Youth Ministry

Along with the Youth Ministry Department of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and district ministry leaders, the staff of the Northwest District works in partnership with ministry leaders in impacting youth and adults with a vision of hope, celebration and service in the name of Jesus Christ.

• Regional Events
• Upcoming Northwest District Youth and Youth Worker Events
• Kaleidoscope!
• 2009 Northwest District Senior High Gathering
• 2010 National Youth Gathering
• Youth Ministry Newsletter

REGIONAL EVENTS

Because we are so large geographically, our District is broken into 5 conferences: Puget Sound (Seattle and NW Washington); Oregon (most of the state and SW Washington); Inland Empire (Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho); Alaska (the whole state); and South Idaho (Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon). Youth ministry in the district, apart from congregational/circuit events, usually happens on two levels -- the Conference and the District. To find out the latest on special youth events that are available in your area of the Northwest, please contact the following people closest to you. They are your conference representatives!

District-wide sponsored events such as the Junior High and Senior High Youth Gatherings work on a 3-year cycle -- National Youth Gathering year (2007), Junior High Gathering year (2008), Senior High Gathering year (2009), and so on. The next National Youth Gathering is in 2010, followed by the District Junior High Youth Gathering again in 2011.

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DISTRICT YOUTH AND YOUTH WORKER EVENTS

* Further description of this event and a complete nationwide listing of LCMS Servant Events can be found at www.lcms.org/youth.

Otherwise, you can check out the calendar of events for the whole District!

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DISTRICT SENIOR HIGH YOUTH GATHERING

The Gathering Theme is "The REAL Real World" based on 1 John 5:20 - “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.”

The theme focuses on the difference between the “reality” that the world offers us and the REALITY of Christ.  The guidelines for living, for relationships, for self-image, for morality, for truth, and more that we encounter online, on the tube, on the radio, and in the magazines and music videos of popular culture are often directly opposed to the truth we learn from Jesus and the Bible.  As we move through the media-drenched world that surrounds us, the images and attitudes we are confronted with begin to wear against what some would call older, or more traditional, values.
 
The popular version of what is “real” has become so ingrained in our lives through the constant bombardment of media that many of us have lost the ability to accurately discern between what is being sold to us as “reality”, and the true REALITY that our God would have us know and embrace toward His promise of abundant life, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.  Through a series of large group presentations, small group interactions, and personal applications, we plan to wade into this murky world of opposing realities and seek out the one true REALITY that will never change, the Love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Our keynote presenter for this event is Rev. Dean Nadasdy - Senior Pastor at Woodbury Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.  A former NW resident, Dean has a gift for connecting with teenagers to help them think through and discover how God is working in them, and speaking to them.  We look forward to Dean’s leadership for the weekend!

Come and join us this Fall at Washington Family Ranch for the NW District Youth Gathering!  As a special incentive, for every group of TEN that you register (postmark) by August 1, 2009 (extended from the original July 15 offer) you will receive ONE FREE ADULT registration for your group.  You will be able to find more information soon at the official Gathering Website (www.nowyouth.org) including the Gathering Poster, downloadable registration materials, keynote information, theme information, and Pre-Gathering Bible Studies! See you this Fall at Washington Family Ranch!

Jeff Kranich
NW District Gathering Chair              206-937-9330             jkranich@hopeseattle.org

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NATIONAL YOUTH GATHERING

The 2010 National Youth gathering will be held July 17 - 21, 2010, in New Orleans, LA. More information can be found by visiting http://2010.lcmsgathering.com/.

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YOUTH MINISTRY NEWSLETTER

Browse through issues of  Youth Supports - a newsletter written for you!  Want to know what youth events are happening in your part of the Northwest? Want to have some encouragement with your youth ministry?  This is the place to come!

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Link to the Synodical Department of Youth Ministry for additional resources.