Supporting and Connecting Young Adults
A Place for You
Young Adult Ministry of the ELCA offers inspiration, opportunities and resources for young adults like you and for people who facilitate young adult ministry in their communities of faith.
Creating Leadership Roles
Young people aren’t just part of the future of the ELCA — they are an essential part of its present vitality. ELCA congregations empower youth by sharing leadership and allowing young people’s gifts and perspectives to contribute to the future of their faith communities.
Justice-centered, Rooted in Theology
Young adults live out faith-centered justice with ELCA programs by serving locally and globally, confronting racism, advocating for peace and caring for creation. Rooted in grace, they grow in courage, deepen solidarity and join God’s work of reconciliation in a troubled world.
Our Ministries
Join us in Minneapolis for the 2027 Young Adult Gathering! We’re excited to welcome young adults to explore faith, worship, and grow together!
Local-level ministries that create space for young adults to join in fellowship, worship, community, and discussion.
The ELCA Campus Ministry Network builds vibrant faith communities on campus where students find their place, encounter Christ, wrestle with big questions, and explore their callings.
The YAGM program invites adults ages 21-35 into a transformative year of international service.
This program for our international partners develops leaders through scholarships, camp counselor opportunities, mentoring, exchanges and workshops.
Interested young adults from global companion churches should inquire here about opportunities to serve at ELCA summer camps.
Young Adult Network
The young adult network is made up of contracted and volunteer young adults from across the ELCA to engage leaders, consultion young adult program development and facilitate communication to and from the ELCA Young Adult Communities Team at the Churchwide Organization.
Network Facilitators serve to connect representatives from synods by region and representatives from the young adult networks of Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities of the ELCA. Facilitators gather with their representatives monthly and support Churchwide organization staff in relating to the entire Young Adult Network.
Synod Representatives connect with their synod’s young adult ministry programming and partners and the broader young adult community of their synod. They serve as primary communicators and champions of young adult ministry in their synod and as content experts in the current opportunities for young adults across the ELCA.
Synod Representatives connect with their networks’s young adult ministry programming and partners and the broader
young adult community of their network. They serve as primary communicators and champions of young adult ministry in their network and as content experts in the current opportunities for young adults across the ELCA.
To get connected to your network or synod representative or to learn more about the young adult network, please send an email inquiry to young adults.
Engage and Connect
Gather connects young adults across the ELCA, offering space for fellowship, worship and community. Together, diverse groups build relationships and engage in honest conversations, asking challenging questions about ourselves, our faith and our world.
Explore past resources for young adult ministry here! You’ll find videos, discussion questions, and more to explore together.
Join other young people passionate about the climate justice in community, idea sharing, and solution building.
We’d love to know what skills you want to share with wider church! We get requests often to refer folks to gifted young adults and that could be you!
We work collaboratively with ministries across the church for justice and peace. Explore how the ELCA is engaging justice alongside our neighbors.
