Groups

Our early adolescent camp held at Luther Park in Danbury, WI. Invited congregations to bring a few of their best confirmation age youth, plus a few trusted, and experienced high school youth, along with a couple key adults to experience the newest early adolescent curriculum.

We experienced incredible campfires, sang, played, canoed, worked laughed, swam and all the wonderful things we do at camp. But the theme was Peer Ministry Leadership. Youth took this time very serious. They entered into some honest and insightful conversations. While they do not go nearly as deep as they would with the main 16 session curriculum they get enough to start to shape an attitude and foundation of understanding the need to care and welcome all people in all places.

Peer Ministry Leadership is less about a curriculum and is more about creating a culture of youth ministry. It is less about the group and more about the ministry. It is less about attendance and more about how faith is lived everyday.

Next year? Interested in bringing a group? AUG 5-9, 2012

Living Room Summits
#3 – APRIL 26-28, 2011 – Just Added!
#4 – OCT 4-6, 2011 – Just Added!

What are you taking home with you? What is most on your mind? What are you most excited about?

• Knowledge that came through experiencing the ministries, not just being told about them. No one goes home saying, “I don’t know how,” because we have experienced it.
• Don’t expect someone to do something at home without having first experienced it in the congregation. eg. Practice doing “highs and lows” with parents in the hallway.
• Going home with a treasure trove of ideas and skills to take home and use them, revamp the things I’m already doing, take all three experiences and weave them into new things.
• Joy and excitement
• Loved the very casual, comfortable way it was presented.
• Take home new tools
• Networking with other participants
• Looking forward to see how these ministries evolve in our congregation
• As a volunteer, I cannot start new programs, but I can take the ideas back and share them with the staff and my congregation.
• It helped me find my ministry voice and see a hopeful future for my congregation.
• Being from a small church that grew big too fast, we have not grown deep. I came to learn how to grow deep in ministry, and that is what this has provided.
• Follow your heart and keep it simple.
• Wisdom about how to keep things focused on family, kids, and outcomes.
• Time together as staff from the same congregation helped us to be excited about what we can do together with both of our ministry areas. We got out of our silos.
• God doesn’t call the equipped, but equips the called. Thank you all for making it so comfortable and for being so open.
• It has been sabbath to keep me energized.
• Even the time spent commuting in the car as a staff team has helped us plan what we will do.
• Opportunity to be intentional about ministry.
• We are so excited that the pastors teased us that they’ll have to hold us back!
• How can we bring into what is already scheduled what we’ve learned?
• As a staff, we need time, like Parents Share, without an agenda, to just be present with one another.
• Currently, we evaluate the success of what we do by the numbers that attend. This has given us a new way to count!
• Plea: get lots of pastors here, so that they will be supportive of this ministry. Gear it just to pastors. Invite pastors in a different way. Target pastors of the staff present at this LRS.
• Present this to the conference for the pastors of large congregations.
• I know that I and three colleagues will go back and get it done. We have heard it together. Now, they can help me get it done, because I am not doing this as a solo, without support.
• Invite teams.
• Even teams need to go back to their congregations to train others.
• The atmosphere was freeing and intimate. We got to know everyone. More people would have changed that.
• Equip others to do it. Train the trainers.
• Verses a training at Willow Creek: This was more practical and hands on.
• Getting to hear from others made me feel less lonely.
• My husband Rick (assoc. pastor) needs to come with Ron (sr. pr) and the whole youth department.
• It is totally worth your time and money.
• Loved having meals here and your hospitality.

Waking up in St. Louis! Three congregations have come together to experience PML. It’s not just about training anymore. It is about shaping of people who can use the tools of training but who want youth who understand ministry is something to be lived every day, everywhere and in every relationship.