gulf Coast communities as they continue to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Many elements of the SALLT Project’s service learning process will be used by the Gathering to enhance and enrich the experience of Gathering participants. It is the hope of Gathering planners that the event will bless the New Orleans community. It is a further hope that participants will be blessed in the service learning experience and carry that spirit back to their congregations and communities.

The SALLT Project is partnering with the Gathering in a research project to document, with statistics, the outcomes of service learn-ing. With little statistical evidence of service learning among youth in community- and faith-based organizations, the Gathering will provide a wonderful opportunity to gather information to determine the actual effects of service learning on youth, in both the short-term and the long-term.

In cooperation with ELCA Research and Evaluation Unit, the SALLT Project will also work with approximately twenty congregations and 250 youth over several years to measure the impact of the service learning process over time. Training for these congregations will begin at the 2009 ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza in New Orleans, followed by participation in the ELCA Youth Gathering, and continuing for approximately five years following the event as youth and their congregations continue service experiences in their local communities.

1. Other researchers and organizations have given different names to the stages of the service learning and/or experiential learning process. Among them: preparation, action, reflection (Maryland Department of Education); preparation, action, reflection, recognition (Search Institute/Vision Associates); preparation, meaningful service, structured reflection, recognition (Kentucky Learn and Serve Project); and concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualiza-tion, active experimentation (David Kolb).

A mission trip—the “old” way:Step 1: Buy tools. Rent a van.

Step 2: Build houses in Mexico.

Step 3: Show supporters a slide show. Serve tacos.

A mission trip—using the Service Learning process:Step 1: Learn about Latino culture, including some Spanish phrases.

Step 2: Engage in community building with those going on the trip.

Step 3: Build houses. Study God’s word about serving others.

Step 4: On the trip and once home, talk about poverty and housing

issues… and how we are called to advocate for the poor.

Step 5: Write a song, paint a picture, produce a video, create poetry.

Step 6: Plan a worship service for the college group. Tell stories.

Step 7: Consider your group’s next service opportunity.

Example of Using Service LearningImagine twenty teenagers traveling to Mexico to build two new homes for migrant worker families.

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Unlimited text messaging. Who would have thought of it? That we would live in a day and time that one of the most important values that one can place on deciding on their cell phone plan is if they can get unlimited text messaging. This should not be surprising to any of us.

God’s words are very much like unlimited text messages: the messages never stop. God’s desire, according to Zechariah 7:9: “Show mercy and compassion to one another”. Another one of those unlimited messages is John 13:34: “Love one another”.

Each summer, I have the privilege of watching God’s unlimited messages being carried out. My hope and prayer is that it would con-tinue beyond a week of mission and/or service. I hope that we would never grow tired of doing good for the glory and honor of God.

Summer missions are a great experience for the purpose of discipleship of youth. They are able to integrate their lives with God’s unlimited words of love and mercy. They may ponder and pray and think about how God’s call to us to love might really mean something.

My hope is to give you some ideas to ponder and to spark thoughts about how you can use mission and service to further the theme of God’s unlimited text message.

Before you go on your trip, I would encourage you to start plan-ning what service and mission will look like after the trip.

Start with a big celebration of the trip and have an opportunity for the youth, their families, and their congregation to share the stories and the pictures of the experience. At this celebration, take time to share a vision for service to continue and to make the point that the mission trip should never end. Bring service and mission to your own community. Serving your church and your neighbors. Be bold and announce what the next servant experience will be for the youth and invite others from the congregation to join.

Do not close this celebration without making plans for worship and the sacraments. Many times we segregate the celebration, but having worship incorporates Christ into the party and continues the themes that we are taught by Christ, to love and to show mercy.

Be creative when planning the next servant event. Do not always pick the easiest thing to do. Easy is not always the best. Easy makes it easy to back out. Select a servant event that presents challenge in both sacrifice and in spiritual growth.

Here are some ideas from some churches that I know that have done some creative service events:

One group made winter care packages for the homeless in their community. Three of the youth in the group went shopping for backpacks after they had a car wash and raised money for the

project. Then they went to the congregation, asked for donations of new hats, gloves, thermal underwear, and wool socks. They took the backpacks down to a shelter in their town, where they were given out during one of the meals.

Another group decided to use music as their way of expressing God’s love. They went to a homeless shelter for families in their community. They approached the shelter, asking if they could teach music lessons. The shelter said “yes.” The group proceeded to gather supplies and materials to make drums, maracas, and tambourines. The hope was that each child at the shelter would make and be able to keep his/her own instrument.

The first few weeks, the group worked on making the instru-ments with the kids. After they made them, the group continued to visit and teach the kids how to use the instruments, and then they decided to write a musical with the instruments. Finally, they practiced and performed the musical which was a hit. It would never win a Tony, but the seventy-plus kids beamed with smiles as they performed. It was wonderful seeing the families of the children that were playing joined in the audience with the families of the youth group’s members. It was exciting knowing that relationships were fostered and seeing God’s mercy and love flowing through all of these youth.

Another youth group organized itself into the three crews. The first is the “Labor Crew” and committed to doing physical labor wherever there is a need in the church of the community. They get referrals for those in need from the ministers of their church and a home health ministry in their community. The second is the “People who Need People Crew” whose purpose is visiting those who are shut in or in nursing homes. They get referrals from a home health minis-try and nursing homes. The third is the “Kid’s Crew” and is commit-ted to working with kids in the community that are in the foster care system. They sponsor different events throughout the year.

Unlimited Missionsby John Potts

photograph ©2007 by Grayson Gillin

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These three crews get together regularly to plan their monthly crew events and for the next out of town mission/servant trip.

“Secret Service” was the theme that one youth group took on as a follow up to their mission trip. They decided that once a month that they would serve a family or person by doing whatever was needed. (Nurses at a local home health care service referred them to those in need.) In the fall, they raked leaves; in the winter, they shoveled snow; and in the spring, they did yard clean up. The nurses made the arrangements for the groups to show up and the youth made it clear that they wanted no money or any recognition for their work.

Finally, one group sponsors and hosts a monthly “Family Movie Night” at their church. The purpose of the evening is twofold: to foster fellowship amongst families in the church and to raise money for and awareness of different social service agencies in their com-munity. They sell pop and popcorn. The intermission allows the youth to make their presentation about the agency-of-the-month. They usually take up a free will offering at that time in support for that cause.

Mission/service trips can be the start of a wave of mission in your youth group and in your church. I know of one small group in Iowa that has never done a mission trip. Three years ago, the senior high youth decided to go. This group of seven youth, which included two adult leaders, got their eyes opened to what mission and service in the name of Jesus can be. This church of about one-hundred mem-bers now have three teams of youth and adults that go out each

year to serve in their community and the United States and one team always goes overseas. This is amazing for a church of this size. They are God’s unlimited message of His love and mercy.

My hope for you and your church is that your youth become unlimited, mission-minded youth. Do not be discouraged. Remember to take small steps when planning a mission/servant trip but always be thinking and asking what you can do next. Do not forget to add time to ponder and wonder after each event, to ask and to think about how God can be seen and shown in all of these acts that hap-pen in this experience. Give space and provide quiet times and place so that youth can hear the “texting” of God’s word that says, “love” and “show mercy.”

I would love to hear from you and find out more about what your group is doing to foster that “unlimited mission mind set”. Please email me at johnp@youthworks.com. I always like to hear what people are doing to celebrate and to serve.

John Potts serves as the Chief Operations Officer

of YouthWorks Inc., a nationwide youth missions

organization that serves over 80 communities by

facilitating short term mission trips for over 30,000

kids each year. John is involved in the junior high

group at Eagle Brook church and has been in youth

ministry over 20 plus years and enjoys spending time

with his family.

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YOUR TURN!Our goal is to make Connect as useful a resource for your ministry as possible. You can help!

Here’s how:1. Write a letter to the editor. Let us know what you think of the contents of each issue. What helped? What could be better? What do you think?

2. Submit an article, essay, poem, artwork, etc.... Share your insights, experiences, thoughts, and your creativity on our upcoming topics: Baptismal (November ‘08); Grounded (February ‘09); Excellence (May ‘09). Our theme words are taken from the Network’s defintions of effective youth and family ministry in ELCA congregations.

3. Send us pictures. They’re worth a thousand words, and will help us illustrate concepts in future issues. We’ll assume that you have permission from the people in the photo to publish these.

Send your submissions to: connect@elcaymnet.org

Short-Term Mission Tripsby Sunitha Mortha

For Children, just the mention of a possible trip sends them into a tizzy. Even as adults, most people don’t need a lot of convincing to say that trips are usually fun-filled, adventurous, exciting, and educational.

Given the conveniences of modern technology, it is not surprising then that global travel has caught the imagination of many North Americans. Just a few years ago, ELCA members participated in global missions mostly without leaving home. They provided finan-cial and prayer support, and engaged with the global church through stories told by visiting missionaries. Today, thanks to international travel and electronic communication, Lutherans participate directly in global missions in many ways. Through exchanges and encounters with Lutheran schools, congregations, synods, and church bodies, ELCA members are tasting the new reality of global Christianity.

This travel trend is also showing up in ELCA’s global mission engagement in the form of short-term mission (STM) trips. Re-search and studies showed that the number of people traveling in 2004 crossed the four-million mark. Information on the number of travelers, environmental issues, decreased enrollment for long-term service, and the exploding membership in churches in the southern hemisphere, are increasing the debate about the effectiveness and faithfulness of STM.

The STM movement has both its proponents and critics.

1 Proponents Say That STMs: • Transform participants by fostering cultural sensitivity and global perspectives. • Foster greater service and witness at home. • Help develop leadership skills in participants. • Foster faith development and spiritual depth of participants. • Nurture a greater financial commitment by the participants. • Facilitate global solidarity. • Provide for a questioning of one’s own lifestyle. • Promote healthy ecumenical relationships. • Provide services and goods where needed. • Allow the sharing of the gospel worldwide. • Live out the Gospel imperative of compassion. • Like pilgrimages participants leave behind the normal and seek the sacred.

The Critics Say That STMs:

• Have little long term effects on participants’ financial contributions. • Rarely become an impetus for sustained faith development of participants. • Provide minimal impact on local mission activities within the home congregation.

• Are “McMission’’ that focus on short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions. • Create negative environmental impacts. • Often “focus on the emotional rewards of hands-on. involvement rather than a way to make an investment in long-term empowerment.” • Create a culture of servitude among the hosting groups. • Perpetuate the lack of self-respect which remains in post- colonial societies. • Displace workers and create economic dependency. • Are mostly goal oriented missions that miss opportunities for mutual cross-cultural relationships.

Enormous dollar amounts that go into STMs are most likely sur-passing long-term mission support. The transformational moments experienced by participants in STMs usually regress into attitudes, behavior, and beliefs held before their trip.

In conclusion, given the reality that STM trips are here to stay and are becoming the most widely used method of engagement in mission, the ELCA along with our companions is drawn into a conversation that will move us to bridge the gap between STM transformational mission moments to living out God’s call through our everyday vocations for the sake of the world. Hopefully, this conversation will direct how short-term missions can make a long-term impact and bring us to the realization that a great adventure, is ultimately a lifelong response to God’s love and grace in Christ.

Sunitha Mortha is from a city called Hyderabad

in the South Central part of India. She worked several

years in Cross cultural youth ministry in India by

coordinating social work projects. After her master’s

in cross-cultural ministry at Luther Seminary in

Minneapolis, she worked in youth music ministry for

five years in the United States before she joined the

Global Mission Unit as the Director for Global Formation—Program at the

ELCA church wide office.

1 A leader’s guide for Short Term Mission Travel-Canadian churches’ Forum for

Global Ministries

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Servant Transformation A Parent’s Perspectiveby Debbie Sladek

The dark-haired boy had a long shock of dyed-blonde hair hanging down over one eye and wore a baseball cap turned sideways. He was about fifteen or sixteen–the same age as my son–and in-between gulping down energy drinks and handfuls of Goldfish crackers, he chain-smoked. His mom and uncle (a man who didn’t appear to have many teeth left and who also chain-smoked) didn’t seem to mind his smoking and never said a word to him about it, at least in front of the others.

I was only half listening as my son, David, described his day of service in a community about two hours south of Seattle. He went there with a group of adults from our church to help residents clean up the mess made during severe winter flooding. His group spent the day with a family living in a rural area, assisting them in muck-ing out the debris and damage done to their home.

“And the kid smiled a lot and was really nice.”

This last sentence made me sit up and take notice. “And the kid smiled a lot and was really nice.”

Now, we live live in a suburb locals call “The Plateau,” in a neighborhood of expensive homes, modern newly-built schools, hik-ing trails, golf courses, trendy coffee shops, and recreational parks. Economic diversity is not something I’d include in that list. A kid like the one my son described, is not someone he would meet and probably never get to know here. (You can bet there would be some serious discussions and hand-wringing from my husband and I if our son ever brought someone like this youth home.)

So when David came home from that service day and described the boy he’d met, I was very surprised to hear that he’d connected with him, especially because I knew he was a little scared of the other kid at first. He clearly was uncomfortable with the boy’s ap-pearance and smoking, but he was able to see beyond those things and learn a little about the boy’s character.

It’s human nature, I think, to seek out those who are like us. We live and worship, work and study, play and gather with others we understand and feel comfortable with. We talk diversity and live uniformity. This seeking after sameness is one of the most important reasons why youth and adults need opportunities to serve others outside their own comfort groups, whether they are right next door, or thousands of miles away.

While it was certainly true that Jesus spent a lot of concerted effort amongst his own–the Jews, the poor–he never hesitated to move beyond them and befriend, listen to, advise, and serve those who were very different from himself and his family. He risked his life in order to lavish the love of God on all who needed it. In

return, Jesus received, among other things, the same thing my son did on that day: connection with another human being. We can give this type of ministry fancy names, come up with all sorts of goals and plans, and hold car washes and pizza fundraisers to provide these opportunities to our youth, but at the end of the day it’s just two people coming together and connecting with one another. In God’s plan, both are in service to each other.

David connected that day, not with a poor person, a scary kid, or someone to be pitied. He connected with a kid, who, much like him, was nice, smiled a lot, and worked hard. David got an opportunity to look beneath the appearance and the behavior, and find something in common and admirable.

Debbie Sladek is the newsletter editor for Our Sav-

ior Lutheran Church in Issaquah, Washington. She lives

in Sammamish, Wash. with her husband and son, where

she is pursuing her own vision and calling of becoming

a full time writer and editor.

photograph ©2008 by Michael Sladek

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Have a Heart Transplant Bible Studyby Randy Brandt

Have a cheap paper plate for each person and a pen, crayons, or markers. Each person works alone, not showing others their work. There are two tasks:

1. On one side of the paper plate make a simple pie-chart of how you spend your time during a normal day (The leader can show an example plate of his/her day). i.e: if you sleep half the day, then mark half the pie chart “sleeping.” If you think you eat for about 1/8th of the day, then mark 1/8th section of your pie “eating,” etc…

2. On the other side of the paper plate write three choices of how you would choose to spend a com-pletely free day (cost is not prohibitive). THEN have people share their pie chart graphs first. (This should be positive self-disclosure: an informa-tion-sharing and relationship building activity.)

ASK “What did you notice in the results? Anything surprising? Anything concerning? Any general obser-vations?”

NEXT, collect the plates, mix them up, and from one of the plates read aloud the three choices of how someone would spend their free day. Have the group guess whose plate it is. (Again this is a full partici-pation, relationship building activity) Continue the same procedure with the rest of the plates. FINALLY, ask for observations of all the answers shared. Then the leader can assist the group to notice that most of our current free time we spend on ourselves, and the choices in how we wish we could spend a completely free day are mostly for our own pleasure. In other words, we tend to live a self-cen-tered life (we are curved in on ourselves instead of turned outward in concern for others).

Scripture (an example from Jesus) Matthew 9:35-36 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ASK “What did Jesus notice when he looked at the crowds that made him react with compassion?”

REFLECT “Describe in detail a time when you noticed a person/situation in which you reacted with compas-sion. What made you react with compassion?” PERSONALIZE “What does it mean to you that Jesus sees you with deep and complete compassion and love?”

Opening (10-20 mins.)

Listening & Reflecting (10+ mins.)

the Gospel: for all who are self-centered: God’s constant and complete love is for you.the Point: the Holy Spirit’s “gift-work” is to transform lives that are curved inward (love of self), to lives that are directed outward (love for others).

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Hand back the paper plates to the original owners.

Have them jot down and then share their thoughts: “You are given $100 cash and you need to spend it tomorrow. What is your FIRST thought in how to spend it?”

“Okay, now what is your SECOND thought of how you could spend that $100 if you are looking at those around you with the compassion of Jesus? (…if you are service-centered instead of self-centered…)”

Bonus scripture I John 4:19 We love* because he first loved us.

PrayerJesus, King of Love, transform our hearts from selfish-ness to service. Let your Spirit ignite your love within our lives. You so completely love us, may we also love others in our words and actions. Amen

One more Scripture (an example from the first Christians)SHARE that this is a description of how the first Christians responded after the gift of the Holy Spirit came upon them. (They can think of the filling of the Holy Spirit as the awesome gift of the continuing presence and power of Jesus in their individual lives).

Acts 2:43-45 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds* to all, as any had need.

ASK “Do you suppose these people sold their things and gave them away previously? Explain your thoughts. What is motivating them to something like this now?”

SHARE that this is a description of hearts being changed as a gift from God. The Holy Spirit is the presence and love of Jesus for us and turns our hearts from being curved inward on ourselves (a self-cen-tered life) and transforms us to have hearts that are turned outward toward others (service-centered life).

Wrap-Up Activity & Prayer (5 mins.)

Randy Brandt has had twelve years in youth and family ministry as a pastor in Rochester, Minn., as a director of youth

ministry in Fridley, Minn., and as a member of an Youth Encounter team to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and

seven years teaching third grade just before coming to Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley, Minn. He

and his wife have two fabulous children, Katie and Juliana. He and his family love nearly anything with music, a really

good book, and getting outside on bikes, inline skates, running, or at park—refreshed from being outside.

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On The Wayby Heidi Hagstrom, edited by Rod Boriack

In his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2), Paul invites us to think of ourselves the way Jesus thought of himself. What does that mean for those of us who were baptized into the body of Christ? Dutch priest, teacher, and author, Henri Nouwen, reminds us that our baptism into Christ often means downward mobility. Even though he sold hundreds of thousands of books, and was a highly respected professor at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, Father Nouwen still felt troubled and incomplete. Success and public recognition, he said, camouflaged a deeper longing for service. Acting on his longing, in 1985 Father Nouwen left the comforts of his university world to make his home as a chaplain in a small community of developmentally disabled adults.

“In our many years as friends,” writes Wayne Muller in his book Sabbath, “there was never a question in my mind as to whom Henri was working for. Henri worked for Jesus.” What evidence did Wayne see in the way Father Nouwen lived? I suspect he saw behaviors like compassion, servanthood, advocacy, humility, leadership, and a strong sense of vocation. These are the same dimensions of Christian discipleship that young people will explore and practice at the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering. Hopefully, youth

and adults alike will experience their own longing for Christ whose very image resides in them; it is a kind of longing that can only be fulfilled in community; only through active involvement with and dependence on the body of Christ.

How do we think of ourselves? How do others perceive us? Sometimes we say it doesn’t matter, but it does. It is important that somehow we are identified in a way similar to Henri Nouwen in that it could be said of us (insert your name), “there was never a question in my mind as to whom _____ was working for. _____ worked for Jesus.” Let it be not because of personal accomplishment or special recognition, but that the Spirit has allowed the humble servant and Savior Jesus to be recognized through our behaviors, words, and habits of living.

Heidi Hagstrom is director for the triennial ELCA

Youth Gathering, July 22-26, 2009, New Orleans. Heidi

has a simple dream: to live close to the earth on a farm

with cattle, chickens and an English Bulldog.

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Pastoral Care

for YouthApril 20-22, 2009A Conference for Youth Ministry Workers

Keynote Speaker: The Rev. Dr. Robert Dykstra, professor of pastoral theology, Princeton Theological Seminary and author of Counseling Troubled Youth and co-author of Losers, Loners, and Rebels: The Spiritual Struggles of Boys

PLEASE SAVE THE

DATE

For more info/registration please check out: http://yim.lstc.edu/news/

1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, IL 60615

yimad1.indd 1 8/20/08 1:52:08 PM

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intensive care courses: january 28-29

main event: january 28-february 1New Orleans, Louisiana

register at www.elcaymnet.org

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Start Savingfor Youth Ministry events!

Open a Youth Ministry MissionPlus Account.• Earn interest on your funds

• Easy access to funds

• Help build and rennovate Lutheran congregations by investing in the church

For more information about the Youth Ministry MissionPlus investment from the Mission Investment Fund and to request an application call 877.886.3522 or visit us at www.MissionInvestmentFund.org.

877.886.3522www.MissionInvestmentFund.org

Calendar of Events2008JUMP 08 MUSIC FEST (a partnership between Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Center, IL and Lutherdale Bible Camp, WI)Saturday, August 23, 2008Lutheran Outdoor Ministries CenterOregon, ILGeneral information:Jim Zei, project directorPh: 815-260-9741 jzei@wtcproject.org

Lodging information:Audrey Adams, registrarLutheran Outdoor Ministries Center Ph: 815-732-2220registrations@lomc.org

PASSING ON THE FAITH: MILESTONE TO MILESTONE CONFERENCE AND TRAINING EVENT (Delaware-Maryland Synod and the Youth and Family Institute)September 19-20, 2008Our Shepherd Lutheran Church Severna Park, MD Information: Ed Kay at ekay@demdsynod.org

ELCA OUTDOOR MINISTRY PROGRAM LEADERSHIP TRAINING EVENTNovember 5-9, 2008 Zephyr Point Retreat CenterLake Tahoe, NV Information: www.elca.org/camps or 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2593

2008 COUNCIL OF SYNOD LYO PRESIDENTS (CSLYOPs)November 6-9, 2008Mount Sequoyah Conference and Retreat CenterFayetteville, ARInformation: http://archive.elca.org/lyo/cslyops.html

ELCA/PCCCA OUTDOOR MINISTRY CONFERENCENovember 9-14, 2008 Zephyr Point Retreat CenterLake Tahoe, NV Information: www.elca.org/camps or 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2593

525th ANNIVERSARY OF LUTHER’S BAPTISM: LUTHER525November 11, 2008Information on congregational participation: Luther525 Web site (English language). www.luther525.de/index.php?language=gb&key=1611762687

2009ELCA YOUTH MINISTRY NETWORK EXTRAVAGANZAJanuary 28-February 1, 2009Sheraton HotelNew Orleans, LouisianaInformation and registration: www.elcaymnet.org

2009 ELCA YOUTH GATHERING: JESUS JUSTICE JAZZJuly 22-26, 2009 (Gathering)New Orleans, LAInformation: www.elca.org/gathering

July 19-22, 2009 (Definitely-Abled Youth Leadership Event and Multi-cultural Youth Leadership Event)New Orleans, LADAYLE information: www.elca.org/lyo/dacMYLE information: www.elca.org/lyo/mac

July 26-30, 2009 (Triennial Convention of the Lutheran Youth Organization)Hattiesburg, MSInformation: www.elca.org/lyo/

2010SCOUTS SEEKING LUTHERAN CHAPLAINS FOR 2010 NATIONAL SCOUT JAMBOREE IN VIRGINIA.ELCA pastors and professional youth ministers who are registered mem-bers of the Boy Scouts of America are invited to apply.

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Start Savingfor Youth Ministry events!

Open a Youth Ministry MissionPlus Account.• Earn interest on your funds

• Easy access to funds

• Help build and rennovate Lutheran congregations by investing in the church

For more information about the Youth Ministry MissionPlus investment from the Mission Investment Fund and to request an application call 877.886.3522 or visit us at www.MissionInvestmentFund.org.

877.886.3522www.MissionInvestmentFund.org

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Everybody has a dream.California Lutheran University

A great place to awaken the future God has given to youCollege of Arts and Sciences

School of BusinessSchool of Education

36 Majors

28 Minors

Professional PreParation PrograMs in sPecified fields of study

Masters degree PrograMs in •Education

•BusinEssadministration

•PuBlicPolicyandadministration

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•Psychology

doctoral PrograM in educationThousand Oaks, Califormiawww.callutheran.edu1.877.CLU.FOR.U

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ELCA Youth MinistrYyour Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturdaypartner in ministry.

ELCA Youth MinistryEvangelical Lutheran Church in America8765 West Higgins RoadChicago, IL 60631

1-800-638-3522

www.elca.org/youthwww.elca.org/lyowww.elca.org/gathering

ELCA Youth Ministry Network11821 98th Pl. N.,Maple Grove, Mn 55369

TheServant TransformationIssue

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