connect journal: the church we hope to see

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Journal of Children, Youth & Family Ministry

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FALL 2012

PUBLICATION INFORMATIONPublished by: ELCA Youth Ministry Network www.elcaymnet.org

Subscription Information: call 866-ELCANET (352-2638) or visit: www.elcaymnet.org [email protected]

Contributing Writers:

George Baum, Tim Coltvet,

Jodi & Nate Houge, Tim Paulson,

Clint Schnekloth, Erik Ullestad,

Rebekah Wedge Thornhill

Design and Layout:

Michael Sladek

Impression Media Group

www.impressionmg.com

Contributing Editor:

Debbie Sladek

Connect Editorial Board:

Chris Bruesehoff, Todd Buegler,

Tim Coltvet, Nate Frambach,

Sue Mendenhall, Jeremy Myers,

Dawn Rundman, Clint Schnekloth

Debbie Sladek, Michael Sladek

Cover Photo & Design ©2012 Michael Sladek

Welcome! 4 Todd Buegler

The Church We Hope to See 5 Jodi & Nate Houge

LIFTing Up Congregations & Faith Formation 7 Erik Ullestad

Every Step We Take, Every Move We Make... 9 Clint Schnekloth

The Future of The Church: A Facebook Conversation 10

Leadership in the Church We Hope to See: 12Adaptive Leadership in a “We’ve Never Done it That Way Before” World Tim Coltvet

Dreaming Dreams of the Church: A Moving Bible Study 14 Rebekah Wedge Thornhill

Designing Ministry 16 Tim Paulson

Thank You For Your Support! 20

A View From Somewhere Else 21 George Baum

Calendar of Events 22

CONTENTS

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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.

Julie Miller: Board Member

Rev. Ben Morris: Board Member

Yvonne Steindal, AIM: Board Member

Valerie Taylor Samuel: Board Memeber

Erik Ullestad: Board Member

Rev. Larry Wagner: Board Chairperson

Rev. Mike Ward: Board Member

Rev. Todd Buegler: Executive Director

ELCA YOUTH MINISTRY NETWORK BOARD

Worship (Winter ‘13)

NEXT CONNECT ISSUE THEME:

Dear friends,

This issue of Connect was a journey for me. When we started working on it, the theme was sim-

ply “The Future of the Church,” and I had a really difficult time getting my mind wrapped around

this theme. It’s not that I didn’t believe in the future of the church . . . but I couldn’t describe it. I

couldn’t imagine what it might look like.

But as the Connect team worked, they led me through something of a transformation, and I

came to understand 3 things:

• I was trying to imagine the future of the church through the filter of what the church has

been. In my mind, I was thinking about the future church as how the current church might

be tweaked, not as what new thing God might do.

• I was reminded that the future of the church is in God’s hands. While we certainly have the

capacity to slow that process (we are, after all, captive to sin and cannot free ourselves) it is

in God’s Spirit that we must put our trust.

• I was reminded that we cannot presume to know the will of God. So we can’t claim to

predict what the future of the church will look like. Instead, we can only think out our hope

for the future of the church, and then pray that our vision aligns with God’s vision, and that

God grants us the wisdom to see and understand that vision.

I am not one who believes the age of Christ’s church is over. I have a great deal of hope for the

future. The church of the future cannot look like the church of today. We are going to need to

think about new ways to do ministry.

Our writers in this issue are “taking their best shot” at both describing what this future might

look like, and helping us think together about how God is revealing that future.

Welcome to the conversation!

God’s peace,

Todd Buegler

Executive Director – ELCA Youth Ministry Network

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

[email protected]

The Practice Discipleship Initiative is in

motion! Adult training both live and online

will be taking place this winter and spring,

in every synod! The Practice Discipleship

Initiative will be directed by Catherine

Anderson, from the Northeast Minnesota

Synod. Visit www.practicediscipleship.org

for more information.

Amy Wagner has stepped down from her

role as Regional Facilitator for Region

4 to assume the position of coach for

the RF’s. Her position will be filled by Ian

Hartfield from Kountze Memorial Lutheran

Church in Omaha, Nebraska. Thank you

Amy, for your great service, and for taking

on this new role. Welcome Ian, and thank

you for serving!

Regions 2, 6 and 8 will be holding elec-

tions for Regional Facilitators at the

Extravaganza in Anaheim. In Regions 6 and

2, Janet Renick and Julie Schussler Peralta

are both eligible for re-election. Barbara

Harner, in Region 8, has served two terms

and is ineligible for re-election. Thanks to all

three of you for your service!

Remember that the standard registration

rate for Extravaganza 2013 expires at

midnight on January 1, and then the price

goes up! Get your registration in soon!

Yes, there’s an app for that! Wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

Coming soon . . . new flexible options for

your Network membership including multi-

year and team options. . . Look for more

information in February!

WELCOME! NEWS BITS

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FALL 2012

NEWS BITS

Look to the future with Jodi and Nate Houge and what they have to say about the church we hope to

see. They hope for a church that is vital and thriving, and part of that hope is rooted in acknowledging

that parts of the church must die. Read on for their experiences of several congregations that are doing

things in new and faithful ways, including an up-close look at Humble Walk Lutheran Church.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

We are so afraid of death in our North Ameri-can culture that we will not let our congrega-tions die. We act as if we expect all congrega-tions to last forever. But that is not the case. There are zombie congregations walking among us, friends. Other faith communities are clearly in hospice. Let’s acknowledge this, enter into an intentional dying process and close the door. Yes, it takes guts and there is grief at these endings. But take heart. Just because a church is dead does not mean that God is dead. It is only in death that we wit-ness resurrection.

This is what we hope to see. We hope the church will die so that it may be raised in Christ. Our hope is founded not in idealism or strategies but by what we have already glimpsed (albeit dimly). Let’s look at four key aspects of congregational life (building, pro-gram, membership and Sunday morning) and imagine what would happen if we let them die . . . so that they may be raised with Christ.

WHAT IF YOUR CONGREGATION LET THE BUILDING DIE?Letting your building die means holding the brick and mortar loosely. We hope that the church of the future knows how to function outside of their sanctioned walls. Maybe that looks like holding worship in your nearby park or in the parking lot of another building. Luther’s Table in Renton, Wash. knocked down most of their walls and built a bar. When you let go of your physical assets, gathering for worship becomes less about walls and more about space and place. Your boundaries get fluid. If you hold the brick and mortar loosely, when the Baptist congregation down the road needs a place to worship while their building is being renovated, you make room

for them (and maybe even find your normal schedule displaced while you welcome them into your space). It might look like renting out longtime vacant Sunday School rooms to art-ists for workspaces. Lake Nokomis Presby-terian Church in Minneapolis, Minn. rents rooms to an artist, a spiritual director, and a neighborhood group.

We have poured enough concrete in the name of Jesus and it has only kept us locked inside those walls. What if you were freed from that leaky roof and mortgage payment? What if you did not have to spend two hours a month discussing ways to pay the energy bill? What if all the time and energy spent maintaining your property was suddenly freed for other things?

What if you do not have to invite neighbors to Vacation Bible School because you are already present in the local park? Humble Walk Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn. does not own much. (Our inventory includes five plastic totes, a large roll of white paper and a plunger.) We rent a space for three hours on Sundays so that we might gather for worship indoors. We also gather for worship in our lo-cal park for Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Bike Blessing, and once for a six-week stretch when we were homeless. Outside of wor-ship, every other gathering happens in public spaces like bars, coffee shops, sidewalks, alleys and parks.

During the summer, we are present in our local public park on a weekly basis. We lead kick-ball, learn names and build community. At the end of the summer, we invite everyone to spend a week with us in the park. Each day, we play games, create art and build relation-ships. Then we end with a catered meal. Hon-estly, it’s a crapshoot—we have no idea who will come or how many will come . . . but what do we really have to lose? People do come, and then they go home and wake up their older siblings and drag them back to the park

to tie-dye with us. Kids bring their grandpar-ents to share the meal. This all works because we have a high tolerance for messiness and fluid boundaries.

The next time your congregation holds a capital campaign, do it. And then follow the example of Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa, Minn. Do not pour another slab. Use the money to fund community outreach and evangelism.

WHAT IF YOUR CONGREGATION LET PROGRAMS DIE?Now that we’ve freed you of your build-ing, that menu of programs you offered prospective buyers—we mean members—is no longer an option. Let it die. How freeing. And destabilizing. And unnerving. But free! Whatever will you do with your time? Here’s an idea: Hang out in places where people are already gathered.

All too often programs successfully remove faith from public life rather than incorporate it. If you want faith to be part of people’s lives, then join in people’s lives. Not with an agenda. The goal is not to get people into the pews. Re-member when Jesus hung out at the well and that Samaritan lady showed up? The only thing Jesus asked of her was to do what she had al-ready come to do. Offer him a drink. And that led to a messy and likely embarrassing and totally rule-breaking conversation. And she left the well resurrected. There is no record or mention of her ever visiting a synagogue.

What about Sunday School? And Confirma-tion? Here we go, let us rip off the bandage. Let them die. When you do, you are left with three possible outcomes:

1. It stays dead. Bummer, but not the end of the world. Now you have time to hang out someplace where people are already gathered.

2. It comes back just the way it was. That was a fun experiment and now your congregation has learned that it is okay to take risks.

3. It comes back new. It comes back in a way that allows parents and kids to address

THE CHURCH WE HOPE TO SEEby Nate and Jodi Houge

5

their deepest longings in the context of faith, which may or may not involve memorizing the 10 commandments. Perhaps now it looks less like a program and more like relationship. The kind of relationship that carries over into home and work and school and play and life.

List your congregation’s programs. Start writing their obits and get the birth announce-ments ready. WHAT IF YOUR CONGREGATION LET MEMBERSHIP DIE?No building? No programs? Who would come to that church? Good question. I guess now is as good as time as any to let the membership lists die. (We all know those are ridiculously fabricated anyway. 8,000 on the membership rolls and 600 in worship. Really? Or in Humble Walk terms . . . 203 in the facebook group and 25 in worship?)

Let go of membership and everyone is set free. After emancipating people, the ones who normally come to worship will still come to worship. Likely, some folks will find another community. Bless them on their way and rec-ognize that you have gifted another congrega-tion. If your (now former) members do not go anywhere for worship, you have freed them to live with the truth.

We are not running country clubs or Girl Scout groups. We all know that life in the church is not about numbers—it is about rela-tionships. Stop pretending that numbers and counting bodies is in any way an accurate mea-sure of the work God is doing in and through us. The next time someone asks, “How many people worship at your church?” you can answer, “All of them.” And then let them swim in that mystery. As a side note, church leaders stop (stop!) asking one another this question. Think of another opening line.

Okay. We understand that in order to live in and function as a healthy community, we need some sort of Rolodex. (Ahhhh, remember those?) Do not hit <delete> quite yet. There are natural transition times in our congrega-tions when it seems appropriate to address the idea of membership. One is during Holy Week. (Death! Resurrection!) What if you gathered for an Easter Vigil and had a ceremo-nial burning of the membership rolls in the

fire? You burn the church down. And then on Easter morning, you stand together and re-commit to another season of life together. On resurrection morning, the church is reborn.

In the lives of youth, each year is new and fraught with transition. Our young people un-derstand death and rebirth because they live it every single year. The graduating seniors are off on their next adventure—and those who knew them feel the absence of their presence. The incoming ninth graders are entering into a new community. Recognize these transitions. Say it out loud. Write letters to the graduating seniors and let them know they are missed. (Seriously, people still do this—with tangible paper and pens).

WHAT IF YOUR CONGREGATION LET SUNDAY MORNING DIE?The most disturbing question you can ask yourself when visiting a congregation is, “Could this service take place without a congrega-tion?” All too often the answer is yes. The read-ers read, the preacher preaches, the choirs and cantors and bands and organs lead the songs and the congregation can join in. Or not. And if they choose not to nothing changes.

When songwriter Jonathan Rundman leads an echo song he always instructs his band, “Don’t help the congregation,” essentially removing the safety net. This approach works in that the congregation always rises to the occasion. It is a controlled risk. Notice that there is still a level of control. Worship is generally the most public thing a church does. It ought not suck.

First, evaluate the structure. At the core of worship that connects us with the divine, we find the liturgy—the work of people—our re-sponse to what God has done for us. There are set rhythms to this that work well—Gather, Word, Meal, Send—but even these rhythms can die. What if Meal became the heart of it? St. Lydia’s Dinner Church in Brooklyn, New York has done exactly this and met people where they already gather: around the table. What if Gathering was playing a game instead of reading a litany? What if Word came through seeing, not hearing?

Second, evaluate the time. Time is precious in our culture. If more families come to your church on Wednesday night then Sunday morning, maybe you do what the folks at

Christus Victor in Apple Valley, Minn. have done and add a Wednesday night worship service that brings families together at the end of the day in the middle of the week. It is not Sunday morning. And it works.

As your Sunday morning cycles through death and resurrection, refine the question:

“Could this service take place without a congregation?”“Could this service take place without retirees?”“Could this service take place without tod-dlers?”“Could this service take place without Matt? Or Donald? Or Casey? Or Lydia?”

IN CONCLUSIONThis is what we hope the church of the future will look like. (Of course there are plenty of other things we would like to see, like parking lots for flying cars, Dip ‘n Wafers: Communion of the Future, and health benefits for part time youth ministers, to name a few. We so crazy.) But ultimately we see death and resurrection at the core of our congregations. Do not let the idea of letting things die get confused with being against things. We are all sick of being ‘anti.’ We let these things die because we live in the promise of the resurrection. We want to more fully be reformed in the image of Christ. That is our tradition. If it is holding you back it is not tradition, it is nostalgia. Tradition moves us forward. Tradition says we worship together. Nostalgia says we do it with stained glass.

Finally, we hope the church of the future asks itself, “What do we hope the church of the

future will look like?”

Jodi Houge is

an ELCA pastor

at Humble Walk

Lutheran Church

(humblewalkchurch.

org). Nate Houge

(natehouge.com) is a

touring singer/songwriter and liturgist who oc-

casionally leads music during worship at Humble

Walk. If their glasses aren’t enough to make you

want to get to know more about them, we don’t

know what’s wrong with you.

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FALL 2012

It’s been a rough couple of decades for mainline Protestant congregations. Wor-ship attendance, membership and giving are down across the board. The largest growing religious affiliation in the United States is “none.” Nearly one in five adults claim “no re-ligion”—up from 15 percent in 2007. Only 40 percent of the country self-identifies as being a Protestant Christian. In 1972, Protestants comprised over two-thirds of the population. 1

The trends are similar within our own tribe, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Since 1990, we have lost over 1 mil-lion people and 1,000 congregations.2 In that span of time, 64 of the 65 synods have experi-enced an overall decline in baptized members. The only synod that grew did so because one congregation went from 0 to 12,000-plus members (Lutheran Church of Hope, West Des Moines, Iowa).

In late 2009, a task force was assem-bled through the ELCA Churchwide Organization to study the evolv-ing societal and economic changes that have impacted

our church body. This group was called “Living Into the Future Together (LIFT): Renewing the Ecology of the ELCA,” and was made up of twelve people from across the church. I had the opportunity to serve on this task force as its youngest member.

Throughout the nearly two years of LIFTing, I was amazed at the openness to new ideas among everyone in the group, many of whom were more than twice my age. There was hon-est reflection of successes and failures within the ELCA since before its inception in 1988. Task force members prayed, read, listened and spoke earnestly to discern God’s will for

the future of our denomination. In the midst of stark realities and concerns about sustain-ability, we found hope in God’s assurance of faithfulness and in the many assets we still possess as a church body.

The LIFT task force conducted research and formulated a report and recommendations that was given to the ELCA Churchwide As-sembly in 2011.3

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network was affirmed throughout our process as an excellent organizational model of cultivating resources and support across geographic lines. Words like “network” and “interdepen-dence” appeared throughout the final report. Synods and congregations were encouraged to consider ways to become more fluid in the ways they function. The goal is that increased communication, collaboration and connectiv-ity will help to foster new ideas within these existing structures.

In many ways LIFT was a process of honest self-assessment. Our work was guided by two key questions: (1) What is God calling us to be and do in the future? (2) What changes are in order to help us respond most faithfully? As we asked these questions throughout our church’s vast eco-system, we heard stories of joy and hope coupled with cries of fear and sorrow. Church leaders sensed that things needed to change, but they struggled to know how to counteract the trends in American religious culture without upsetting existing members.

The best part of my LIFT experience was working with Kenn Inskeep, Director of ELCA Research and Evaluation. Not only is he intel-ligent and witty, Kenn has a powerful story of how God’s grace was made known to him as a young man. He passionately believes that we Lutherans have something amazing to share but also acknowledges that we struggle to

be flexible in our methodology. In a recent paper4, Inskeep reflects on the LIFT process and offers some thoughts on the challenges of change:

For Lutherans, the challenge is less theo-logical than institutional. Lutherans like each other and they are not hospitable to outsiders. Lutherans do not like change particularly with regard to long, well established, institutional practices and this institutional rigidity has become an obstacle to proclaiming the good news. Lutherans have trouble translating the power and authority of their theology into practices that are recognizable or appealing in contemporary American society. Yet, at their core Lutherans believe that God is continually forming and re-forming the church and that Christians have a vocation in this world that demands their attention to it and their ability to engage it seriously and relevantly.

I don’t know anyone who is pleased with the declines we are experiencing. People acknowl-edge that something needs to change. The logistics of “what” should change and “how” to implement that change continues to baffle ministers of every stripe across the country.

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I’m told there was a time when congregations were overflowing with young families. It was the time of American Civic Religion, an era where just about every self-respecting busi-nessman and his family would come to church in their “Sunday best” and see all the movers and shakers from the community. Congrega-tions added huge education wings where the children could go after (or, at times, during) worship while their parents drank coffee and socialized. Throughout the Baby Boom, churches looked to public schools as the pedagogical model their children’s education ministry. Pastors and lay people were the ex-perts in the front of the classroom who would convey the nuanced complexities of faith to this growing mass of children. As a result, it

LIFTing UP CONGREGATIONS & FAITH FORMATIONby Erik Ullestad

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/us/study-finds-that-the-number-of-protestant-americans-is-declining.html2 ttp://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/News/Resources/Stats.aspx 3 http://www.elca.org/~/media/Files/Who%20We%20Are/Office%20of%20the%20Presiding%20Bishop/Plan%20for%20Mission/05c%20LIFT%20Report%2020110607.pdf 4 “Patterns of Synodical Life that Effectively Support Congregational Missional Vitality “- Inskeep5 The PBS series “God In America” examines this era in Episode 5: Soul of a Nation.

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was expected that these young people would develop a mature, fully-formed faith by their early teenage years.5

Churches continued this model of Faith Formation as Baby Boomers became parents. These adults may not have grown much in their faith after Confirmation and Luther League, but they knew that taking their children to church was the right / moral / good thing to do. Classrooms continued to be full, but church leaders noticed a disturbing pattern. Parents weren’t coming inside the church building for worship, education, or fel-lowship. Instead, they were dropping off their child to receive Christian instruction. Savvy pastors countered by requiring students to at-tend worship as part of Confirmation, realizing that if young teens had to be in worship, their parents would be there as well. This sense of duty helped churches hold onto young families well into the 1990s.

However, this numerical success only lasted until the young person put on their white robe and recited their favorite Bible verse on Confirmation Sunday. It was common for congregations to bid farewell to half of these households once the requirements were met and the young person became an adult member of the church. From there, it was up to the charismatic youth minister to reel them back to church with game-oriented, super-“fellowshipy”, attraction-based programs. Often, these programs were less concerned with discipleship formation and more focused on making church a cool place to hang out.

Recently, churches are losing these young families before their kids are even old enough for Confirmation. Gen-X and old Millennial parents tend to not feel the same obligation to be at church as their parents and grandpar-ents. Classrooms aren’t as full as they once were. Older members of the congregation wonder where all of the young people went.

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The report and recommendations generated by the LIFT Task Force was more than seventy pages long. In case this report doesn’t make it onto your leisure reading list, here are a few key takeaways.

CONGREGATIONS = CENTERS OF MISSIONThe congregations of the ELCA are places where mission is done most effectively. They have the ability to inspire and mobilize people to live out their faith by serving others.

SUPPORTING CONGREGATIONS IS A HIGH PRIORITYOther expressions of our church eco-system should work to build up healthy congregations by listening, teaching, and sharing resources.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORTIdentifying and training faithful leaders is crucial to the future of our church. As Ozan Sevimli told the task force, “No brilliant idea, no brilliant plan, no brilliant strategy will be effective without strong leadership.” 6

RELATIONSHIPS WITH GLOBAL COMPANIONS AND ECUMENICAL PARTNERSWe learned a lot about the model of accom-paniment—walking together in solidarity that practices interdependence and mutual-ity. By pursuing relationships in this way, we acknowledge that we have something to offer and something to gain.

USE NETWORKS TO STRENGTH-EN EXISTING CONNECTIONS.The growth of digital media has made it easier to cultivate networks throughout the country. All expressions of the church should explore ways to be connected through networks.

CULTURE OF DISCERNMENTWhen we make decisions, we attempt to discern God’s will. This is done with a spirit of openness to different ways of being God’s people in the world.

If our denomination is to move boldly into the future, it’s clear that relationships, networks, and congregations will be the vehicles that take us there.

The same is true for our approach to Faith Formation. In the way that congregations are centers for mission, homes are centers for faith formation. Ministry in the home is sup-ported by the ministry in the congregation.

Church staff and programs exist to support people in vocational life. A relationship of accompaniment between children, parents, peers and multiple generations is key to help-ing young people grow in faith. Cultivating connections with home life and church life are essential for people to learn the language of faith. Establishing networks within the con-gregation and in the community ensure that disciples feel supported and nurtured when doubts arise.

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Based on my experience in the LIFT process, coupled with twelve years as a youth and family minister, I believe that the best way for youth leaders to “live into the future together” is to simply be who we are—the ELCA Youth Ministry Network (The Network). It’s imperative that we support one another in the daunting, terrifying, essential work of renewal, both in our congregations and in our approach to faith formation. Through honest self-assessment and communal discernment, we can all discover ways that God is calling us to do something new. There is freedom in admitting something isn’t working. It is in that moment of discernment that the Spirit enters in and guides us into new discover-ies. Take joy in the process of renewing your approach to ministry. When innovation is met with resistance, lean on your colleagues in the The Network to walk with you. Celebrate suc-cesses and failures equally, trusting that God continues to be among you as you navigate unchartered territory.

Morgan Freeman’s character from The Shawshank Redemption said, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” It has been a rough couple of decades for our denomination. I think it’s time that we as a church get busy living…into the future, together. May God give us faith and courage as we support each other in the work of renewing our church.

Erik Ullestad serves as the Family Life & Youth Director at Windsor Heights Lutheran Church in Des Moines, IA. His family includes wife Allison and their three children. Erik is also half of ElbowCo, a ministry resource and consult-ing team. He likes to watch basketball, listen to folk music,

6 “Quo vadis ELCA” – Ozan Sevimli

8

FALL 2012

Every step we take, every move we make, in

organizing or forwarding the mission of the

church, either explicitly or implicitly expresses

in concrete form the church we hope to see.

Although a strong vision of the future may or

may not drive our daily ministry, nevertheless

what the church does and says from day-to-

day is just so an expression of what the church

hopes to see itself as in the future.

Once we come to this realization, we realize

the extent to which the present form of the

church—or the past forms of the church as we

remember them—tend to drive our vision of

the church we hope to see. The classic cliché,

“We’ve never done it that way before,” is not

just a description of how the church has been in

the past, or how we see the church in the pres-

ent; it is also a prescription for how the church

ought to be in the future.

In other words, the church is almost exclu-

sively driven by what already is rather than

what might be. The church re-actualizes what

already is rather than dwelling and visioning

in possibility. When and if the church consid-

ers hoped-for or preferred futures, it tends to

extrapolate the future from present realities,

either in the negative—because we don’t like

the church as it is now, we hope it won’t be this

way in the future—or more rarely the posi-

tive—we like this part of the church now and

hope it will be strengthened.

By comparison, consider the gospel pericope

for the twenty-second Sunday after Pen-

tecost, Mark 10:46–52. Bartimaeus son of

Timaeus, a blind begger, knew precisely the

church he hoped to see. He hoped to see the

kind of church that could give him sight to see.

In other words, Bartimaeus was wise enough

to pray not for the future of the church per

se, but rather for the sight to see anything at

all. You can’t see a church or hope for it if you

yourself remain blind.

His simple prayer has developed over the

centuries into the Jesus Prayer, a penitential

prayer prayed by millions of Christians (espe-

cially in the East) that offers a concrete vision

of the church we hope for, as well as a confes-

sion of who we are that blinds us from this

vision. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have

mercy on me, a sinner.” Bartimaeus hoped

to see Jesus, Son of David. He sought mercy

and healing. Having received report from the

crowd that Jesus was calling him, he sprang

up, threw off his cloak, and came to Jesus.

Upon receiving his sight, he made sure he kept

Jesus in his sights by following him.

What might this mean for our description of

the church we hope to see? For starters, it

means listening to the thrum of the engine

that has driven the recovery of the escha-

tological imagination in tweny-first century

theology: the future is not something that we

are on the way to; instead, the future is on the

way to us. The future is coming to meet us in

Christ. In this sense, the church we hope to

see is the church on the way to us in Christ.

I remember reading a column a few years back

by Richard Bliese, the president of Luther

Seminary, that caught my attention, so much

so that I made one quote from it one of my

“favorited” quotes on my Facebook profile.

Reflecting on his return to the United States

after 11 years serving as a missionary in Ger-

many, Zaire and Rwanda, he wrote, “ I once

heard this advice from a wise African mission-

ary: In working with young people in America,

do not try to call them back to where they

were, and do not try to call them to where

you are, as beautiful as that place might seem

to you. You must have the courage to go with

them to a place that neither you nor they have

ever been before.” (http://www.luthersem.edu/

elerts/article.aspx?id=532)

There is much to commend this way of

thinking. At the very least, it opens up the

possibility that the church of the future might

be beyond the imagining both of the church

inviting young people into ministry, as well

as the young people themselves considering

partnership with the church in ministry. It

confesses the temptations to continue church

as it is, or to continue life as it had been prior

to an encounter with the church on a mission

in God. These are admirable and salutary. I

recommend this kind of “imagineering.”

In the end, thought, it may not go far enough.

The danger is simple: the insight still implies

there is something intrinsic to the tribe or the

missionary that will lead them into a new place

one could have guessed completely apart from

God as future. It is still you, the missionary,

together with them, young people, on the way

to somewhere.

The eschatological insight here is that the

future is not our preferred future, but God’s

future. It is God’s future on the way to us, not

the other way around. This makes all the dif-

ference in the world. It means that the ques-

tion, “What is the church we hope to see?” is

not only a future-oriented question, but a mat-

ter of present realities. We are called to live, as

N.T. Wright felicitously expresses it, “from the

future back into the present.” The church we

hope for is standing right there in front of us, if

only we have eyes to see. The church we hope

to see we entertain in faith when we cry out

with Bartimaeus, “Jesus, Son of David, have

mercy on us.”

Now everyone is going to want something

concrete, right? Tell me what this future

coming from God looks like. Part of me wants

to respond that this future looks like Jesus.

Another part of me wants to say that the

future is God. Both of those answers, though

true, will sound too abstractly theological to

some. I admit that I don’t find them to be so,

because part of being open to God’s future on

the way to us is to let go of some of our empty

visions and false hopes. We are called, like

EVERY STEP WE TAKE, EVERY MOVE WE MAKE...by Clint Schnekloth

9

and drink lots of coffee.Bartimaeus, to plead for God’s mercy in our

blindness. Who knows what kind of sight we’ll

have when Jesus heals us?

However, the concrete vision is actually

implicit in the eschatological insight. If the

future is coming to us, then it is our reception

of God’s future that is our concrete action in

the world. And the model for what this looks

like is Christ’s suffering love. Walter Bruegge-

mann, in his wonderful early work, Living

Toward a Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom,

offers this quote, which summarizes as well

as anything written, the shape of the church

we hope to see: “What is it God has promised

that the world does not know? Simply that

which separates the followers of Jesus from

the slaves of this world--suffering love. This

little, seemingly powerless community is

ordered and identified by its practice of caring,

transforming, empowering love of the towel

and basin variety.”

The church we hope to see is a church on

its knees, washing feet, praying under their

breath, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have

mercy on me,” all the while keeping their

eyes focused on the one who has given them

sight—Jesus. Oh wait, I see, that means all the

church is doing is what they’ve already seen

God’s future in Jesus doing, because there he

is, on his knees, washing feet.

Clint Schnekloth is lead pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas. You can learn more here: www.clintschnekloth.com

Lura N. Groen Not in our hands, in God’s.

October 4 at 9:16am · Like · 7

Robert Saler Looking more and more like its

past.


Erik Doughty mystery of faith.


Tim Larson Led by the Spirit -- and to be

grappled with. Courage and faith anyone?


Jonathan Conrad We are standing on the

edge of an exciting time to be the church!

There are so many ways we can tell the Story

which can reach so many people (globally as

well as locally). I am working on every sermon

having a specific “Let Me Tell You About Jesus”

moment (I know I know, I should already have

it lol). I am also working on a “Living Steward-

ship” idea for our congregation. So THIS IS AN

EXCITING TIME TO BE THE CHURCH


Joseph Summerville ...the gates of Hades

shall not prevail...


Jonathan Conrad Joseph, if I can quote Rage

Against The Machine “All Hell Can’t Stop Us!”


Brad Lindberg I am curious as to what folks

think it will look like? It seems to me that

“church” needs to, and will, look drastically

different. I think this is both exciting and scary.

It seems it would be helpful to have some-

thing of a picture, or a sense maybe, of what

this new vision might look like to help us try

and lead people in such a bold new direction.

(True, it’s not totally new since ultimately our

direction is following Jesus and that hopefully

doesn’t change)


Brad Lindberg Robert Saler, could say

more about which “past” you see us heading

towards?

October 4 at 9:31am · Like

Tim Larson Jonathan Conrad ...exciting, yes,

and anxious, and creative, and frustrating, and

spirit-filled, and difficult, and mysterious, and

uncertain... etc.... Lets serve, keep our eyes on

Jesus, and see what doors the Spirit opens.

Our obligation is to look and respond in faith.


Chris Duckworth The Christian faith will con-

tinue and even thrive. God will continue to be

faithful to his people, and our Lord will show

up in Word and Sacrament, and the Spirit will

guide us into a new future.

But the 20th century church *institutions*

we have built up will dramatically change. And

by dramatically change, I mean contract on a

huge scale, and in many cases crumble.


Phillip Martin will probably, somewhere, still

have 8th graders serving as acolytes.


Bob Fisher There will be one. We may not

recognize it. It will be good, because God is.


Gary Schulz The church will change.


John Willmann Think Europe.


Kert Lauterbach Think Africa


THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH: A FACEBOOK CONVERSATION (PART 1)

(Continued on page 13)

10

FALL 2012

Join the conversation!www.elcaymnet.org/3tc

3TC is sponsored by:

3rd Tuesday Conversations are monthly gatherings of friends. They are great continuing education events. They are opportunities to hear from, and interact with experts in the field. 3TC conversations are free for Network members.

Our schedule:

December 18 - John Roberto (Faith Formation)

January 15 - Brianna Morris-Brock (Mission Trips)

February 19 - TBD

March 19 - Kari Lyn Wampler (Youth Spirituality)

April 16 - Mark DeVries (Avoiding Burnout)

May 21 - Shannon Savage-Howie (Spiritual Direction)

Times: All 3TC conversations begin at: 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Central 12:00 p.m. Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific

Our conversations:We use online webinars. You can log in to a special webinar site and listen to the conversation while watching images on your screen. Or, you can watch on the computer while calling in and listening on your phone.

You will have opportunities to ask questions as well.


11

Here’s our belief:There is an amazing amount of talent, exper-

tise and skill within our community. And we

have all developed resources for use in our

congregations.

Many of us are willing to share those resourc-

es that we have created. MartinsList is a place

to do that. Here, we can share our work with

each other...and can create a community of

mutual support in our ministry.

It’s open source ministry.

It’s MartinsList.

open source youth ministry

www.MartinsList.org

Thinking of the mission and ministry of the

church: past, present, or the church we hope

for brings to mind some helpful insights on or-

ganizational leadership and change, especially

in faith communities where, yes, even some

well-meaning souls will inadvertently blurt out

the age-old cliché, “We’ve never done it that

way before!” For insight, we look to the work

of Ronald Heifetz. Heifetz is most revered for

his helpful parsing of the dynamics of change

and challenges in organizations, whether

technical or adaptive in nature.

Technical challenges, Heifetz posits, are chal-

lenges that can be addressed by an expert who

may have remedies or a simple solution for the

situation at hand. Need a new muffler? Go to

the mechanic. Need a new heart valve, find a

good surgeon. But, what that surgeon cannot

do for you is the deep adaptive work that is

necessary to create health and wholeness

long-term. Adaptive challenges demand much

more of a person or a given organization.

Rather than a simple fix or one or two helpful

deliberate actions taken by a leader, the entire

organization must enter into a posture of

learning and adapting through the situation

at hand. For those recovering from heart

surgery, they very quickly learn that though

the major challenge before them was getting

through surgery, the bigger challenge is often

adapting to a new diet, exercise, and way of

being that will keep them in good health and

exempt from future surgeries.

Some challenges within organizations are

very complex and difficult, and the coura-

geous leader is not afraid to invite others into

the complexity in an effort to find solutions

together. As Heifetz remarks in the Harvard

Business Review, “adaptive work is required

when our deeply held beliefs are challenged,

when the values that made us successful

become less relevant, and when legitimate yet

competing perspectives emerge.”

For illustrative purposes, let’s consider the top-

ic of Sunday School. No doubt, it is one of the

historically significant blessings to the church,

yet also represents a seismic challenge to

current frontline leaders of children, youth and

family ministry in the North American context.

A flurry of Lilly-funded studies over the past

decade have suggested that Sunday School is

not doing what it promises, or at least what we

had hoped it would be doing: fostering a ma-

ture and/or maturing Christian faith in young

people. Rather, Sunday School’s impact, in the

long-run, appears to be paling in comparison

to the formative factors of intergenerational

worship life, multiple mentors, and household

leaders that contribute regularly to the faith

forming work of the Holy Spirit.

Although a myriad of benefits have arrived

to the people of the church through Sunday

School classrooms over the years (yes, I had

my favorite Sunday School teacher, too),

its historic origins tell of a driving missional

impulse that fueled its mission and purpose

in a deeply contextual way. More specifically,

Sunday School originally existed to reach out

to poor and illiterate street children in the late

1880’s Europe. Twisting and contorting our

way through a time-warp to the twenty-first

century model of Sunday School brings about

a curious and honest question: “How did

we get here?” What do you think? Is Sunday

School inviting adaptive leadership from

today’s children, youth and family leaders?

Here are seven markers that serve as a litmus

test for understanding situations that require

adaptive leadership. As you reflect on the

means for fostering faith formation in the first

third of life in your church, I wonder if adaptive

change might be in order:

1. If the solution requires operating in a dif-

ferent way than you do now . . . you may

be facing an adaptive challenge.

2. If the problem AND the solution require

learning . . . you may be facing an adaptive

challenge.

3. If the solution requires shifting the

authority and responsibility to the people

who are actually affected . . . you may be

facing an adaptive challenge.

4. If the solution requires some sacrifice of

your past ways of working or living . . . you

may be facing an adaptive challenge.

5. If the solution requires experimenting

before you’re sure of the answer . . . you


6. If the solution will take a long time . . . you


7. If the challenge connects to people’s

deeply held values . . . you may be facing

an adaptive challenge.

John Roberto’s Lifelong Faith Journal, Spring

2011

As Heifetz dissects the change process, he

is quick to point out that change is not a bad

thing. As a case in point, you and I would

welcome a generous donor coming to our

door, unannounced, to inform us that their

passion for children, youth and family ministry

is compelling them to give a sizable monetary

gift to the ministry. Suddenly, change looks

pretty good!

Yet, it’s the other aspect of change that gets

most people’s ire up. Change often will illicit

feelings of loss. Loss of something (a favorite

hymnal in exchange for the new) or someone

(that youth minister who loved our kids so

LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH WE HOPE TO SEE: ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP IN A “WE’VE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY BEFORE” WORLD

by Tim Coltvet

12

FALL 2012

much), loss of some place (a church closes its

doors or perhaps opens the doors of a new

building), and yes, even the loss of some age-

old programs (fewer weekly Sunday Schools

and the beginning of integrating parent/child

faith dialogues and intentional mentoring con-

nections). Name the changing situation, and

you will have feelings of loss, no matter how

right on you might be!

At one point in my ministry, I was frustrated

with the humdrum routine of suburban

church life where some of the primary faith

factors mentioned above were being woefully

neglected. Parents as primary faith formers?

Neglected. Multiple mentors in children’s lives?

Too difficult to organize in a big church. Inter-

generational worship and faith connections?

Hard to do if the pastor is not fully on board.

But, then I learned the “2 Degree Shift” (from

The 2 Degree Difference that Will Change

Your Heart, Your Home, and Your Health by

Dr. John T. Trent) rule of thumb. Wanting so

badly for parents to be more involved in their

child’s faith journey, hoping so desperately to

engage the growing population of aging adults

in our congregation as mentors, truth be told,

I longed for a 180 degree shift. Something

radical, as in I wanted to turn an aircraft car-

rier on a dime! As necessary as that might be

in a given situation, the wise leader learns that

180 degree turns will set you on course, how-

ever, the abrupt shift might toss half of your

people off the side of the boat! The “2 Degree

Shift” becomes adaptive in nature in the sense

that you have your target in mind, but it is in

the collective wisdom of the community that

you press on towards your destination. Often,

it looks more like you are tacking your way

upwind, one diagonal stretch at a time, rather

than in a direct line. Adaptive leadership

requires one to stop and listen, to proceed as

a catalyst for change while being attentively

engaged in one’s community.

A final aspect of Heifetz’s well developed

principles turns us to the “church we hope to

see” addressed in this issue of Connect. Heif-

etz astutely names the arduous process that

all of us in systems must do. All of us must

name what it is that defines us. What are the

non-negotiatables that have carried us, do

carry us, and will carry us into the future?

The rest can, and must, be left behind as your

particular community sees fit. In the church,

and, in Lutheran communities, the non-nego-

tiables tend to be relatively few. We speak of

Word and Sacraments as defining elements

of our life together. We take seriously Jesus’

call to come and see, to deny one’s self, to

take up one’s cross and follow. The towel and

basin were parting words and actions that set

the course for Christian lives of discipleship.

Beyond these keystone markers of worship

and discipleship and the law of love, one can

see that there is much room for freedom,

experimentation and contextualization.

Be a courageous leader, and the next time

someone rehearses the phrase, “We’ve never

done it that way before!” wonder with them,

why? Could it be that God is bringing forth

something new in this community of faith?

Behold, I am about to do a new thing; now

it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will

make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the

desert. (Isaiah 43:19)

Tim Coltvet is the Coordinator of Contextual Learn-ing and Coaching for the Children, Youth and Family Master’s Concentration at Luther Seminary. He

has written for WorkingPreacher.org and is cur-rently working on an essay addressing preaching to children and youth in congregational life for an upcoming Word and World journal.

Erik Karas You have to have death before you

can have resurrection.


Geoff Sinibaldo I hope there are lasers. Man

that would be cool.


Pastorjoelle Colville-Hanson is in God’s

hands, not ours.


Lynne Morrow fewer buildings... more min-

istries


Matthew Martin I think the purpose state-

ment at Sanctuary (a new mission start) pretty

much sums it up: creating sacred space (wher-

ever we can amidst the busyness), connecting

to God, and responding to what God is already

doing in the world. Relationships have never

been more important.


Erma Wolf “Built on a rock the Church

shall stand, even when steeples are falling.

Crumbled have spires in every land -- bells still

are chiming and calling, calling the young and

old to rest, but above all the souls distressed

longing for rest everlasting.”


Erma Wolf Denominations come and go.

They are transient. The Church as the Body of

Christ is eternal. That is a promise for comfort,

not complacity.



(Continued on page 18)13

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:1–8, 12–13, NRSV)

The Pentecost story is one of my favorites. It

is such a rich story of unity brought on by the

Holy Spirit and shared by everyone gathered.

I love the incredible moment where the unex-

pected happens within great confusion and

cacophony.

The church I grew up in had the tradition of

several people reading this lesson in multiple

languages very theatrically. But I imagine this

first Pentecost to be much more perplex-

ing than hearing a handful of people talking

over each other. I imagine there would be so

much noise that nothing, including your own

thoughts, would be distinguishable. It is in the

middle of that great holy mess that the people

find a common voice. They realize they can

speak and understand each other. There is a

remarkable moment of unity and community.

It is an incredible start to the church.

The story continues with Peter preaching:

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not

drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. (Acts 2:14–17, NRSV)

As Peter preaches, he is reminding the people

of their heritage and of the sacred words they

have grown up hearing and reciting. The church

was then—and is now—linked to the past

through scripture. As we move into the future,

the Spirit is among us and is visible. It is time

for us in our own holy mess to listen for God’s

voice and to make the Holy Spirit a visible and

recognizable source in our church bodies. The

Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us. Now

it is time for us all to dream some dreams.

A NEED FOR DREAMINGRecently a Pew Research Center study

showed that the largest increasing religious

group is the Nones, those who don’t claim any

affiliation. Currently, one in five adults and a

third of adults under 30 do not identify with

a religion. Just from my own perspective as a

young adult, I completely understand this Rise

of the Nones. I have seen the change among

friends and felt the varied reasons myself.

When the loudest voices of Christianity are

not preaching the same welcoming, radical

grace-giving good news I hear in the gospels,

it’s very easy to want to be somehow sepa-

rated from them, even if it is in as superficial of

a way as a checkbox.

However, my calling as a baptized Christian

claims me to something more than a checkbox.

It is leading me to a deeper sense of hope and

dreaming for our church. It is a sense of the

church that was displayed throughout the

book of Acts in the visibility of the Holy Spirit

and it is a church that needs to be dreaming in

community together.

The unaffiliated are not completely disen-

gaged in society but are getting more involved

in community service and politics. In some

ways, they are the ones who are most active in

creating a world where poverty and injustice

are not able to survive. They are living out

their dreams for the future.

I sometimes worry that our churches are not

actively dreaming about the ever-changing

future. We need to raise up the voices of the

dreamers. We need to allow our collective

dreams to guide our church.

What follows is a moving Bible Study you can do

with your kids and youth. At each location, read

a Bible passage that will connect you to the past

and the living word. Then explore the questions

to help you connect with the visible Holy Spirit

and to begin dreaming dreams together.

AT THE FONTGather around the baptismal font or another

source of water. Baptism affirms our common

call to guide each other in understanding and

sharing our faith.

• Read together about Philip and the Ethio-

pian in Acts 8:26–40.

• Philip was immediately taken away by

the spirit. Do you ever feel immediately

“taken away” physically, spiritually or

emotionally?

• What are the ways you remember your

baptism or celebrate your baptismal an-

niversary?

• What do you think is the more important

thing to share about baptism?

• If everyone baptized could instantly un-

derstand something about God or their

faith that they may not already know,

what would it be?

IN A REFLECTIONFind some mirrors or a reflective surface

where everyone can gather. When we are

joined in community, we are able to see reflec-

tions of God in each other.

• Read together about the Council at Jeru-

DREAMING DREAMS OF THE CHURCH: A MOVING BIBLE STUDY

By Rebekah Wedge Thornhill

14

FALL 2012

salem in Acts 15:1–11.

• In this passage, there is debate about

who is a part of the church and who is

not. What are ways that we define who

we are as Christians?

• How does the church reflect who you are

as an individual? How does the church

reflect your neighbor?

• What do you want the people in the

church to look like?

LOOKING THROUGH WINDOWSGather around a window. Windows can pro-

vide a look into a place we might not otherwise

see. Windows also allow us to look out into

the world.

• Read together about Saul’s conversion in

Acts 9:1–22.

• How did Saul’s perception change?

• We do not always experience dramatic

conversions such as this, but what are

the ways you have felt changed by the

church?

• Look around. Are there perspectives you

have never seen of the church? Have you

ever laid on the floor to look up or seen

what it looks like from the chancel?

• What is a perspective you would like to

see happening in the church?

AT THE DOORSStand outside the main doors to the church. No-

tice what doors are able to keep in and shut out.

• Read together about when Peter heals a

lame beggar in Acts 3:1–10.

• This story is about a man who has been

begging outside the church his entire life.

What was different when he finally went

into the church?

• How would you like to welcome people

into the church building or community?

(Think about ways to welcome people

that don’t have to do with the building

such as social media or personal interac-

tion.)

• How can we welcome beauty, wonder,

and amazement into our communities?

IN SCRIPTUREGather in a place where scripture is read and

proclaimed such as the lectern or pulpit.

• Read together about Paul’s vision in

Corinth in Acts 18:9¬11.

• Paul was living in a challenging time

where proclaiming the gospel could mean

costing him his life. In the United States,

we are granted a freedom that Paul did

not have during his lifetime, and that

others do not have today, yet we don’t

always appreciate it. What is a way that

you can use your voice and encourage

others to use theirs?

• Whose voice is not being heard in our

churches today?

• Where are other places we can be pro-

claiming the word?

AT THE ALTAR Surround the altar.

• Read together about Paul in Athens in

Acts 17:22–28.

• Here Paul encounters a community in

Athens with so many gods that they don’t

seem to know who they have built an al-

tar to. How does this altar specifically join

us together? (Hint: it’s less about the altar

and more about the actions and words

around it.)

• How do the sacraments help to connect

the community with a unified voice?

• How can we help more people to under-

stand what we believe? How can we make

God go from an unknown to a known?

WITH MUSIC AND ARTGather around artwork, paraments, or an

organ, piano or other musical instrument. In

our Lutheran tradition, music and visual arts

hold a special place for exploring and reflect-

ing on our faith.

• Read together about Paul and Silas in

prison in Acts 16:22–34.

• Paul and Silas were praying and singing in

prison. When are unexpected times you

can share God’s presence?

• Share about a favorite hymn or piece of

art. How is faith represented in art or

music for you?

• How would you like to see the church

represented in creative ways?

MY DREAM FOR THE CHURCHRecently I heard a remark: if we fail to dream,

we will continue to have nightmares. I don’t

want to say that the church is a nightmare, but

it is a difficult place for many. It is a place that

many feel unwelcome and unloved. It is a place

where people are not always able to hear the

gospel. This is when the nightmares creep into

the shadows of our sanctuaries. This is why we

must keep dreaming.

Perhaps my best dream for the church is

found at the end of Acts 2:

So those who welcomed his message were bap-tized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many won-ders 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. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. (Acts 2:41–47a, NRSV)

I dream of a church where the shadows are

cast out by the light of the resurrection. I

dream of a church where we spend our time

sharing love in community. I dream of a church

where we gather together over meals and

sacred conversations. I dream of a church were

we are rooted in scripture and fill every breath

mark with the actions of our lives. I dream of

a church where we care for all people as an

outpouring of God’s grace. I dream of a church

were we are in constant awe of the Holy

Spirit’s action in our lives. I dream of a church

that dreams.

I occasionally get glimpses of this church and

in those moments I am overwhelmed with

hope and joy. It reminds me that there is much

more work to be done within the church (and

the checkbox) that have claimed me.

Rebekah Wedge Thornhill is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. After a few years working in family and youth ministry, she is now a part of the Metropolitan New York Synod staff.

15

Almost five years ago, a group of us at Augs-

burg Fortress gathered in a conference room

to discuss a simple question: if you were given

a blank page of paper, how would you redesign

the organization? The set of meetings that

ensued were appropriately called the “blank

page” meetings. Since that time, our organiza-

tion has been on a journey—with no end in

sight—pursuing this question in the context

of our particular vocation as the ministry of

publishing of the Evangelical Lutheran Church

in America. It’s been a wild ride.

Not long after

the “blank page”

meetings, a differ-

ent group of us

gathered to take

this question

further. This

time, we began

hatching a

new organiza-

tion within

Augsburg

Fortress.

Our con-

versations

ranged

broadly: some of

us were inspired by the “design thinking”

methodologies of innovation firms like IDEO,

while others focused on writing a mani-

festo for the new organization—with all the

iconoclasm and passion that might entail. Still

others of us were energized by the prospect

of moving in a more ecumenical direction. One

thing unified us, however—our very simple

mission statement: spark new life in Christian

communities.

One of the core concepts of design thinking

is the notion of a “wicked problem.” There are

many organizations and people associated

with design thinking, and there are as many

approaches to design thinking as there are

definitions of design. However, the notion of

a wicked problem seems universal. A wicked

problem is usually defined as a big, complex

problem, with no obvious solution. In our

case, the wicked problem was the state of the

church. How could we use design thinking to

help us with this problem? And how would we

need to change as an organization?

I won’t recount the challenges the church

faces—you probably know better than I do.

But one fact seems clear: the mainline church

is not growing. Both Gallup and Pew have

published the latest news: organized religion

continues its decades old decline, and the only

group that seems to be growing in the Ameri-

can religious scene is the unaffiliated. There

are no doubt congregations that are bucking

these trends—perhaps you’re in one of them

(and if you are, your experience is important as

we try to respond to this wicked problem). But

overall, the challenge is deep and persistent.

Like it or not, we do have a problem. Ironically,

we at sparkhouse find that problems—hon-

estly stated—tend to energize people. At least

that’s the effect on us. Despite our ecumeni-

cal commitments, this is, perhaps, a legacy of

our Lutheran heritage: as Luther taught us, “A

theologian of the cross calls a thing what it is.”

One of the first wicked problems we encoun-

tered was confirmation. I taught confirmation

many years ago as an intern pastor. It was not

the easiest assignment, but I enjoyed it: how

often do you get the chance to teach doctrinal

theology to hormonally challenged kids! More

seriously, though, it’s often an unsaid anxiety

in our congregations that youth “graduate

from church” in confirmation, never to be seen

again. This was the first wicked problem that

we addressed in our new organization.

We called the organization “sparkhouse.” The

name means a lot of things to us, but most

simply suggests the creative, dynamic “space”

that we want to be. I joke sometimes that

sparkhouse is not a place, but a “state of mind.”

But it’s also true that location matters: we’re

purposely located outside of downtown Min-

neapolis and the corporate offices of Augsburg

Fortress in what I like to call the “East Village”

of Minneapolis—the Wedge neighborhood of

Uptown. If you’ve ever been to New York City,

you know that the East Village is an artistic and

iconoclastic part of Manhattan, and that fits

the Wedge. That’s probably a fair description

of sparkhouse, too. Our ambition early on was

to be an organization that was “provocatively

and constructively orthodox Christian.” In

effect, we wanted to be located in a place that

reflected our sense of identity. And I think we

found that.

However, the iconoclasm that we brought to

our new venture wasn’t for its own sake. It was

about fulfilling our mission, sparking new life

in Christian communities—tackling “wicked

problems.” And, again, our first big problem

was confirmation.

Confirmation has always been a cornerstone

of Christian education, particularly in the

Lutheran tradition. In fact, many of you may

not consider it a problem at all. In design

thinking, framing the problem appropriately

is critical. In this case, we chose to frame the

problem of confirmation a bit more broadly:

even though few were complaining about

confirmation itself, many were worried to

death about the way confirmands tend to drop

out of church for decades, if ever coming back.

That’s the wicked problem. Our hypothesis—

and perhaps you share this, too—was that

confirmation was a part of this broader wicked

problem: that is, confirmation was a part of a

larger ministry system that was not properly

preparing youth for adult faith.

As burgeoning design thinkers, we took the

natural next step and tested our hypothesis—

even if unconventionally: we tweeted. This

was late in 2009. One of our colleagues had a

big Twitter following, and he posted a simple

message that went something like this: “Want

to help us rethink confirmation?” The tweet

included a link to a Google form, and within

hours we had dozens of people interested in

helping us confront our wicked problem. Just

DESIGNING MINISTRYby Tim Paulson

16

FALL 2012

like that. It’s amazing how a wicked prob-

lem—honestly stated—can gather community

(and hope)!

At this point, our hypothesis had evolved

into a kind of wonky aspiration statement:

“Empower youth to become constructive

theologians.” In other words, we thought that

confirmation tended to disempower youth,

not enabling them to think theologically about

life—a skill, if you can call it that, which is foun-

dational to a rich, adult faith. This had multiple

implications for ministry in general, but for

us—and our ministry of publishing—it meant

that we needed to develop a resource that

began to solve this problem, wicked though it

may be.

Helping teens become “constructive theolo-

gians” may sound vague and academic, but we

saw it as very concrete and practical. What

does this mean? Well, as we began to develop

the resource, we sought out ways to make

theological refection fun and concrete for

youth—i.e., as fun as a set of videos that reflect-

ed their snarky sense of humor and concrete

as a book full of activities that transformed into

dozens of hands-on projects. And, naturally, we

decided to call this resource—“reform.” There

was actually a lot in this simple word: one, it re-

ferred to the Reformation, both institutionally

and theologically; two, it suggested the topic—

formation; and, three, it alluded to an aesthetic

activity, like shaping or forming, which is the

heart of the process. Yes, there’s a lot in this

simple word, but it also clearly suggests our

simple desire to create some change. And

like Luther confronting the devil, it seemed

necessary to bring some laughter with these

changes. We laughed a lot ourselves. And so

have many of our customers!

After assembling our group of Twitter-

sourced reviewers, we used another major

tool in the design thinking toolkit: we “iter-

ated.” Or, as my colleague says, “We made a

bunch of stuff, showed it to some people. And

did it again. And again.” In this case, we visual-

ized our concept of empowering youth—got

some feedback. Mocked-up some funny

video—and got more feedback. Wash and

repeat. It’s really quite a simple, but it was

one of first times we did this systematically.

The key is to be visual, and design a good

feedback group.

In addition to this Twitter group reviewing our

prototypes, we formed another one to help us

concept the curriculum. In fact, we flew them

in from the “four corners” for an event we call a

“jam.” Oftentimes, it’s most helpful to get a tal-

ented group of people around a single table to

hash stuff out. A jam, though, is a particular kind

of event for us: a jam takes its major inspiration

from the freeform and collaborative process as-

sociated with certain forms of jazz. In the end, a

jam for us has three ingredients: smart people,

lots of play, and hours and hours of conversa-

tion focused on a few important problems. We

have even started proliferating different kinds

of jams: “creative jams,” “writing jams,” “proto-

type jams,” “contributor jams,” etc. And each has

its own “flavor,” but the goal is always the same:

solve some sort of wicked problem.

The problems of course continue—and in

some ways that’s how we like it. It gets our

creative juices going. Re:form, of course,

released in 2010—and some of you may

have used it. Like all our products, it’s not

perfect, but we like to think it’s made a dent

in the wicked problems facing youth forma-

tion. Other projects have passed through our

doors as well: ReNew VBS, Holy Moly Sunday

school, Connect Preteen Sunday school,

Animate adult series, etc. But Re:form really

kicked it all off for us.

More importantly, we press on. There’s no rest

for the wicked—or those of us who pursue

wicked problems. We are by no means done

with investigating youth ministry. Nor is

Re:form. But we ultimately measure our suc-

cess in how we impact end users—regardless

of age or ministry program. I still remember

a particular vignette form the early days of

Re:form. We were only a few weeks or so

after release into the market, and we got

some feedback from a congregation using it.

Thankfully, the confirmation class really liked

Re:form, as the congregation indicated, but

more surprisingly for them (and us) was that

the group who “graduated” from confirmation

the year previous wanted to do confirmation

again, after figuring out what the current class

was doing. I had never heard of a reaction

like that before. It took me a few moments to

grasp what was going on. No one ever wanted

to take my confirmation class again! At that

point, however, I knew that we had made a

dent in our wicked problem—or at least as

much as a publisher partnering with you can.

I knew that we had a chance—God willing—to

empower youth to become constructive theo-

logians in their own lives. Doing confirmation

again was exactly the point. Reflecting daily

on our baptismal identity—theologically—was

exactly the point. Those confirmation “gradu-

ates” weren’t thinking about all of this, of

course. But planting a “spark” for ongoing, life-

long, theological reflection was exactly what

we wanted to do. And I caught a glimpse—if

only a glimmer—of something truly new.

Tim Paulson is Publisher at sparkhouse, the ecumenical division of Augsburg Fortress, Publishers. Among other things, he looks forward to finishing his MBA this spring and trying to keep up with his multinational, multilingual, and interfaith family.

17

Michele Fischer Jeremiah 29:11 I know what

I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to

take care of you, not abandon you, plans to

give you the future you hope for.


David Roschke Will still be a community of

saints and sinners.


Tim Bauerkemper Messy and chaotic. Scares

the hell out of me. Wonderfully scary though.

October 4 at 12:43pm · Like · 3

Robert Saler The fact that clergy will, by eco-

nomic necessity, be more engaged in “secular”

vocations will be an initial hardship and a

long-term boon to mission. Some, however,

will withdraw and renew both eremitic and

cenobitic streams of monasticism. Both of

those features are what I meant by “more like

its past.”

October 4 at 12:54pm · Edited · Like · 1

Michael LawrenceWeden Five congrega-

tions in San Antonio are going through a pro-

cess of Pilgrimage and Spiritual Discernment

to find out what we are being called to do and

to become. Our next session will be on OCt

13 from 9 to 11 am at Good News Lutheran

Church. [email protected] and (210) 452-

3207 for more information.


Charles Fredrickson It’s in process :)

October 4 at 12:58pm · Like

Michael Coffey crucifixion and resurrection


R Don Wright In the year 27,012 our times

will be regarded as the early church.


Kert Lauterbach Narrative! A couple weeks

ago in Business Week there was an article

sharing that power point as an effective tool is

over. Someone who can tell the story effectivly

will trump a structured outline every time. The

great stories of the Bible are still powerful.

How few words to tell “The prodigal son.” The

future of the church is narrative.


Keith Andrew Spencer A place of intentional

and energized intergenerational discipleship

through which the best of creative selves is

humbled offered in love though prayer, pres-

ence, worship, serving, justice and fellowship

and where the worst of ourselves dies again

and again in repentance and forgiveness.


Clint Schnekloth The church I hope for is the

church Luther hoped for when translating the

mass into German, the one he said was ideal

but would never happen.


Ron Mathews Like Social Security, the ELCA

church will not be around for me to retire from

based on its current state, if at all.


Scott Alan Johnson Jesus

October 4 at 9:21pm via mobile · Like · 1

Clint Schnekloth Luther’s third type of divine

service (after the Latin and German options)

[3] But the third sort [of Divine Service], which

the true type of Evangelical Order should

embrace, must not be celebrated so publicly

in the square amongst all and sundry. Those,

however, who are desirous of being

Christians in earnest, and are ready to profess

the Gospel with hand and mouth, should regis-

ter their names and assemble by themselves in

some house to pray, to read, to baptize and to

receive the sacrament and practise other

Christian works. In this Order, those whose

conduct was not such as befits Christians

could be recognized, reproved, reformed,

rejected, or excommunicated, according to the

rule of Christ in Matt. xviii. Here, too, a

general giving of alms could be imposed on

Christians, to be willingly given and divided

among the poor, after the example of St. Paul

in 2 Cor. ix. Here there would not be need

of much fine singing. Here we could have

baptism and the sacrament in short and simple

fashion: and direct everything towards the

Word and prayer and love. Here we should

have a good short Catechism about the Creed,

the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s

Prayer. In one word, if we only had people who

longed to be Christians in earnest, Form and

Order would soon shape itself. But I cannot

and would not order or arrange such a com-

munity or congregation at present. I have not

the requisite persons for it, nor do I see many

who are urgent for it. But should it come to

pass that I must do it, and that such pressure

is put upon me as that I find myself unable

with a good conscience to leave it undone,

then I will gladly do my part to secure it, and

will help it on as best I can. In the meantime, I

would abide by the two Orders aforesaid; and

publicly among the people aid in the promo-

tion of such Divine Service, besides preaching,

as shall exercise the youth and call and incite

others to faith, until those Christians who are

most thoroughly in earnest shall discover each

other and cleave together; to the end that

there be no faction-forming, such as might

ensue if I were to settle everything out of my

own head. For we Germans are a wild, rude,

tempestuous people; with whom one must

not lightly make experiment in anything new,

unless there be most urgent need.


Jeremy Myers Clint - I like it but I wonder if

it is time for a fourth type - one that actually

seeks innovative ways of bringing elements of

the Divine Service into the public square that

Luther wanted to avoid. And I don’t just mean

worshiping in a park during the summer.


Bob Fisher Clint Schnekloth - Luther was way

ahead of his time, wasn’t he? Although I think

today the need for serious experimentation

might be greater than in his time.


18

FALL 2012

Tim Larson “You have to have death before

you can have resurrection.” It doesn’t make

death less painful -- but makes our pain and

grief count.


Tim Thompson The larger community gathers

monthly, with Luther-style Third Order/house

church groups gathering the other weeks. At

the monthly you get full meal deal celebra-

tion worship and a sermon/message/teaching

that’s been a month in the making. No more

time pressure to be done in an hour. Plus the

band/choir is awesome because they get a

month to prep for every gathering. Always

linked to a community meal. Prayer requests

and praise reports from the weekly groups. In

the weeklies, you have a month to process and

work on applying the teaching in a supportive

accountability, shared-life community. Parents

collaborate and support each other in nurtur-

ing the faith of the kids. Pastors get to take

the time saved from the weekly worship cycle

and devote it to mentoring the leaders of the

weekly groups. Oh, and since you only need

the building one Sunday a month you can have

the whole thing shared by four congregations

and cut your facility costs by 75%. Even more

if you can team up with some whackos who

think it’s OK to worship on some other day of

the week. Yeah. Something like that.

October 6 at 10:12pm via mobile · Like · 4

Mackenzie Thedens Grondahl Home based

churches that worship once a month in town/

regional tribal gatherings where the sacra-

ments are presided over by ordained clergy

who serve as regional teachers. Regions band

together in networks for mission , service,

development, and mutua...See More

November 1 at 3:18pm via mobile · Like · 2

Rick Fry Anti-denominational

November 1 at 3:22pm via mobile · Like · 1

Chris Gaule The future of the church will be

filled with vibrant new life breathed by God

into a world and a people that will long for

the way things used to be or might be or can’t

be. In the midst of that frustration, the simple

fact of our dissatisfaction will be the constant

reminder that we are dependent upon grace

through and through.

November 1 at 5:12pm · Like

Kristy Buyok Christ will still be the head of it

and the body will follow the head’s lead. All’s

good. God’s got this. Christ will return.

November 1 at 7:19pm · Like · 1

Nathan Strong Yes, I think that we will be

surprised what it combines to make it work.


Chuck Olmstead The future of the church in

the hands of man, as 21 so called ecumenical

councils have proven, is debate God and the

things of God, vote and schism, (sound familiar

in the ELCA)...the future of the church in the

hands of God’s Spirit is an Acts-like explosion

of the power of God at work in this world...and

its is an unstoppable movemnet, redeeming

human souls and transforming human hearts.


Rebecca Ebb-speese After all the church

has been through since its beginning- there is

definitely a future but how it will look, that is

the question. It should be ever reforming.

November 2 at 10:06am · Like · 1


19

Thrivent Members Can Now Choose

The Network!

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network is now a

recipient of Thrivent Choice dollars! Folks

who have access to these dollars can go to

the Thrivent choice page and designate the

Network as the recipient of your dollars! It’s

a great way to support the Network!

To make a donation, please go to:

www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice . Log in,

and from there you can search for the ELCA

Youth Ministry Network in the listing of

approved organizations, and make your des-

ignation! Thank you to all who have chosen

the Network for your donations so far!

The Network is grateful to its individual donors and organizational partners for supporting its

mission and vision for the future. The Network is funded in 3 ways:

Extravaganza fees cover approximately 2/3 of the cost

of the event. The remaining 1/3 is covered by

organizational and partnership gifts.

Network operational costs are covered by

membership dues.

Funding for developing our future vision comes from

financial gifts from individuals, and organizations.

These individuals have made a special gift during the current fiscal year to help further the mis-

sion of the Network. We are grateful for their support!

These organizations have taken the extra step to become Network partners this year to provide

support for the Network. We are grateful for their support!

Gold Partners:

ELCA Youth Gathering

Luther Seminary

Mission Investment Fund

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Trinity Lutheran College

Silver Partners:

Augsburg Fortress Publishing

LutheranColleges.org

Lutheridge+Lutherock Ministries

Wartburg Theological Seminary

Youth Encounter

Youth Leadership, Inc.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! THRIVENT CHOICE

EXTRAVAGANZA REGISTRATION

MEMBERSHIP DUES

extravaganza

operating expenses

Connect Journal • Staff • Publicity • Etc...

Eric CarlsonTim ColtvetHeidi CryerPatty EricksonRay GentryMargie FiedlerHeidi HagstromTyler Malotky

Matthew MarchDon MarshCary MathisPat NetkoJulie Schuessler PeraltaRachael Puttbrese Beth Smallbeck

20

FALL 2012

The Church I want to see . . . is a broad topic in-

deed. But, as with any topic, it starts with clari-

fying our terms of discussion. From the get-go,

there’s that pesky first letter, “C.” If it’s capital-

ized, we go in one direction; if it’s not, we go in

another. If we’re talking Church with a capital

C, then quite frankly it’s none of my business

to be saying what it should be. Because—in my

own view, anyway—that’s God’s business. The

big “C” Church will be what God wants it to be,

with or without our help, thank you very much.

And, as for the small “c” church, well, that’s also

none of my business unless it’s the one where

I am spending my Sunday mornings. Your

church may look completely un-awesome to

me (for reasons that might surprise you, hon-

estly), but that’s none of my beeswax, as Junie

B. Jones might say.

Since I am an Episcopal priest, it is my bound-

en duty to talk about a “middle way,” a middle

C/c Church/church that is neither one nor the

other, but is a via media, or the middle road.

Lutherans tend to hold two opposing views in

tension. Anglicans seek a “middle way.” And my

own opinion on the implications of those broad

brush strokes is a matter for a different essay

(which also might surprise you).

So, what is the C/church I’d like to see? Well,

for starters, it’s one where those two cases are

the same thing—big “C” and little “c” sitting to-

gether, like in a Dr. Seuss book. By that I mean,

a place where my local church is reflecting the

broader Church. (Big C, little c, what begins

with C?) Obviously, that is such an exaggerated

broad stroke that it seems like I’m finger paint-

ing. So, let me just cut to the Jackson Pollack

method here and throw some “C”s at the wall,

which was my pasta-tasting method in my ear-

lier days . . .

Continuity: The Kingdom is a place where all

are welcome, and all participate, without re-

gard to any of the walls and barriers and dis-

tinctions we throw up to make ourselves feel

special or chosen. When we strive for that ideal

in our little postage stamp of a church, we are

connected to the Church of every time and ev-

ery place, continuing to be part of the Church,

whatever form it may take.

Community: Whether or not I like you, or

want you to be there, you are in the boat with

me, and since it’s a lifeboat, throwing you out

would require a really good justification. I

mean, on the level of you’re actively drilling

holes in the boat. In the best-case scenario, we

do not choose our faith community, as though

we were selecting a fitness club. If it’s in our

hands, we will likely choose a community that

makes our life easier, and that just ain’t right.

Cool-Free Zone: Let’s face it, the reason many

people go church shopping is because they

want a place that’s cool. Most churches are not

cool, by any stretch, and many “new” churches

strive to be cool above all else. Sacraments and

hymn singing and liturgy are decidedly uncool.

And trying to make them cool suggests we are

trying to create something other than church,

to be blunt about it. Jesus was not cool. Jesus

was not aloof or indifferent or part of the “in

crowd,” no matter how much your local Chris-

tian radio station may try to tell you otherwise.

The church I want to see, in essence, is the

church that has always been there. The place

that seems foreign to our daily life, not trying

to imitate it. The place that welcomes people

who are not welcome anyplace else. The place

that does what Luther says defines the church:

administers the sacraments and preaches the

gospel . . . These two criteria seem increasingly

rare, in my experience.

Mainly, the church I want to see is the church

that is made up of every type of person in the

local community. One where everyone is wel-

come, everyone hears the good news, and

everyone can experience the gifts of grace in

water, bread, and wine. I guess when it comes

down to it, I’m just sort of an old-fashioned kind

of guy.

George Baum is one half of the band Lost And Found (speedwood.com), and is also a supply priest in the Episcopal Church, the father of two, and the husband of one.

A VIEW FROM SOMEWHERE ELSEby George Baum

21

Start Date End Date Name Location Contact Person Web Site Targeted to:

Dec 18, 2012 1:00 PM

Dec 18, 2012 1:30 PM

3rdTuesday Conversation Online Dannica Mont-plaisir

www.elcaymnet.org Adult Professionals

Jan 13, 2013 3:00 PM

Jan 13, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: Faith Formation in a Missional Age

Online Webinar Catherine Anderson

www.practicediscipleship.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals, Parents

Jan 15, 2013 1:00 PM

Jan 15, 2013 1:30 PM



Jan 20, 2013 3:00 PM

Jan 20, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: "If Necessary Use Words?" Verbum Dei Theology for Right Now



Jan 24, 2013 3:00 PM

Jan 25, 2013 5:00 PM

Extravaganza 2013 Intensive Care Courses

Hyatt - Anaheim, CA Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Jan 25, 2013 9:00 PM

Jan 28, 2013 2:00 PM

Extravaganza 2013 Hyatt - Anaheim, CA Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Feb 1, 2013 7:00 PM

Feb 3, 2013 11:00 AM

Crossways Youth Workers Re-treat- Featuring Andrew Root

Crossways’ Imago Dei Village Dara Q. Stull www.crosswayscamps.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals, Parents

Feb 3, 2013 3:00 PM

Feb 3, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology, Ministry, and Faith Formation



Feb 17, 2013 3:00 PM

Feb 17, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: Walking Together in Solidarity: A Theology of Accompaniment



Feb 19, 2013 1:00 PM

Feb 19, 2013 1:30 PM



Mar 3, 2013 3:00 PM

Mar 3, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: In*cultur*ating the gospel



Mar 17, 2013 3:00 PM

Mar 17, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: Dog Eating Chicken



Mar 19, 2013 1:00 PM

Mar 19, 2013 1:30 PM



Apr 7, 2013 3:00 PM

Apr 7, 2013 4:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Webinar: Going Public


www.practicediscipleship.org Adult Professionals, Parents

Apr 16, 2013 1:00 PM

Apr 16, 2013 1:30 PM



May 21, 2013 1:00 PM

May 21, 2013 1:30 PM



Jan 30, 2014 1:00 PM

Jan 31, 2014 3:00 PM


Hyatt Regency; St. Louis, Missouri

Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Jan 31, 2014 7:00 PM

Feb 3, 2014 12:00 PM

Extravaganza 2014 Hyatt Regency; St. Louis, Missouri


Jan 29, 2015 12:00 PM

Jan 30, 2015 3:00 PM


Hyatt Regency; Dearborn, Michigan


Jan 30, 2015 6:00 PM

Feb 2, 2015 11:00 AM

Extravaganza 2015 Hyatt Regency; Dearborn, Michigan


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

22

FALL 2012

23

TELL US WHO YOU KNOW

the WE HOPE TO SEE issue

CHURCH WE

ELCA Youth Ministry Network

11821 98th Pl. N.,

Maple Grove, Mn 55369

24

connect journal: the church we hope to see

Documents