Greetings from the Churchwide Office in Chicago! You might be wondering, who works for the Gathering? In Chicago, there are three staff members that tend to the Gathering year-round. While they aren’t the ones who plan every single detail about the upcoming Gathering, they do support the 14 different teams that do.

Molly, the Gathering Director, first attended the Gathering in 1997 and has served at the Gathering in various capacities ever since. She’s worked at the congregational and synodical levels in youth ministry before transitioning to the Gathering in 2015.

Michael serves as the Assistant Director for the Gathering, where he handles all things housing and registration. Michael began his work with the Gathering as an intern leading up to the 2012 Gathering and has served in various roles ever since.

Justin, the Communications & Administration Program Associate for the Gathering, attended the 2012 and 2015 Gathering and then joined the Gathering staff this spring. He spent the last four summers working in outdoor ministry in various roles.

Molly, Michael, and Justin have a lot in common. Below is a Venn diagram that properly depicts some of their similarities and favorite things. Enjoy–

Lutheran youth have been gathering for more than 100 years. Yep, more than one hundred years. The predecessor church bodies that made up the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (American Lutheran Church – ALC and the Lutheran Church in America – LCA) had a rich tradition of gathering young people and their adult leaders every three years to experience the love of Christ and an opportunity to grow within their faith. Congregational youth groups would spend several days focused on worship, workshops, music, and fellowship.

Before 1988, ALC and LCA Youth Gatherings occurred in cities such as Denver, CO; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; New York City, NY; Seattle, WA; and Miami, FL with various themes such as We Are a Peculiar People and Christ is Lord. Probably one of the most notable keynote speakers was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who preached in front of 20,000 youth at the 1961 ALC Luther League convention in Miami, FL. You could say that Youth Gatherings have always been on the cutting edge, challenging young people to do God’s most righteous work.

After the birth of the ELCA, Gatherings have been held in cities that could accommodate thousands of participants, while providing facilities for experiential learning along with a venue that could hold everybody at the same time for worship and other programming. Here is a list of the ELCA Youth Gatherings, with their themes:

• 1988: San Antonio, Rejoice in the Lord Always
• 1991: Dallas, Called to Freedom
• 1994: Atlanta, 2 Be Alive
• 1997: New Orleans, Rive of Hope
• 2000: St. Louis, Dancing at the Crossroads (40,000 participants)
• 2003: Atlanta, Ubuntu: I am because we are. We are because Christ is. (38,000 participants)
• 2006: San Antonio, Cruzando: Journey with Jesus (37,000 participants)
• 2009: New Orleans, Jesus, Justice, Jazz (36,000 participants)
• 2012: New Orleans, Citizens with the Saints (33,000 participants)
• 2015: Detroit, Rise up Together (30,000 participants)
• 2018: Houston, This Changes Everything (32,000 participants)

In 2000, 2003, and 2006 the Gathering was a two-week, back to back, identical event. This way, the Gathering would be less crowded and more intimate. However, it ended up being not financially sustainable, so in 2009 there was a switch back to a one-week, one event model.

Our demographics have changed, and the overall shrinking of mainline denominations may play a role in decreasing numbers of participants, but the ELCA Youth Gathering continues to capture the hearts and ignite faith in tens of thousands of people every three years. The Gathering has also helped young people discern calls into the Church or in fields of service, where they can carry out God’s work with their hands.

We hope that you will join us in being a part of the Gathering history in 2021!

Welcome back to the ELCA Youth Gathering blog!

It’s been a while since our last blog post, but we are so excited to start it up again for the 2021 Gathering cycle. The blog will serve as a place for those who love and are transformed by this ministry to share their stories, best practices, and insights. It will also serve as a place to be inspired by the incredible impact this ministry has on individuals and communities.

We plan to hear these stories and tips from a wide range of voices including youth participants, adult leaders, Bishops, Gathering staff, team leaders, artists, speakers, learning partners, and Minneapolis leaders within the next two years. If there are specific people you’d like to hear from or topics that you think would make a great blog post, please let us know by email.

We also invite you to subscribe to the Gathering’s blog. This is a separate list from the gNews, which shares important updates about the Gathering. In fact, it would be great for everyone in your congregation or ministry to sign up, so they too can read first-hand the impact the Gathering has on individuals and communities.

We’ll see you next Thursday!

– 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.