– Lisa Jeffreys

Why the Gathering, and why service learning? Because Jesus!

That’s the easy answer, right?

But the answer really is because of Jesus.  Nothing about organizing service learning experiences for the Youth Gathering is easy.  Yet the church places great value on cultivating meaningful service learning experiences at the Gathering.

Jesus calls us into relationship with others: other perspectives, other backgrounds, other everything.  The churchy word for that is accompaniment.  Accompaniment means we value the relationship built in service learning enough to do the really hard work of listening, respecting, inviting, and engaging fully in the experience.  Jesus models this kind of ministry when he invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner, when he shares a drink with the woman at the well, and when he walks alongside two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  It’s about connecting our stories: my story, your story, God’s story.

Detroit is still buzzing about the Skittles explosion that was created at the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering.  A few week’s after the event I received this email from one of our neighborhood partners, a resident of the Detroit Osborn neighborhood: 

“We prayed for helping hands but never imagined the most loving hearts that would come along with them! Our team, ‘Pathway from Playfield to Paradise‘ worked on relentlessly to uncover the sidewalk buried for decades (so the children no longer have to walk in the street) and created beautiful planters from the tires that have been dumped (causing horrible mosquito infestation). May God continue to bless you always ELCA. You bring hope for a better future!”

I am excited to see how the Spirit will move through participants and service learning partners in 2018 because, you know, Jesus.

Lisa Jeffreys was the Service Learning Coordinator for the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering 

– Iain Chester

My first experience of the ELCA Youth Gathering was less than two years ago in Detroit. I learned quickly that a Gathering is unique and that there is nothing quite like worshiping in an NFL stadium filled with 30,000 people. As children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman walked out on to the stage during worship, she summed it up perfectly saying, “You are incredible.”

My role at the ELCA Youth Gathering was to help with ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. This interactive experience invites participants to learn more about access to clean water by following the story of someone who does not have easy access to clean water. Participants can feel what it is like to collect water by carrying a five-gallon jug of water (about 41.5 pounds when full).

Looking out at the crowd, Marian Wright Edelman challenged us saying, “With your energy we are going to transform America and make it understand that God did not make two classes of children.”

Since the Gathering, many congregations, youth groups, and high schools across the ELCA have hosted their own localized versions of ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. I believe that this experience, taken home by so many who came to the Gathering, has been a small part of the transformation Wright Edelman spoke about.

Congregations and youth groups have also been part of transformation through giving. Many who attended the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering brought gifts to support ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water. To date, over $1 million has been raised to support ELCA World Hunger water-related projects. This transformation all began at the Gathering and will continue to provide clean drinking water like spring boxes and boreholes, support for irrigation systems, education about sanitation in rural villages, and so much more.

God did not make two classes of children, some with access to clean water and others without.

As we look toward Houston and the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, I am excited to see the ways in which God will transform us, our world, and our understanding of one another.

– Allison Tice

As I walked through the streets of Detroit to Ford Field one evening, I witnessed disciples that covered the streets with hope, grace, and love. That evening, I saw a man that was part of the Gathering give his leftovers to a homeless man. It was one of the most moving moments I saw unfold. I witnessed the tears and love shared between the two. Witnessing the simple gesture of sharing a meal and being Christ-like to one another showed me that even the smallest of gifts to others made the biggest impact. I quickly realized that the Gathering needed me, and needed us to show that we aren’t there to “fix” them or “fix” their city, but to walk in servanthood together.

It was then I could answer, “Why the Youth Gathering?” In that moment, I realized why we were there: to build bridges, to show love, and to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

It was hard for me to grasp the idea that the service projects we would be doing were not monumental, yet they made the greatest impact in Detroit. Through my service project, I helped a local community garden begin planting for the upcoming season. I knew that even through pulling weeds and shoveling dirt, this meant the world to the community in which we were helping. While we were working, it began to rain. In that moment, I could choose to be angry that it was raining… or I could rejoice. I simply chose to remember that I am a called and baptized Child of God. I saw this as God “showering” us with grace and never-ending love.

Why the Youth Gathering? To simply be. Be the church, be the light, and be like Jesus with and among God’s people.

– Theodore Kooistra

After a long day of working, I refilled my water bottle but was forced to empty it at the door of the stadium. This was one of the many things I vividly remember from my trip to Detroit.  That day, my group worked in a neighborhood to clean up trash. Countless areas in Detroit didn’t have city garbage disposal. So few people occupied spaces per block, that along with the cost of gas, waste companies would lose money driving out to pick up trash. Small and isolated neighborhoods also meant that sending police units to patrol the streets wasn’t efficient either. This set the stage for disorderly and dirty neighborhoods.

Each inhabited house had bags upon bags of garbage just sitting at the curb. All of the bags were in various stages of decay, with some bags even housing bees. Residing under the garbage were jungles of grasses, with weeds sprouting from the cracked sidewalks. Glass was all over the place.

When we learned that many people didn’t have running water because they couldn’t afford the bill, we immediately opened our bottles to share.

We learned later that day that often it was much easier to just leave a house abandoned than to file for bankruptcy. Those abandoned and unoccupied houses were falling apart. Often, houses were missing copper pipes as they were sold for money. These were only some of the looming complications that the people in our neighborhood explained.

Everyone tirelessly worked so we were exhausted, but enthused with what was accomplished.  Now you can imagine why my breath got caught in my throat while my water washed over the pavement.

However, being at the Gathering filled up the cups of those living in Detroit.

This is one of the transformational stories that overflowed me with love, reminding me of why I attended the Gathering.

– Jennifer Schultz

I’m Jennifer Schultz, and I’m thrilled to serve as Team Leader for Volunteers for the 2018 Gathering. I currently serve as an ELCA pastor in Los Alamitos, California.  As a student, I didn’t have the opportunity to participate in a Gathering, but I’ve served as an adult leader at two Gatherings. For the 2015 Gathering, I served as Co-Leader for the Volunteers Team. There are so many volunteers that serve throughout the Gathering. The Volunteers Team includes Gathering Volunteer Corps (GVC), Servant Companions, and local volunteers. 
 
The Gathering is an incredible ministry. It provides a dedicated space, time, and ample opportunities to live out our Christian faith in new and different settings with so many siblings in Christ. The experience of the Gathering is not only life-changing for students and adult leaders, but also for the myriads of people who serve in preparation for, during, and after the Gathering. I had no idea how many people were involved until I served on the leadership side of the 2015 Gathering. There are so many dedicated people who come together from a variety of settings, backgrounds, ages, and experiences. This variety actually unites us for the common goals for the Gathering: to bring the love of God through Jesus to life for all participants, to be of service to neighbor, and to experience faith in unexpected, new, and renewed forms.     
 
As you prepare for the Gathering, please know there are so many dedicated people working towards the common goal of everyone of having a faith-filled experience! 

-Amy Wagner

When I transitioned into a new role of Communications Coordinator three years ago, I knew I would miss leading students through those mountain top experiences of mission trips, retreats, and yes, the ELCA Youth Gathering—as exhausting as they can be.

I served three times as the Gathering Synod Coordinator for the Nebraska Synod. The role of Gathering Synod Coordinator is integral in helping prepare congregations experience the ELCA Youth Gathering. A facet of my role as a Gathering Synod Coordinator was to participate in the Gathering either as an adult leader for a congregation or as a volunteer. Since I wasn’t going to be bringing a group to Detroit in 2015, I was more than excited to be a volunteer.

This Gathering has continually renewed my faith in a mighty and powerful God that always shows up in our lives. Sometimes I forget to look for God through the to-do lists and calendars. God was already in Detroit before “the Lutherans” came. But to see God shine, through the hands and feet of the 30,000 participants during the week, is hard to describe. It was countless hugs and high fives, screams of joy, and youthful energy, as far as the eye could see.

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, addressed the whole community of participants twice, and in her Sunday sermon said, “We were taken out of our normal places wherever they were across this country and the Caribbean, and we were set down here in Detroit. We were just ready—ready to see what was going to happen. The Spirit could come in because we didn’t have our defenses up.”

The Gathering allows young people to see how big the church is, how big the reach can go beyond our communities and how we, as Lutheran Christians in the world, can affect change together. The event hashtag (#riseupELCA) was even trending on all three main social channels throughout the week! This event is a big deal: plain and simple.

It is a joy to be a part of a church that lives and breathes service to our neighbors, near and far. I look forward to the opportunity to volunteer again in Houston in 2018. Will you join me?

Amy Wagner currently serves as the Communication Coordinator for Sheridan Lutheran in Nebraska.