LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 62

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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.