LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 52

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52 SYNOD REPORTS

ture programming for adults, as well as giving adult participants
access to the Gathering events.

¢ “For All the Saints” written by Rev. Terry Dittmer, LCMS youth
director, with Greg Wismar, chairperson of the Commission on
Worship, was published by CPH and focuses on helping youth
understand and appreciate Lutheran liturgy in a creative way.

Nurture Children, Youth, and Adults

* Youth Workers Prayer Book, published by the Youth Ministry Of-
fice, provides an excellent resource for praying for and with
teenagers. It was provided to all participants at the National Youth
Workers Conference in July ’06.

¢ “thESource” online resource for nurturing youth and the adults
who work with them, providing the finest Lutheran youth min-
istry materials, downloadable and available to any one at no
charge. Published monthly. An average 6,000 hits per month.
“thESource Unplugged,” a collection of the best thESource ma-
terials from the last year has been published in the summer in
hard copy in summers ’05 and ’06 and will be available at the
Synod convention and Youth Gathering in summer ’07.

Develop Leaders

¢ Lutheran Youth Fellowship Teen Leadership Initiative provides
training to teen leaders from LCMS districts to do leadership
training in district and congregational settings. Trained to do
training during the triennium: 394 youth in “Truly Caring Teens”
focusing on Christian peer ministry; 308 youth in “Teen Bible
Study Training” focusing on teen-led Bible study and discussion
groups; 366 youth in “Teens Reaching Teens” focusing on peer
outreach and faith sharing. Training beginning in 2007 focuses
on teen-led Servant Events and is called Teen Services Training.

National Lutheran Youth Workers Conference, focusing on build-
ing effective youth ministry in congregations, including lay vol-
unteers and church professionals: 422 registered at “Resonate” in
Nashville, Tennessee, July 2005; 414 registered at “Chosen: A
Living House” in Orlando, Florida, July 2006.

Youth Ministry Two Thousand And... Symposium tackling hard
issues and concerns in youth ministry, held in January every year;
54 attended in ’06, “Youth Abuse” focusing on physical, sexual,
emotional, and spiritual abuse; 96 attended in 06, “Abandoned
But Not Lost: Reclaiming the Church’s Young People.”

The National LCMS Youth Gathering provides leadership oppor-
tunities for lay persons and professional church workers as speak-
ers, planners, and program support persons. A total of 175
persons, lay and professional, serve on Gathering program teams;
six youth serve as the Gathering’s program personalities; 500 per-
sons will be recruited as local volunteers; and more than 750
young adults will pay their way to serve as Young Adult Volun-
teers. A variety of Lutheran laypersons will have opportunity to
use their skills and abilities in ways the church does not ordinarily
have the laypersons use them.

¢ Lutheran Youth Fellowship delegates at the 2004 Gathering
elected five youth to represent five regions in the LCMS to the
Synod youth organization. They are Judy Frahm, Merritt Island,
Florida; Adam Roth, Eastpointe, Michigan; Gustavo Onink, New-
bury Park, California; Danielle Sedlmyar, Fargo, North Dakota;
and Lisa Steffens, Jackson, Missouri.

Cultivate Stewards

¢ Annual Servant Events attract thousands of teens each summer to
complete a variety of projects: 2004, “The Image of Christ,” 1,256
youth and adults at 76 sites; 2005, “Extreme Servants,” 1,996 par-
ticipants at 80 sites; 2,006, “Super Servant,” 2,078 participants at

2007 Convention Workbook

85 sites, 15 in cooperation with Southern District Hurricane Kat-
rina Disaster Relief.

¢ “It’s Your Serve: Ideas for Involving Youth in Service Events” by
Jim Lohman, was published by CPH in partnership with the
Youth Ministry Office. Since the last convention, Youth Ministry
celebrated 25 years of LCMS Servant Events.

* The 2004 National LCMS Youth Gathering offering of $198,006
was distributed to nine local, district, and national projects Gath-
ering projects.

¢ “Teen Service Training”: Development of 2007 Lutheran Youth
Fellowship leadership training materials focuses on developing
local teen-led service projects.

V1. Looking Ahead

In the next triennium, District and Congregational Services
prayerfully asks our gracious Lord to lead us boldly into new op-
portunities for serving districts and congregations as they seek to
boldly proclaim “One Message: Christ.” We intend to do this by
God’s blessing and help and through cutting-edge technologies,
being responsive to expressed needs, and continuing to be proac-
tive, timely, and Christ-centered.

DCS will continue to adjust staffing and services in response to
district and congregation directions and available funding. The staff
of District and Congregational Services remains committed to the
concept that first emerged in 1992, “to better meet the needs of dis-
tricts and congregations.” DCS will continue to be an advocate for
congregations and districts, facilitate network systems, be a broker
of services, provide resources via electronic media, and to continue
service as a resource to districts in serving congregations.

Jonathan Shaw, Chairman
Jeffery S. Schubert, Executive Director

R2-02
Commission on Worship

In the introduction to our Synod’s new hymnal, Lutheran Ser-
vice Book, we are reminded of the way in which God’s service to
us leads us to serve one another:

Our Lord is the Lord who serves. Jesus Christ came into the flesh
nol to be served, but to serve... .

Our Lord serves us today through His holy Word and Sacraments.
Through these means He comes among us... .

The Lord’s service calls forth our service—in sacrifices of praise
and thanksgiving to Him and in loving service to one another... . With
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we joyfully confess al] that God has
done for us.... Our song joins with the song of every saint from every
age, the new song of Christ’s holy people. . .” (LSB, p. viii).

Though the Lord’s service to us certainly goes beyond the
bounds of corporate worship, it is, nevertheless, in that setting
where God most concretely comes to serve His people and where
the faithful are nurtured and strengthened for continued service to-
ward others in their various callings. To aid congregations in that
task, the Synod has established the Commission on Worship, which
consists of seven members appointed by the President of the
Synod. Among its various duties is the charge to “develop and
deepen an understanding and love for the Lutheran heritage in
Christian worship” (Bylaw 3.9.7.2) and to “recommend worship
materials to the church” (Bylaw 3.9.7.2 [c]).

Lutheran Service Book

During the 2004-2007 triennium, the commission brought to
final fruition its decade-long project of preparing a newly revised
hymnal for the Synod. The process, which began with the devel-
opment of Hymnal Supplement 98, received the encouragement of
the Synod with the adoption of Res. 2-12 in 1998. Responding to