LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 300

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300 PARISH SERVICES AND YOUTH

our Synod's Board of Social Ministry. Lutheran Selective
Service Information was established and attached to the
Lutheran Council in the USA.

LSSI was able to offer the following services to congre-
gations of the LCMS:

— general information about selective service and the

alternatives it provides
—names of reliable local draft counseling programs

— draft-information seminars for pastors, guidance coun-
selors, and others

— identification of qualified speakers on draft war.’peace
issues

—help on application for conscientious-objector status,
including resources from Lutheran tradition

In recent months LSSI focused on other draft-related
issues such as the returning veteran (six million Vietnam
era veterans) — many of whom manifest severe emotional
problems; assistance to those who refused to serve in the
military and who are in prison, facing prosecution, in exile,
or who are in the undesirable discharge categories.

The task is not complete. There is still a need. and
always will be, to assist the church in continued studies on
peace, war, and conscience. There is a need to help in
sensitizing church members in regard to Scriptural concepts
pertaining to peace, obedience, truth, and vocation in relation
to the military.

Volunteer Youth Ministry

Volunteer Youth Ministry exists in our church to provide
specific opportunities for young people to creatively respond
to human need as well as to grow themselves. So often the
church cannot accomplish all it wants to because of lack of
manpower or financial resources. Volunteer Youth Ministry
provides the people resource for a minimal subsistence cost.
Volunteers provide an option for the church to meet growing
ministry needs. The Board of Youth Ministry is attempting
to listen to the needs of the church and match those needs
with people.

Becoming a volunteer can free a young person to share
God's promises and discover ways to live as a signal of
hope. Volunteers also discover the responsibilities, com-
plexities, and difficulties of serving others. In the process,
then, the person discovers something about who he is as
he seeks to be a caring disciple.

Opportunities in Volunteer Youth Ministry exist overseas.
primarily in Japan where volunteers are in ministry with
the Japan Lutheran Church. During the biennium 13 volun-
teers have been placed in Japan, the Philippines, and Leba-
non, The domestic scene offers a wide range of opportunities
for ministry: directors of youth halfway houses, organizers
of youth drop-in centers, participants in community out-
reach in Spanish communities of Chicaga, floor leaders in
juvenile detention centers, participants in ministry to the
American Indian, and others.

Youth Staffers, a new program, involves young people,
18 to 23, assigned to Districts in the Synod for a period of
one year. Staffers will assume leadership roles and be-
come facilitators and consultants to congregations in the
area of youth ministry. This program provides opportunities
for young people to be involved in needed service and to
grow as persons in mission.

The Production of Resource Materials That Meet Real
and Stated Needs

Printed resources should help things happen between
people — the flow of ideas. dialog between persons, inspira-
tion for worship, and opportunities for ministry. Resources
provide help for the interpersonal “liturgy” of cries and the
Kyrie, celebration and the Gloria that move back and forth
among the people of God. On the other hand, printed re-
sources should not stop the “liturgy” that can happen be-
tween people and become a canned program that is used
like a lifeless ritual.

The Board of Youth Ministry has provided resources
with new liturgies for worship: ideas for a care ministry;
and resource books in drama, music, and Bible study. The
Board of Youth Ministry has also made available to the
parishes of Synod a listing of resources in Caresources ‘71,
72, and ‘73, as well as practical supplement packets that

provide directions for youth ministry and care ministry
models.

Beginning in 1573 Resources for Youth Ministry is being
published with several additional purposes in mind: (1) to
make contact with persons involved in youth ministry in
the parishes of the Synod: (2) to create opportunities for
dialog and sharing in the variety of viewpoints expressed in
featured articles, and in a Support System column that
makes possible the sharing of ideas: (3) to make available
usable tearout worship, drama, Bible study, and music re-
sources.

One-way communication is repressive. Two-way com-
munication “is opening up.” Dialog is like loving and listen-
ing to your neighbor. Resources is becoming a forum for the
sharing of perspectives on youth ministry, a place where
youth and youth leaders can support one another in an
exciting and challenging ministry, and a medium for making
available immediately usable resources. The new look in
Resources for Youth Ministry is being shaped by the real
and stated needs of youth leaders and counselors.

Some Additional Items

The All Lutheran Youth Gathering

The 250.000 youth in The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod will have the opportunity to join together with other
Lutheran youth this summer in Houston for Discovery ‘73.
The All Lutheran Youth Gathering is a major Key 73 event
and as such will provide Opportunities to celebrate our one-
ness in Christ and to witness to our hope and faith in Christ
and our church.

Under the theme “With Eyes Wide Open,” the gathering
will center around Bible encounters based on Rom. 12:1-2.
The encounters will be beamed over a local TV station into
all hotel rooms where youth will be staying.

A multitrack program will appeal to the varied interest
of young people. Interest areas include youth and evange-
lism, creative expression, environment ecology, justice, Third
World, women's liberation, war and peace, as well as a sec-
tion for all adult counselors — leadership and evangelism.

As a major Key 73 event Discovery ‘73 will be calling
youth to repentance. reflection, and prayer: searching God's
Word to encounter Christ: discovering ways to serve Him:
and providing time for commitment. to Christ and His
service,

The Board of Youth Ministry Staff

During the biennium the Board reappointed to a second
four vear term Dr. Ben Eggers as executive secretary: the
Rev. Martin Stever, assistant executive secretary — parish
services; and Mr. Dean Dammann. assistant executive secre-
tary — District services.

Volunteer Youth Ministry exists in our church to provide
specific opportunities for young people to share themselves
— new people in Christ — within diverse situations. To head
up this service Rev. Lee Hovel. a recent graduate of Con-
cordia Seminary, St. Louis. was called to the staff during the
summer of 1972. He is serving as project director — volun-
teer services.

The Lord called home through a freak accident in the
summer of 1972 a young. creative staff member in the person
of Kathy Gillan. To replace Kathy, Gretchen Wagner of
Oregon. a graduate of Valparaiso University, was employed
as an editorial assistant in the Department of Parish Services.

Walther League

It has been five vears since the Walther League embarked
on new directions as a yvouth-led, issue-oriented movement
of youth. The 1968 Purdue convention adopted world hun-
ger and all aspects of the hunger chain as its major program
focus.

1972—73 has been a vear of evaluation for the League.
After a three-prong evaluation of itself, including the test-
ing of the basic concepts by which the Walther League was
founded in 1893, the Council and the Trustees of the League
are well on the way to restating the basic assumptions of the
Walther League. They are sharpening the League's under-
standing of its own purposes and making some organiza-
tional adjustments to facilitate the carrying out of these
purposes. The staff and the Board of Youth Ministry have
helped in the evaluation and also have been involved in re-