Empowering Our Youth
Posted on Jul 31, 2024 by Heather Lewis
When I was a kid, my favorite Sunday school teachers and youth leaders were ones who listened. They asked us questions, encouraged us to talk about our thoughts and opinions, and had discussions instead of lectures. I remember crowding around a couch in the narthex during a youth hangout, feeling safe enough to talk about tough teenager issues, with our youth leader validating our feelings. This is always my goal as a teacher — and as kids talk, I’m constantly inspired with their young wisdom and insight!
I was surrounded by this empowerment when our high school youth went to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans last week. Seven of us from Salem joined 70 from Collective (Holy Cross, Atonement, Salem, and Kaw Prairie churches) who traveled together to join 16,000 from around the country to learn, serve, and worship together. Everywhere we looked were young leaders, confidently walking from one inspiring event to the next, high-fiving other groups in matching shirts, asking where they were from and what awesome thing they did that day. We learned about New Orleans culture, heard from fantastic speakers about their faith journeys (many of whom were in high school themselves), worshipped with amazing music, and strengthened our friendships and faith with this amazing experience.
This week I’m working with kids age 5 to 13 every morning in our musical camp. We don’t just learn music and speaking parts together — we talk about what is happening in the stories of Elijah, how he and the other characters might have felt, and decide together how to present these stories to our congregations during worship. When we empower kids to lead us, they learn that what they think, feel, and say is important to the world. When we listen, we encourage them to value their opinions, listen to others, and continue to lead!
Please join us this Sunday in our combined worship service in the sanctuary at 9:30 a.m. as our kids lead us in every aspect of worship, and be encouraged in your own faith journey.
Heather Lewis
Director of Worship and Music
Director of Youth Ministry