What does a young person need in their faith community? by Alex

There are three big areas that I see that a young person will look for in a faith community, 1) there is no judgment for who they are, 2) they can be part of the decision making process, and 3) that we reach out to them were they are and not where we think they should be.  How can we take all three of these things and make our church look more inviting to a young person?

Young people need somewhere they can feel safe and not judged for being who they are.  Our faith community needs to be open to everyone and what they bring to the table.  The faith communities that are most welcoming to young people are not judging for their sexual identity, what they look like and how they speak or how what they are doing with their life.  Recently the judgment of a young person’s sexual identity has been a major concern.  Some church people like to make this look like a big deal, but in the eyes of a young person, it is not because we are all made by God.  I know that people think it is a choice, but I wonder why anyone would choose to be treated like this if it is not how they were made. Why is it that we think that it is our place to judge? Why would a young person want to have a faith community that does not want them to be who they really are?  How can we make everyone feel welcome and find a true faith community?  The church needs to show young people that we are in a stage of evolution in order for them to feel secure enough to be who they are without judgment.

Many young people struggle with the way in which the church portrays itself as open, but is still closed minded in many ways.  How can we feel free to be ourselves, if we are supposed to conform to what they think we should be?  Our churches should be very diverse, but often they are not as diverse as the environment in which young people grow up in.  How can we change people’s minds when they have grown up in a certain mindset and do not know how to fight for their true beliefs?  What else can we do to make a young person feel secure in their faith community? Is a faith community supposed to stay the same forever or should it evolve as the world does?

We need to make sure that each of the young people have a voice in our congregations and to make sure that they have opportunities to be a part of making decisions. The church can have a young person that helps with the worship team to help bring new ideas, for example that may draw new people in.  What about having a young adult or youth on council?  Where else in your church can a young person come in handy with making decisions that affect your whole congregation?

How can technology play a role in a young person’s faith community?  What type of technology does your church use now and how can you step that up?  Today’s generation is attached to their electronic devices, whether it be a phone or a tablet, and pay more attention to that then most other things.  Do you know of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Snap Chat?  These are all things that a young person uses hourly if not more.   When I wake up the first thing I do is check my news feeds, if something catches my eye, then I look into it.  More often than not, young people will see your church more if it is on their news feeds.  Many young people will use these forms of communication as a way to learn new things or to communicate cool new things they have learned.  With all this technology around us and the use of it daily we should be learning from our young people about how to use it effectively to communicate the Word. Are you willing to bring technology into your church for young people?  Would you be willing to let them use their technology during worship?  What about letting them tweet during the sermon to get the word out?  All of these are great ways to reach them at their levels.  We cannot expect everyone to absorb information in the same methods.  The technology is a way to let others see what is happening at your church.  Young people would rather use technology at their faith community than just sit and listen.  Instead of shutting down how young people communicate, why not harness this power to do good in the world? How can we as a church use what the young people are doing to expand out faith communities?  Let’s have the young people reach to their communities and share God’s Word while still being engaged in worship. We should have the young people taking the technology to a new level and having them reach to new, interested individuals.

When I was attending the Disciple Project I was able to see all three of these things put into action.  Everyone in attendance was able to look at things the way they felt called to.  We were all pushed to be who we really are and to express ourselves and how our thought process was.  We can all help our church be really great.

Keeping Busy by Michele

                  This has definitely been one of my busiest summers alive! I will look back and see how much I have learned about myself and others every single week of my internship. The most rewarding part of my internship has been my time spent with Seguin Youth Services. After Kindergarten I spent my summers at day camps for children affiliated with the United States Army. These camps were located in elementary schools for the young children, and held in youth centers on post for the middle-high school aged children. Seguin Youth Services allows me to learn how non-profits catering to youth operate as well as interact with the children.

                  So far this summer I have been able to lead activities for the girls, create team-building activities and tournaments for the youth, and research grants for community youth programs. When I have gas to spare, I even enjoy running errands for the center. We call them field trips! I found that I am good at developing programs for the children to learn new crafts and cooperate with one another.

                  Working at the Christian Cupboard has furthered my dream of running soup kitchens and developing family nutrition platforms for communities to implement. So many families have more than five in their households.  That is a large amount of mouths to feed…..and to survive for one month from one visit to a food pantry. There must be something I can do to help.  I am grateful to be a LEAD intern where I can discover more about my passions to uplift the kingdom of God and seek help for His people.

If you are reading this, I challenge you to think of one or more ways that your community can be improved by your help and the rest of your congregation’s support. Brainstorm ways to improve the quality of live in your community by letting your spirit guide you in the direction of your brothers and sisters who are much less fortunate than you are. Let’s see what we can come up with-and put into action!

Updates from the Synod Office by Alex

Since returning from Disciple project, I have been busy working on Website’s and been busy with everyday office stuff.  I have since started working with my church on their social media and how to use it to improve attendance.  I have been helping around the office with technology stuff and helping with just general work as well.  I am still working on my original project but have been exploring new ways of handling certain design things.  In addition, I have been working with the staff to start on the next step in the process.  I am very excited to start this. 

Recently I have been realizing that I will be finishing here soon.  It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over.  I have really enjoyed working with the staff and Bishop Mike as well as all of the Pastors that I have been able to meet.  The experiences that I have gained from this summer have just made me so excited to go on and do amazing things in the future.  

I have been lucky enough to learn how a church office runs and to see the inner workings of a church and how things are dealt with.  Also I have seen how it takes a team to run the synod and to keep everyone happy.  How else would a synod work if we didn’t have the office?  I don’t know that it would.

Finding Community and Discovering Technology at the DP by Kirsten

When I look over my time at the Disciple Project I cant help but smile. This week long learning intensive was a time for exploration, discovery and networking. Being from New Orleans I do not find many Lutherans. When I tell people that I am a Lutheran, they ask me “What’s a Lutheran?” as if it is some sort of drink you order at Starbucks.

To be at a Lutheran University with over a hundred Lutheran people surrounding me was nothing but pure joy. For the first time since the national youth gathering in 2009 people of the same faith surrounded me. Because so many Lutherans encircled me, it gave me the prime opportunity to network and meet other young adult Lutherans from the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod and from the National ELCA office. This opportunity for networking was more of a blessing than I could have ever imagined; and for that I am truly grateful.

I did not know what to expect coming into this experience. I did not know how much I would learn, how many amazing people I would meet or how much my faith journey would be enriched. My track during this week long exploration was “Growing Disciples in a Digital Age”. We learned what it means to grow in faith formation with the help of technology. As cheesy as it sounds, technology is the wave of the future. If you want to be connected with what is going on in the world today, you must be involved with e-mail, or other forms of social media. If we want to continue growing our church we must embrace the different forms of social media that are out there.

It is so easy to access different systems of social media. There is more out there than even I knew about. I think to think of myself as being “social media literate”. Boy I tell ya, there is so much more out there than even I could have dreamed of. One of the main tasks we learned how to do was to develop a website, so that way we could bring it home to our churches and help them improve their own websites. Learning how to develop website was one of the easiest, yet overwhelming experiences I have been through while being an intern with LEAD. If you want to create a website, the step by step instructions are not the hard part to learn, it is the Pandora’s Box of information out there at your access that is a bit over whelming to absorb and comprehend.

Change is hard, especially within the church setting. It is also one of the most important parts of a church’s future. It will be a slow process, but in the end it will be rewarding more than our wildest dreams.

Learning in a different way by Alex

                  I have been wanting to attend Disciple Project for years.  This year I got to go with a great group of girls.  I took the “Growing Disciples in the Digital Age” track and was able to learn how to set up and run a website, while teaching others to do this on their own.  I got started on a website for me to help others to do so.  While there I found myself taking time for myself and not thinking about others as much.  The trip could not have come at a better time.  It was good break from my crazy schedule here at home.  Not that I wasn’t working because I was but just in a different way.

                  I loved how the week was full of activities to help us grow in our faith but also to help us learn what we came to learn more about.  In my small group, we had a great time eating dinner with someone different that we could talk to and learn more about.  Each person had a different reason for being part of Disciple Project and a different role with in it.  I was able to learn more about myself as well as the group of girls that I attended the event with.  I learned to look at certain things through others perspective and not just my own by having discussions with others about how things looked.

                  I was great to see my boss in a different environment and see that she can be really helpful down the road when I am working on other projects.  She has taught me so much and I cannot wait to learn more from her in the near future.  I have to say that she made me laugh every day when she was so cold in the buildings that the girls and I went and bought her a fleece blanket so that she could be warm.

                 

Steping Outside the Norms in the Synod Office

In the past two weeks, I have been trying to figure out my true role within the synod office.  I have just figured out what it is to be administrative support for everyone in the office.  Initially, I was nervous about working with the Bishop and that there was certain etiquette to be used around him, but really he is just like us.  We all work together to run the office and accomplish a common goal. He is very down to earth and helpful. 

When I first thought of working at the office, I thought of the same thing day after day, but instead there is something new every day.  I have enjoyed learning the basic routine with some things added on a daily basis.  There is not a single day that is the same as the last. I love working with the staff and having challenges given to me.  Last week I had two BIG victories: I had to fix a laptop and build Bishop Mike’s office (AKA a bookshelf).  Both took me out of my comfort zone, but I was able to figure them both out with a little guidance and help. 

I also sat in on my first staff meeting last week.  I was thinking that my opinion would not matter, but I was able to put in my word and help with some ongoing projects.  I am personally doing research on our congregations’ web presence to see how we can better help them with their presence on the web.  The staff lunches every day is a nice time to just sit down and talk about life, which is enjoyable especially with so much going on.

One of the things that excite me is the fact that things change so fast in the office and I have to stay on my toes.  The office is nothing like I expected, everyone is so accepting and helpful even for the small things.  I thought that I would not be working with the bishop, but I am doing that and it is great to see that happening. 

I look forward to learning more about the inside working of the church.

Surprises: Church work behind the scenes by Kirsten

My internship consists of two different parts. The first part takes place at Messiah Lutheran Church in Cypress, TX. I am working with and shadowing Michelle Mote, the Children’s Youth and Family Director here at Messiah.

I have never worked as a staff type person at a church before. This is all very new to me. I came into this experience with an open mind, a blank canvas; ready for anything and everything that would come across my path. The only thing that has surprised me, is how much work staff members do behind the scenes. They do an incredibly large amount of paperwork, phone calls, e-mails, and conversations that most people have no idea about. They are rock stars for working so hard!

I will be doing a number of different tasks while here at Messiah. My primary goal has been to create a way of bringing Messiah’s vacation Bible school’s message home. I have had to dig deep into the creative folder of my brain and come up with and idea that would be fun and interactive for both the children attending VBS and their parents. Many of the children who attend VBS do not attend church on a regular basis. If we can have them thinking about the Bible’s message more than within the walls of our church, we are doing a good job at spreading God’s word. After much thinking and many conversations I came up with an idea that I think will work. Each day has a theme and a character that leads that theme. The different themes talk about what helps us to stand strong when we reach hard times in our lives. Every day the children will receive the coloring page with that day’s particular character and theme of the day. They will take that picture home and color it. They then will find a person, item or action relating to that theme and take a picture with that item/person and their coloring page. They will ask their parents to e-mail it to me and I will put it in a power point we will show every day at the end of VBS. 

In addition to creating a method of applying the story at home, I will be helping out with the closing each day during VBS. One thing I like about myself is the ability to step into any situation with a positive attitude and have the courage to be imperfect. I am a little nervous to get up in front of a large group of children, but with this attitude in place I know that if I make a mistake, that’s ok! I will just pick up myself and continue on. Messiah is a grace place. They accept people for who they are, a child of God. This makes me even more excited to grow and learn from this wonderfully open and loving group of God’s children.