Northern New England Mission Area LYO Forming

Greetings everyone!

 

As mentioned back in December, we are putting together 6 smaller youth leadership opportunities in each of the Mission Areas of the Synod.  The Northern New England Mission Area consists of congregations in the Plattsburgh, NY area, VT, NH, and ME. 

 

The Northern New England Mission Area LYO group recently had their first event on May 3rd, 2008.  At this event, youth and adults were brought together to continue ministry together throughout the Northern Mission Area.   We are still looking for Youth and Adults from Maine, New York and Vermont.

 

4 Youth from Maine

2 Adults from Maine

2 Youth from Vermont

4 Youth from New York

2 Adults from New York

 

If you have any interest in being apart of this ministry, we will be kicking off our year in the begining of June.  If you have any questions or are intersted please contact Steve Kennedy at stev4uth@hotmail.com.  I will then forward your name to the team putting this together.

Young Adult Volunteers for New Orleans

 

 

 

800 young adult volunteers needed

 

2009 ELCA Youth Gathering

 

 

 

 

 

Eligibility à age 20-25 by July 22, 2009

 

 

Apply online starting April 15, 2008

 

 

www.elca.org/youth/gathering

 

THE CORE–day workshop for Youthworkers

Youth Specialties offers a great day workshop in Youth Ministry for adult leaders called “The Core”.  There are 4 locations in/near the New England Synod:  Lexington, MA; Lebanon, NH; Hartford, CT; and Albany, NY.  This day event features great speakers, tons of good resources for your ministry and a chance to be around other adults who are desiring to improve their ministry skills.  It is a great event for both lay leaders!  More information and registration information is available at their website:  http://core.go.youthspecialties.com/.

Theological Education for Youth & Crossroads Event nominations

The summer is fast approaching, and March 15^th is the deadline for nominations for TEY’s Summer Theological Academy (July 12-26) and Crossroads Event (June 22-28). A nomination starts the process for a youth in your synod or congregation, so don’t hesitate to nominate a youth that you feel might have their faith grow and be challenged by these programs. The Summer Theological Academy, which takes place at Susquehanna University, is coming together incredibly with a very diverse and exciting faculty, and the Crossroads Event will be encountering issues and callings ranging from disaster relief to immigration to urban ministry. Nominating a youth is as easy as hopping on-line and filling out our on-line form at http://tey.eastercluster.org/nomination_form.htm or printing off and mailing in a nomination. It is my hope that TEY can continue to grow as a resource for your congregations and synods while we work together to lift up and celebrate young leaders of the Body of Christ. Please pass along this opportunity to any youth or congregation that you see might grow from it. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or ways that TEY can continue to serve your congregations and synods.

Information about TEY is available at http://tey.easterncluster.org/.

2 Labyrinths Now Available

The Get Drenched team now has 2 portable labyrinths available for use by your congregation.

The one that has been available over the past year is 24 feet (nominal size) and 12.7 feet (actual size).

We also have a new smaller one which is 12 feet (nominal) and 10.23 feet (actual).

To reserve the labyrinth for your congregation, contact Sister Virginia Strahan in the New England Synod office @ sisterv@nesynod.org.

NE Synod Mission Area Assemblies

You are invited to the first assembly of the New England Synod Mission Areas. At each assembly, Bishop Margaret G. Payne will be present to offer an opportunity for reflecting on the synod’s five year guide, “Called to Listen, Called to Live.”  Other staff and resource people will be available as needed, based on the requests of the lay planning teams of the Mission Areas.

What is a Mission Area?  There is no “typical” congregation in the New England synod.  The large geographical territory in New England offers a wide variety of ministry contexts and mission opportunities. The formation of New England Synod Mission Areas  is an endeavor to support our congregations through the gathering of conferences that share similar geography and mission opportunities.

Who is invited?  Assemblies are planned by lay members of the New England Synod with the support of synod staff members. All members of the New England Synod are invited to attend.

Why attend an assembly gathering?  Assembly gatherings are shaped by the needs, interests and gifts of the laity in each particular Mission area. Gathering together with members of each region, lay members will be given an opportunity for networking, developing leadership and discovering opportunities and support for lay education and ministry.  In addition, there will be an opportunity to learn more about the coming synod assembly and to consider the nomination of Mission area members to synod leadership.

When and where are we gathering?  Assembly gatherings will be held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with lunch provided.  Mark the date and watch for more information from your Mission area planning team. 

North Mission Area – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York Conferences

Date:  May 17, 2008

Place: Holy Trinity, Newington NH

East Central New England Mission Area – Boston Metro and Northeast Mass Conferences

Date:  May 3, 2008

Place: St. Paul, Arlington MA

West Central New England Mission Area – Central and Western Mass Conferences

Date:  April 12, 2008

Place: Bethlehem, Sturbridge MA

South Central New England – Greater Hartford Mission Area, East CT Rivers and Central CT Conferences

Date:  May 10, 2008

Place: Emmanuel, Hartford CT

Southeast New England Mission Area – Southeast Mass and Rhode Island Conferences

Date:  April 26, 2008

Place: Pilgrim, Warwick RI

Southeast New England Mission Area – Southwest CT, Naugatuck Valley and Greater New Haven Conferences

Date:  April 19, 2008

Place: St. Paul, Torrington CT

Need more information?  Contact Pastor Alice Kerr Laird, Associate to the Bishop at aklaird@nesynod.org.

Youth Opportunity Slide Show

If you were unable to attend our December 29th orientation meeting, we now have the presentation available for you.  We encourage you to gather a group of adults and youth from your mission area to begin conversation about organizing youth-led regional ministry in your area.

 The presentation is available here:  http://www.slideshare.net/getdrenchedorg/slideshows

Tangled Blue Coming to New England

Those of you who went to the San Antonio gathering may recall the group Tangled Blue.  This musical duo is planning to tour New Enlang the first three months of 2008 and is open to booking your church for concerts!

Their updated Spring Tour page is available at www.tangledblue.com/springtour.  

The spring tour page has three full songs that you can download, and  a promotional video that will let folks see how they make our full  sound with only two people.

If you would like more tunes there are  more mp3s in the “recordings” section of tangledblue.com. You can  also purchase our CDs in the “store” section of tangledblue.com. We  travel with a full sound system that can serve audiences of up to  500, so in most cases all we require at the performance site is an  electrical outlet and an audience. 

Contact Joel directly at: joel@tangledblue.com.

Faith Incubators Training

Emmanuel Lutheran in Manchester, CT, will be hosting a special training session for those interested in the Faith Incubators confirmation material.  This popular education tool is used by many congregations in our synod.

This one-day crash course will be offered on March 8.  More information is available at the FINK website:  http://www.faithink.com/Inkubators/training.asp?ink=h2h

Youth Leadership opportunity

Attention: Youth Leaders and Adults in the New England Synod Community of the ELCA

We are inviting high school youth and adults from all over the New England Synod to come to explore the possibilities of youth leadership within the greater church. To give you an idea of what we are trying to accomplish is to create a group consisting of youth and adults similar to the LYO ( Lutheran Youth Organization) groups in other synods around the country within the ELCA.

Some tasks of the group may include planning an event for other
youth, bring attention at the synodical level the concerns of the youth in the church and work to make the voice of the youth heard. We hope to have several of these groups spread throughout the different areas of our synod.

This meeting is open to everyone (youth and adults) to come and learn about this great opportunity to lead in the New England Synod. Pass along this information to all youth and other adults in
your congregation or other church communities you may be connected with to attend this meeting. By attending you do not make any commitment, but a great opportunity will be introduced to those who attend. A leader can be found in anyone.

Details:

-Date: December 29,2007
-Time: 10:45 AM till 3:00 PM
-Location: Lutheran Church of the Redeemer

                               60 Forest Park Rd
                               Woburn, MA 01801

-What will we do?? We will discuss the opportunity for the youth to lead and to be heard in the church, along with playing games, and having lunch
and fellowship.

Please RSVP as soon as possible!!!

RSVP to: Steve Kennedy 
stev4uth@hotmail.com

Contact us with any questions you have about anything. If you know any Adults/ Youth that are interested and can not make it that day, we can provide information for them via email. If you have any eating allergies please let us know so we can provide an alternate lunch for you if necessary.

When replying to attend this meeting answer the following questions for every person:

Full Name:

Email Address:

Church Name, City, State:

Why you are interested:

Questions you would like to be discussed:

Food Allergies:

Thank you for your time. I feel we have a lot of potential right now to get this off the ground.