by: Kris Bjorke

Hi everyone! I’m Kris Bjorke and I am excited to serve as the Service Learning Project Manager for the 2021 ELCA Youth Gathering. The city of Minneapolis, known for its parks and lakes as well as culture through the arts and music, is both a place I know and love and where I have spent my youth ministry career.

The Gathering has been a formative thread throughout my career. I was able to attend two Gatherings as a high school student. From there I had the opportunity while working at Bible Camp to serve as a leader for a busload of small congregations who were attending. Whenever serving in a congregation either settled or in interim, the Gathering was always part of the summer ministry. I also worked as Synod Day Director for the Minneapolis Area Synod twice and in Houston served as the supplies manager for Service Learning. For the Gathering to be hosted in Minneapolis is amazing— to serve alongside this capable team is a dream.

Organization experiences include; being adjunct faculty at Luther Seminary, First Third Minneapolis Area Synod Staff, co-founding InterServe Ministries along with serving as interim Children Youth and Families minister in nine congregations, Youth Leadership and six years at one congregation.

My husband Scott and I recently downsized our house and currently enjoy apartment living. We have two daughters; Julia, who lives in St. Cloud and a manager at Scheels, and Emily, a music industry student at Minnesota State Mankato and member of a local band Last Import. I enjoy all sorts of things; drinking coffee with friends, being outdoors, pets, football and hockey games, travel (with a special affinity for National Parks), being with family and quilting.

I hope you continue to be part of the Gathering in 2021 if that has been your history and if you haven’t taken part in the past, consider dipping your toes into Minneapolis as together we will partner for a deepening faith experience for our young people and ourselves.

by: Bishop Ann Svennungsen

I’m so excited that the Minneapolis Area Synod will host the 2021 ELCA Youth Gathering. Minnesota, home of 10,000 lakes and more shoreline than California is filled with Lutherans – nearly 700,000 to be exact. We have 300 congregations within an hour drive of the Convention Center – each one eager to welcome you with a ready smile.

The Dakota people were the first to live here along the banks of the mighty Mississippi, with sacred sites dotting our landscape. Now we have 11 federally recognized tribes in Minnesota and one of the largest urban Native populations in the country. Minneapolis is also the largest Somali city outside East Africa. Liberians fill several of our ELCA congregations and we have churches worshipping weekly in Lao, Hmong, Swahili, Spanish, Oromo, Amharic, Norwegian and American Sign Language.

Minneapolis is the proud hometown for Prince, Lizzo and Bob Dylan. We don’t just love this city for the music. We love it for the food too – not just hotdish and Jello, but also Juicy Lucys and cheese curds, freshly-caught walleye and wild rice, pho and injera bread. 

Even more than the Mall of America, our 22 metro lakes with their sailboats and paddleboards; our 100 miles of bike paths and abundance of rental bicycles; our countless outdoor cafes, including many global markets, and beautiful 80-degree temperatures will welcome you here. We’re really proud of our city and understand why it’s one of the most popular for young adults. 

We’re ranked first in the number of volunteers per capita, which excites us to partner with you as we follow Jesus together in meaningful service in our neighborhoods.

We can’t wait to see you in Minneapolis. Even more, we look forward to gathering with you in 2021 to hear anew the good news of Jesus’ love for all creation, including you and me. See you then!

Re-elected to a second six-year term on May 5, 2018, Bishop Ann Svennungsen was the first woman to serve as bishop in any of the ELCA’s six Minnesota synods. Today, she lives in Minneapolis with her husband Rev. Dr. William Russell.

by: Bishop Abraham Allende

In my time as bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod, I have been blessed to attend two ELCA Youth Gatherings – Detroit in 2015 and Houston in 2018. On both occasions, we worshipped, rejoiced, served, and celebrated God’s wonderful gifts of love, grace, and hope.

Each night at Mass Gathering, we heard powerful messages from a wide variety of speakers and sang a dazzling and diverse array of music from contemporary musicians. During the day each synod either gathered to worship together, went out into the community to serve in different sites around the city, or learned of the many ways the church serves around the world in Interactive Learning. 

The members of the communities where our young people carried out their service projects couldn’t stop thanking them, which was affirming for the youth. And it is through that service that they go out before others and proclaim God’s mercy and grace. 

In both Detroit and Houston, I came away with a renewed feeling of hope for the church. Being around these young people keeps me young. They are eager to serve and demonstrate the love of God by loving their neighbor. The many outreach ministries they performed brought glory to God. 

When we agonize about why young people are leaving church, we need to ask ourselves, what opportunities are we giving them in our congregations to offer their boundless energy and enthusiasm, their passion for the gospel? As adults, we are sometimes unable and often unwilling to give up control. God’s invasion of this world in Jesus is resisted by those who hold power, those whose lives are dedicated to keeping boundaries intact. The challenge is to avoid the temptation of refusing to let go of our sense of authority and denying youth of their willingness to serve.

by: Brittany Horton

Psalm 139:14 says “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

This verse is a constant reminder that God makes no mistakes. We are all made in the image of God just as He intended for us to be. As someone who has 50% hearing loss in both ears, I often thought people were staring at my hearing aids or making fun of the way I talked even though my disability was not as visible as others. When I got older, I became more comfortable with who I was and my growing faith played an important role in that.

Being a part of the tAble planning team was an amazing experience. Not only was I able to be a part of something bigger than myself but I was able to empower, motivate and love on others that may have experienced some of the same things I went through as a youth. When I was invited for the tAble I was not prepared for the life changing experiences and many friendships I would soon develop. I was excited to help others shine despite their differences. 

The tAble brought about a spiritual awakening that I did not even know I had. My only mission since then has been to do God’s work the best I know how and to love everyone the same. No matter what we are facing, God always finds several ways to show you that you are exactly where you are supposed to be in that moment. The tAble was an experience of a lifetime and I am glad to have been a part of it. Just like we encouraged these young people to be their true authentic selves, I want each of you to understand that God loves you just the way you are. 

Brittany Horton is a Detroit native and have been doing youth empowerment and advocacy work for the last seven years. She has a strong background in mentoring and community involvement. Brittany enjoys reading, swimming, listening to music, spending time with her family and friends as well as sharing her gifts through various ministries in her church.

by: Rev. Daniel Locke

For years, on the dashboard of my first car, sat a green and blue hacky sack. It looked like a small globe. It was well worn and faded by sunlight. This hacky-sack was a reminder of one of the most powerful experiences of my life – the 2003 ELCA Youth Gathering in Atlanta. GA.

When I first met the Gathering in 2003 (“Ubuntu: Do Life”), I was overwhelmed – not only by the immensity of the Gathering – but by life as well. For starters, I was an awkward, too-often-bullied high school band geek, who also kept the bench warm for two varsity sports teams. I was a thespian and a boy scout. And if that wasn’t enough, my dad was commuting long-distance to seminary, my mom was fighting cancer, and my only sibling was attending college. I was wrestling with my identity, longing to find my place and voice in life, and, most of all, I blamed God for it all.

So, I attended the 2003 Gathering with what I consider to be a reasonable amount of skepticism and disdain for faith, as well as a greenish-blue hacky sack. Every spare moment prompted a game of hacky sack, inviting anyone to join. As the circle grew so did my opportunity to meet my peers from around the world – who were also longing to figure out who they were.

It’s been almost two decades since I attended that Gathering and I am still processing the impact of that experience. The more I reflect, the clearer it becomes that the Gathering had such a positive, long-lasting effect not only on my faith formation and relationship with God, but on my understanding of the Church as well.

Obviously, one week in Atlanta did not resolve my struggles. It is 16 years later and I still wrestle. But now I wrestle with confidence and hope. The Gathering invited me into a safe space to wrestle with my identity, not only in Christ but my place in the world as well. It taught me that I am not alone. I left the Gathering with an overwhelming appreciation for the size of the church and my place in it. Lastly, and most of all, the Gathering taught me about the beauty of God’s unconditional grace; for I am named, claimed, blessed, and sealed, and there is no amount of wandering, waiting, or wrestling that can change truth.

The Rev. Daniel Locke lives in Jacksonville, FL with his wife, the Rev. Sarah Locke, and their 1-year-old son, Bennet. Daniel serves the people of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. In 2018, Daniel served the Gathering as the Technical Manager for the Interactive Learning Center. He is excited to serve the Gathering’s Interactive Learning team once again in 2021.

The Gathering’s mission, faith formation in teens, is the hub from which all things come for the tAble, MYLE, and the Gathering. Our goal is to create environments and opportunities for faith formation through worship, Interactive Learning, Bible study, Service Learning, and fellowship. While some of the experiences can be replicated at home, some are unique and special to the Gathering because of the size and scope of this ministry.

There are five core goals that we have for this ministry. We hope that all participants can be both affirmed and challenged in their faith, experience new perspectives, ponder their vocation, bond with their congregational group, and learn more about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

While some participants may accomplish these goals during our two pre-events, MYLE or the tAble, some will at Mass Gatherings, where participants come together for music, speakers, and worship. Others might tackle these goals in the Interactive Learning space, where they can experience exciting things that the ELCA and our partners are doing. Or maybe it’s being God’s hands and feet in the Twin Cities on their Service Learning day. It might even be during Synod Day, where participants are in community with those geographically close to them or it might just happen during the nightly congregational devotion and debrief called Final 15.

Wherever it happens, we know that this is a powerful and transformational ministry if you are brave enough to let your guard down long enough for the Spirit to enter in, if you can be quiet long enough to listen to someone different than yourself, if your prayer is to be open to what God is calling you to, if you realize the strong roots of a community will ground you no matter the strength of life’s storms, if you imagine yourself as part of something bigger than you.