ELCA youth workers gather for renewal, education and connection

​     CHICAGO (ELCA) – Seeking to renew and revitalize their ministry, youth and family workers from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered in Detroit Jan. 30 – Feb. 2 for the ELCA Youth Ministry Network’s 19th-annual Extravaganza. 
     “Extravaganza helps to renew and re-energize my ministry by giving me some time away to think about work without actually doing work,” said Kristen Baltrum, director of Cross-Generational Ministry at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Longmont, Colo. “I am allowed the space to step back, evaluate, get new ideas and a fresh perspective, as well as be exposed to ideas and resources that never actually crossed my mind.”
     Through “renewal, education and connection,” the ELCA Youth Ministry Network aims to empower adult leaders who work in youth ministry at ELCA congregations and in other areas of the church. Baltrum said that, although Extravaganza provides this renewal through worship and workshop sessions, it’s primarily the “opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues” that provides the biggest boost. “It’s the holy ground of relationship that makes this a do-not-miss event,” said Baltrum.
     “This is a profoundly unique event. This doesn’t exist anywhere else in the life of our church or in the broader spectrum of the church universal,” said the Rev. Scott Maxwell-Doherty, campus pastor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Extravaganza team leader. “First-time (attendees) wander in and the overwhelming response is ‘all of this is just for me?’ Yes, the entirety of this event is for those individuals who pay attention to the first third of life’s faith journey.”
     The Rev. Jonathan Hemphill, lead pastor and founder of Another Level Ministries, an ELCA new start ministry in Gardena, Calif., said serving in ministry “can often be isolating even though you are surrounded with people. The Extravaganza is people who experience, maybe not my same context, but my similar struggle. We can lament, share, exchange ideas and be transformed through worship together.”
     This year’s Extravaganza brought together more than 1,000 participants under the theme “Story: God’s, Ours, Yours, Mine,” which focused on how God's story is interconnected with the story happening in people’s lives today. 
     “One of the things we know about children, youth and family ministry is that there really needs to be an increased capacity to tell your faith story, to tell that Jesus story in some unique and resilient ways,” said Maxwell-Doherty. “As the church is striving to continue being relevant, part of what drives that is a unique expression, a convincing and compelling story, and not just, OK, we’re going to tell the Sunday school-style Jesus story yet again. We want to be able to equip people with the capacity to look deeply at their own faith story and how they share that in a broader community. And then how do they teach young people with whom they work those particular and unique skills?”
     Baltrum said she brought back to her congregation “a sense of what I still need to learn, what I am passionate about, and what I am not so passionate about. I am bringing back tools for the ELCA Youth Gathering this summer. I am bringing back the best kind of exhaustion possible – the one that comes from a weekend where I have been all-in.”
     Maxwell-Doherty said another important aspect of Extravaganza is the opportunity for youth and family ministry workers to discover they share common experiences, sometimes even burnout.
     “One of the things that consistently happens is that some folks who are at a place of burnout come to the Extravaganza and they find in the room 100 or more people who are at the same place. And in those conversations, somehow the volume gets turned, or the direction gets turned differently and they find it a place of restoration and hope and deep collegiality. (They discover) they are not alone in doing what they’re doing and struggling with what they’re struggling with.”
     Maxwell-Doherty said many attendees continue these connections and conversations long after the event comes to a close, “chatting with each other in order to not sink but rather be restored in our ministry and move forward.”
     “I believe my greatest connections are (with) those in the trenches with me, and I have wonderful colleagues and a whole cadre of connections at the Extravaganza.” said Hemphill. “They are real and rewarding.”
     “Extravaganza has been a place to celebrate all the amazing things that God does in, through, and in spite of me,” said Baltrum.
 Information about the ELCA Youth Ministry Network is available at http://elcaymnet.org/.

- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
773-380-2877 or Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
http://www.ELCA.org/news
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lutherans
Living Lutheran: http://www.livinglutheran.com