# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S62 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 62 PARISH, YOUTH, AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES 18. Resource materials need to be provided to parents, youth committees, lay persons, and professional church staff members to enable them in their ministry with and to youth. 19. Models need to be developed for parishes to consider using in their youth ministry programs. 20. Youth ministry is first evaluated on the basis of youth involved in Word and Sacrament and then on the basis of how many are attending youth group meetings. 21. We need to continue to support youth and adults together as baptized members of the one body. In a recent study of Lutheran young people, youth were asked to respond to the question ‘“‘What do you want to learn and experience through your church?” These were the areas that received the most votes: . To experience a closer relationship with God . To learn how to make friends and be a friend Guidance in finding out what God’s will is for my life To find meaning and purpose in life To learn to get along better with members of the opposite sex . To learn to be more of the real me when I am with other people 7. To learn to live with the pressures people place on me 8. Friendship and encouragement of adults around me 9. Reaching out to help others in need 10. Learning to share my faith, and sharing this faith with others 11. To better understand myself as a baptized person of God 12. Recreation and social activities where youth can get acquainted Or oo bo fap) These are a number of the areas where the Board for Youth Services has attempted to respond. And as we move into the coming years, these and other major areas will become strong directions for us to follow. Youth Ministry Goals The following is a listing of the BYS ministry goals for the next 10 years: 1. By 1993 the Synod has developed District and parish programs that enable at least 50% of the parishes to more effectively minister with junior high young people, 12— 14 years of age, integrating them into the life and mission of the parish. 2. By 1993 the Synod has developed District and parish programs that enable at least 60% of the parishes to more effectively minister with with high school youth, 14—17 years of age, integrating them into the life and mission of the parish. 3. By 1993 the Synod has developed District and parish programs that enable at least 50% of the parishes to more effectively minister with young adults, 18—25 years of age, integrating them into the life and mission of the parish. 4. By 1993 at least 85% of the parishes of Synod have enrolled their youth groups in Lutheran Youth Fellow- ship. . By 1993 the Synod has developed resources and imple- mented workshops to train at least two adult workers with youth in at least 75” of the parishes in order to help them be more effective leaders and enablers of the parish’s youth ministry. 6. By 1993 the Synod has developed at least one elective youth ministry course or seminar at each of the synodical schools to help train and equip future professional church workers in youth ministry. By 1993 the Synod has developed District workshops and conferences to train professional workers that will enable at least 25% of the professionals to become better equipped in youth ministry. 8. By 1993 the Synod has provided avenues such as gather- ings, leadership conferences, and workshops, as well as resource materials, to enable at least 50% of the young people to be active and involved in the life and mission of the church. or These goals give specific directions towards the shape and molding of a continuing effective ministry with and among our young people. It is hoped that all parishes, Districts, and individuals will work together at making these goals realities. New Synodical Structure The Board for Youth Services strongly affirms the decision of the 1981 synodical convention to make youth ministry one of the five major program boards of Synod. It has helped to continue to make youth ministry a visible and positive part of Synod’s total ministry. It has provided an effective structure in helping young people to be seen as regular members of the parish as well as the Synod in general. Rather than being “lost” in other parts of the synodical ministry programs, this new structure enables adults to see youth as well as youth to see themselves as full members of the body of Christ. The Board for Youth Services has been pleased, as well as amazed, at the positive response received for this new structure from members both of Synod and of other Christian denominations. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod continues to be a leader among the Christian denominations in the area of youth ministry. And for this we thank God! This mind-set is indicative in a comment by an adult that was heard recently at a District convention: ‘... I continue to thank God that I am a member of a church body that views young people as gifts and as fellow redeemed members, rather than merely seeing them as junior church members or even ‘the church of the future’”’! The BYS board and staff, therefore, continues to affirm this structure and strongly requests that the Board for Youth Services remain as a major program board in the years to come. Board for Youth Services Mission Statement The following is a review of youth ministry within the Synod for the past two years, a glimpse of present youth ministry activities, and a positive look into the future in terms of where youth ministry needs to be going to continue to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. In all of our directions and activities, the following Youth Ministry Mission Statement is reflected: ... to equip youth to be— believing, forgiving, witnessing, sharing, caring. and celebrat- ing persons with— children, youth, and adults in— families, congregations, communities, and the world. To accomplish this task, we will provide a variety of settings, resources, and training so that young people and the adults with whom they relate may “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever [2 Peter 3:18]. (CW, 1981, p. 285) This mission statement was developed to reflect the scope of youth ministry and direction of youth ministry into the 1980s and beyond. It reflects the fact that the BYS sees youth ministry as “youth and adults working together, in the name of Jesus... young people living out their calling now as the people of God... youth and adults using their gifts for others .. . providing avenues for ministry to happen... proclaiming, relating, and celebrating our relationship with ye Jesus Christ... Christ alive in you and me! Him We Proclaimed The BYS rejoices in the Lord for the many blessings that have happened in youth ministry during the last two years. We recall St. Paul’s words in Col. 3:12, where he says, ‘You are the people of God; He loved you and chose you for His own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humil- ity, gentleness, and patience” (TEV). And then in verse 17 he again says “Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through Him to God the Father.” Youth ministry within the Synod continues to affirm the fact that youth and adults “are the people of God.” And that all that we do or say is done in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our activities, materials, events, and directions all are centered in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of all people. In the past two years it is “Him we proclaimed” through our various avenues and settings.