2009 ELCA Youth Gathering
Jesus - Justice - Jazz - July 26-26, 2009, New Orleans, LA
ELCA Youth Gathering - New Orleans!
MINISTRY CALLING for 800 Young Adult SERVANT COMPANIONS
We need 800 young adults ages 20 to 25, to be Servant Companions at the ELCA Youth Gathering July 20-26, 2009 in New Orleans. You will help lead 36,000 high school youth and adult leaders through a variety of experiences around the theme of Jesus, Justice, and Jazz.
Each Servant Companion will help welcome, lead, facilitate and care for groups of 45 youth and adult leaders through the Youth Gathering experiences while in New Orleans. This will include service projects, theological reflections and interactions with an area of justice.
If you are a person who...
· Senses a calling for youth ministry
· Is growing in your theology and practices of faith
· Is excited by being with high school youth
· Engaging and confident voice that commands and energizes a group of 45
· Has a confident, welcoming, life affirming personality
· Listens carefully to concerns and can help problem solve
· Can “think on your feet”
· Learn names quickly
· Has experience with small group facilitating skills
· Has an interest in justice issues
· Be okay with not having all the answers.
· Is able to listen and wonder with youth about ambiguous ideas of theology and sociological issues
· Is humble, dependable and above all flexible. –The Gumby Pledge!
Then we need you!
Apply today to join us as a Servant Companion by going to www.elca.org/gathering
click on the link that reads “Volunteering at the Gathering” to apply on line.
What is the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering about?
The 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering is about serving in the manner of Christ. The shaping Biblical text is Philippians 2, especially verses 5-7
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
On any given day – Thursday, Friday or Saturday, July 23, 24, 25, 2009 – 12,000 people will be doing service projects in the community of New Orleans ; 12,000 will be in the Interaction Center for guided experiential learning; and 12,000 will be making their way through a "Learning Mall." Both the Interaction Center and the Learning Mall are located in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center . On the next day, each community of 12,000 will rotate so that by the end of the third day every participant will have journeyed through all three experiences specifically designed to deepen the baptismal covenant God made with them to:
● Live among God’s faithful people
● Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper
● Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through words and deed,
● Serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
● Strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
It is the mission of the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering to inspire and equip young people to practice compassionate justice as they follow Jesus in their daily lives.
By participating in the program of the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering which includes the pre-Gathering Getting Ready Materials, the program in July, 2009, and post-Gathering learning opportunities young people will gain an understanding of vocation and will be encouraged to make vocational choices in light of the baptismal covenant God made with them.