– Theresa Hanley 

When I was first invited to attend the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit, Michigan, I was scared. Before the Gathering, I only knew of the negative connotation that surrounded Detroit. However, since my short time in Detroit, I will forever be able to speak so proudly of the city. When I went to the Gathering, I was able to see God more clearly than ever before, and the people of Detroit changed my life. The Gathering allowed me to truly listen to God’s call for me by not only speaking about social justice topics, but also acting on these issues. 

Jesus calls us to make ourselves vulnerable for those in need, and that is what the Gathering enables. My whole life, I attended a tiny church in central Pennsylvania where my brother and I are the only youth. Although this place is my home, the Gathering made me truly proud to be a member of the ELCA. The Gathering was the first time I was able to worship God with more than the forty people who attend service every Sunday.  

The Gathering is a place where you are surrounded by people who believe the same fundamental things as yourself. It is an experience that is impossible to recreate. Singing “Hallelujah” in a building filled with over 30,000 Lutheran youth from across the country and beyond makes you feel so humbled that you are a part of this church. The Gathering changed my faith journey and I am forever thankful for the opportunity.  

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Houston.

– Heather Langan 

Hello, my name is Heather Langan and I am the assistant team leader for the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering Community Life Planning Team.  I am so excited to be working as a member of this team as we create spaces for you and your youth to come together in fellowship, faith, and FUN while at the Gathering.   

So why should you bring your youth to the Community Life venues while you are in Houston?  What will spending time in the Community Life areas do for you?  Community Life will be the first people to greet you when you arrive in Houston at your hotel.  We will be there to help you check-in for the Gathering and to help you throughout your stay whether it be at your hotel or at NRG Park. We will be there to answer your questions to help make your experience at the Gathering be enjoyable and knowledgeable. 

When you arrive at NRG Park and are trying to figure out what to do with your youth until the “next thing” happens, we will be there to provide you lots of options. Community Life is organizing the playground which will be full of large group games, inflatables, and relaxation areas; to our concerts and youth talent showcases; to worship services and small group bible studies.  We are here to help and to serve you making your time in Houston a time to grow together as a youth group and also in your personal faith development.   

We will be in Houston to help you and to help your group have a great time whether you are at play or just spending time together. Community Life wants to serve you! 

– Evelyn Soto

Why should the youth of your congregation attend the 2018 Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) in Houston?  Why come to this pre-Gathering event?

Here are some wonderful reasons why your youth of color should register.

• Growing in leadership. MYLE is an amazing opportunity for youth of color (Latino, African, African-American, Asian, American Indian and Native American, multi or bi-racial youth) to gain confidence and grow as leaders.  They will have an opportunity to see others who resemble and sound like them in key leadership roles—leading music, worship, preaching, teaching, mentoring, and so much more. MYLE exposes and encourages youth to enhance their leadership potential at the event, at the Gathering, and most especially when they return home.
  

  

  

  
  
• Building relationships, community, and networking. This event focuses on youth getting to know others at the event through many experiences, including worship, workshops, sharing meals, and fellowship events.  At every MYLE, youth are invited to come and share their culture with others through song, dance, dress, and conversation.  All cultures are shared, respected and appreciated.
  

  

  

  
  
• Growing in faith and being a witness to Jesus’ love in a just world. All MYLE participants are involved in worship and learning experiences that impact their faith, broaden their understanding of what it means to be a youth of color in our world/context, and grow in their capacity, understand and fluency for the gift of diversity in the Lutheran church and in the world.

My daughter, Amanda, attended two MYLEs and Gatherings (2011 and 2013). In 2015, she volunteered as part of the Stage Crew for the Gathering. Earlier this year, she graduated with a degree in English and minor in Theater. I know that she has been impacted by these events and experiences, and they helped shape who she has become—a powerful young woman who is vocally passionate about justice and equity in the world.  I am grateful for having the opportunity to witness this.

Come to MYLE and see God at work, now and beyond.

– Rev. Brenda K. Smith

I went to my first Youth Gathering in 2009 not knowing what to expect. When I got there, I was in awe!  I have trouble making arrangements for ten colleagues to come and work with me on a project at the Churchwide Office;  how then do you gather thousands upon thousands of youth and adult leaders together for days on end?

I don’t know how it is done, but I do know that after my first experience, I continue to tell people, “You MUST to go to a Youth Gathering!”

Why go to a Gathering?  There were many things that impressed me:

• The amount of preparation youth receive in discipleship before they come.
• The array of learning opportunities that are offered.
• The sensitivity to diversity offered by MYLE and The tAble.
• Seeing adult leaders taking time from their hectic schedules to mentor youth.
• Seeing the positive effect the participants can have on a city just by walking in the streets with their different colored t-shirts.
• The bonding that happens within the groups that come together.
• The fact that the Conference of Bishops comes and interacts to show to the world that YOUTH MATTER!
• The opportunity for youth to hear from others on how Christ is making a difference in their lives.
• The faithfulness and dedication youth demonstrate as they accompany someone in need.

One of the best reasons to go to the Gathering is to attend the evening worship service.  I saw thousands of youth and adults of all ages, races, ethnicities, shapes, sizes, and abilities gathered to praise God by singing and dancing and hugging their neighbor… and I thought, “I am experiencing the Kingdom of God.”

Rev. Brenda K. Smith is the Program Director for Faith Practices and Book of Faith.

– Judith Roberts

“We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality… tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” – words made famous by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As a person of faith, this quote reminds me of the oneness of God, “We are One in the Spirit and we are one in the Lord.” As I think about the current divisions in this country along religious beliefs, the legacy of inequities based on racial and socioeconomic status, the violence attributed to gender, discrimination experienced because of sexual orientation, the abuse of the environment, the rejection of the stranger, the separation of the family, and the construction of walls that divide us from our neighbor—it is hard to consider the unity of humanity. Yet, as people of faith, that is exactly what we are called to do. The words of Dr King couldn’t ring truer, sink or swim, we are all in this together. Remembering my baptism in Christ reminds me that I am called into a world that has been turned upside down. For me, there is an unyielding hope: first in the cross, and secondly, that I am one among many that are claimed, called, and sent.

In 2015, I joined with other passionate, insightful, caring, and courageous youth and their leaders at the Gathering in Detroit. The ELCA Racial Justice program hosted an interactive learning exhibit based on the ELCA Social Statement, “Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity & Culture.”

The words of the ELCA baptismal covenant and a water-filled basin represented a baptismal font. The font served as a reminder that it is through our baptism, we are filled with the Spirit to strive for justice.  The exhibit engaged participants to understand racism and the intersection of other forms of oppression through the lens of history and stories.

The work of racial justice is not just analyzing and understanding systems of inequity, but also ongoing working proactively and against it.

Some participants came with questions about working for racial justice; others shared personal stories of their experiences of discrimination. Some just came for conversation and connection. By the end of the Gathering, we collected over 3,000 handwritten pledges called “God’s Work, Our Hands for Justice.”

I left inspired by the commitments made at the Gathering.  Although the ELCA does not reflect the racial diversity of the broader country, my hope is in the vision being created by youth and the leaders that work with them. They are eager to learn, willing to use all of their privileges as a platform for transforming this world in continuing the journey of their baptism by showing up for justice.

I look forward to joining members of this church in Houston, TX for the 2018 Youth Gathering.

– Ed Kay

I never fully appreciated the size and scope of the ELCA Youth Gathering until I sat on the floor of the bare New Orleans Convention Center, counting out thin pieces of cardboard that would be used for what was to be the first Synod Day in a Gathering cycle in 2012. In 2015, it was thousands of “Jesus is Good News!” tattoos and prayer journals.

And in 2018, there will be loads of new supplies that will be sorted and delivered to the ballrooms and meeting spaces around Houston as our Synods gather for their day together. But what really makes the Synod Day an integral part of the Gathering experience is not the truckloads of supplies or the work of planning teams near and far.

The power of the Synod Day is the creation of a unique community of Christ, gathering around Word and Meal, honest sharing and beautiful music, and deep conversation with holy moments.

Unlike many other aspects of the Gathering, the Synod Day is when you’re with the people you’re closest with, geographically at least. Your bishop is with you. The musicians are talent from your own churches and youth groups. The testimonies are from young people from your own cities and towns. This is a community that forms with people from your own neighborhoods, even though you may be hundreds or thousands of miles from where you call home. But, in a way, it too is a kind of home as well.

The Synod Day is more than the couple of hours you’ll spend together in a Houston hotel ballroom—it is the beginning of new friendships and the renewal of long-standing ones. It is the community who will bring the story of Jesus back from Houston into your own communities and neighborhoods.