Hello! I’m Brooke De Jong, and I am very excited to join the ELCA World Hunger team as the Program Assistant for Hunger Education and share my diverse work background with the team. I can’t wait to see what new things we can do together. Most recently, I served as the Director for Youth, Family and Community Outreach at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wilmette, Ill. Prior to my work at St. John’s, I worked as a chaplain on an adolescent behavioral health unit, a grant writer for Heartland Alliance Health and as the ELCA’s Coordinator for the Observance of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and German with a minor in Ancient Languages from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D. I am currently working on my Master of Divinity and in the process of becoming a deacon in the ELCA.

I have a passion for faith formation that is culturally sensitive, socially responsive and aimed at creating lifelong, engaged members of the ELCA. I am looking forward to assisting the ELCA World Hunger team in creating resources that foster the growth of a faith that is active in love and seeks justice. I also look forward to hearing from you about how you are using ELCA World Hunger education resources and what your hopes are for the future of these resources.

When I am not in the office, I can often be found doing CrossFit, hiking, backpacking or biking. My last hiking trip was to the Grand Canyon (see photo). The last backpacking trip I took was to Colorado, where I did the Marron Bells Four Pass Loop. I traversed four mountain passes in five days! I am looking forward to exploring Zion National Park or more of the Rocky Mountains next.

With the 501st anniversary of the Reformation calling us out into the world, ELCA World Hunger is excited to announce the completion of our confirmation lesson series, “Hunger Catechisms.”

The Hunger Catechisms are intended to encourage understanding of the Small and Large Catechisms as they relate to our faith, our personal life and our public life for confirmation, high school youth groups and mentoring programs.

Each lesson begins with Martin Luther’s interpretations in both the Small and Large Catechisms and discusses their spiritual implications and social applications. At the end of each lesson is an example of how the ELCA is working alongside neighbors within the U.S. and around the world through the ministry of ELCA World Hunger.

Each lesson focuses on a variety of topics related to our call to justice:

• Economic justice
  • (1st Commandment)
• Food insecurity
  • (5th Commandment)
• Wage theft
  • (7th Commandment)
• Immigration rights
  • (8th Commandment)
• Gender equality
  • (9th + 10th Commandments)
• Environmental justice
  • (1st Article of the Creed)
• Food waste
  • (Daily Bread)

The ELCA defines confirmation as, “…a pastoral and educational ministry of the church that helps the baptized through Word and Sacrament to identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more fully in it mission.”

It is our hope that these lessons encourage your ministry to dive deeper in your faith conversations and inspire the youth of your community to participate more fully in our shared mission of working towards a just world where all are fed.

Suggested uses

Although you know your ministry best, here are some ways that other folks have used this resource:

• Youth group discussion guide
• Leader’s script (turn the main points and facts into slides)
• Supplemental curriculum during Catechism instruction
• Youth Advent or Lenten study
• Adult forums
• Mentor conversations

Please contact us at hunger@elca.org and tell us how you used these lessons in your ministry!

Learn

If you’d like to learn more about other resources that ELCA World Hunger offers to congregations,  please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

Give now

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– Nicolle Layman

The Youth Gathering has always held a special place in my life. My first Gathering was in 2006 in San Antonio, TX. I still remember standing in the stadium and feeling overcome with emotion, surrounded by 36,000 others worshiping God. I never experienced anything like it. Little did I know that God was planting seeds in my heart, which began to be cultivated over the next few years.

Flash forward to 2009 in the Superdome in New Orleans. I just graduated high school and was planning to attend a Christian university in the fall to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Youth Ministries. I was absolutely terrified by this call, questioning if I could make any impact at all. Looking around at my fellow Christians in the stadium, the Holy Spirit stirred in me once again and gave me the courage to continue pursuing God’s call to ministry. 

I am now preparing to attend my fifth Gathering in Houston in 2018. It will be my second time as a Primary Leader. I would have never guessed that back in 2006 in San Antonio that I’d be returning to Texas 12 years later to provide this life-changing experience to more of the incredible youth I serve. There is nothing like the Gathering and the impact it continues to have in my life, and now the lives of my youth. It is a beautiful ripple effect that God has orchestrated, and it is what I’m looking most forward to in Houston—seeing God’s work in the hearts of my youth and the youth of the ELCA. 

Nicolle Layman has served as the Director of Family and Youth Ministries at Calvary Lutheran Church for the past five years and is currently pursuing her Masters in Clinical Counseling at Cairn University.