There was quite a bit of concern at the convention as to where our youth are in the church. And this has been an ongoing discussion across the ELCIC, and across many denominations. What I am surprised about is that the most folks don't seem to know where our youth actually are in the church, yet they are around. Check out Lutheran Campus Ministry, check out Synod and National Youth Gatherings. If anyone read the most recent Canada Lutheran, in the ABT section they would have read my article about outdoor ministry.
Coming up next week will be Lutheran Outdoor Ministry in Alberta and the North's (LOMAN, a synod committee) Joint Staff Training. The four camps of Kuriakos, Mulhurst, Hastings and Wilderness Ranch will have their summer staffs meet together for a week of staff training. There will be 60 or so young adults being trained not only to be leaders at camp, but many of these folks are the same young people that are still around in the our churches and that will be the future leaders in our Synod. They are the same folks who showed up at seminary in droves for the past three years and who are already doing lots of the program work in our synod.
Being surrounded by greying hair can be a little saddening and worrying. What will happen to our church? Where is the next generation? Well they are out there and they want to be involved. The key to getting their involvement in the church is perhaps the first step of allowing for more youth delegates at convention, but the next step is the hard part. We must let our youth voices count, we must let our youth lead beside us and then begin to let go and let them lead while we follow.
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