ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 10, 2003

Lutheran Men in Mission Explores Young Men's Ministry
03-183-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's
ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is
completing a five-step plan that it initiated more than a year
ago.  LMM is holding its first Young Men's Leadership Summit here
Oct. 10-12 to devise a strategy to reach young men for Christ.
     "I'm convinced there is nothing more important that the
church could be doing right now.  If we don't catch these guys
now, we're not going to get them," said Douglas Haugen, LMM
director.
     "It used to be said that kids get confirmed and they leave
the church for a while, but they come back.  But they're not
coming back anymore, and, if they are, it's not necessarily to
the church they grew up in," Haugen said.
     The five-step plan was to call a seminary intern to work
with LMM while serving a parish; develop a workshop for ELCA
seminaries on male spirituality; conduct extensive, qualitative
research with men aged 18 to 34; gather a group of young men to
develop strategic directions for young men's ministry; and
empower that group to implement their strategies.
     LMM called Sean L. Forde, a student at Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn., and a member of Advent Lutheran Church, Boca Raton,
Fla.  Earning a master's degree usually requires a bachelor's
degree and four years of seminary education, including a parish
internship during the third year.  Forde is serving his
internship year with LMM and Zion Lutheran Church, Anoka, Minn.
     "Sean has been at the very center of all that we are doing
with young men's ministry," Haugen said.  Forde developed and
conducted a one-day seminar on male spirituality at Luther
Seminary.  "We hope to replicate that at other seminaries,"
Haugen said.
     "Our goal is to connect young men to Jesus Christ," Forde
said.  "By God's grace, we will achieve this goal by listening to
young men and empowering them to develop resources and programs
for local congregations that include outreach, small-group Bible
study, and regional and national young men's gatherings," he
said.
     "Listening" involved one-hour interviews with 96 young men
across the United States.  The interviews were recorded and, in
some cases, videotaped.
     "What was most significant was how willing they were to
share things about themselves.  They were truly open to us," said
the Rev. Paul G. Hill, director, Center for Youth Ministries,
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.  Hill conducted
many of the interviews.
     "They seemed delighted that anyone would take enough
interest in them that they would sit down and listen to them.
This tells me that sincere and honest listening is a tremendous
gift to give to these men," Hill said.
     "Mostly the research has confirmed how thirsty these young
men are to deeply connect their real lives with their
spirituality or faith and how thoroughly disconnected they are
from the institutional church and its traditional practices,"
said the Rev. Roland D. Martinson, Basson-Olson Professor of
Children, Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minn.
     "Our hopes are that this project will give voice to these
young men's real 'faith world' and provide a channel whereby they
can speak to the church about new possibilities for speaking more
directly and effectively to their spiritual hunger," Martinson
said.
     Martinson directed the interview project, and he plans to
present the research results during an LMM event, "Building
Bridges: Dreamers and Visionaries," Oct. 25 at Zion Lutheran
Church, Anoka.  The event is to include a 90-minute Webcast from
http://www.elca.org/lmm/ on the ELCA Web site.
     Forde and Martinson are leading the Oct. 10-12 summit.
Twenty young men, most of who were interviewed in the research
project, were invited to hear the research results, discuss what
challenges they see the church facing, develop some strategic
directions the ELCA and LMM can take to address those challenges,
and name a smaller group of young men to act as a Young Men's
Council.  The council will help implement the strategies and plan
a young men's gathering next summer.
     "It is an exciting time for men's ministry," Forde said.
"My hope is that we align ourselves with what God is already
doing in the hearts and lives of men across North America," he
said.
     "What we are seeing is the critical importance of adult men
to these young men," Haugen said.  "These young men are telling
us that it is important for middle- and older-aged men simply to
pay attention to them, befriend them and, yes, even invite them
and keep inviting them even though they don't always respond," he
said.  "Two or three significant men in their lives can help them
become well-grounded Christian guys."
     The Young Men's Leadership Summit and the Building Bridges
event were funded by a grant from Thrivent Financial for
Lutherans, a fraternal benefit society based in Minneapolis.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news