Title: LUTHERAN MYLE YOUTH: "I BELIEVE I CAN
FLY"
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 26, 1997
MYLE YOUTH: "I BELIEVE I CAN FLY"
97-YG-10-BW
NEW ORLEANS (ELCA) -- "I believe I can
fly, I believe I can touch the
sky!" resounded throughout the McAlister
Auditorium at Tulane University by
high school youth attending the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America's
Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE),
July 20-23.
"Stones in the River" was the theme
that brought more than 600
"children of color" together before 35,000
Lutherans arrived in New Orleans
for the ELCA's Youth Gathering. MYLE
participants came from across the
United States and as far away as Bolivia,
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.
Participants came together for worship,
music, ethnic caucuses,
workshops, fellowship and to celebrate the
diversity that they represent in
the ELCA.
MYLE provides leadership opportunities
through elections to three-year terms on the
Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC) of
the Lutheran
Youth Organization, the youth organization
of the ELCA. The MAC consists
of members elected in individual ethnic
caucuses. They meet twice a year
to discuss issues in their respective
communities as they relate to the
ELCA. Two members serve on the LYO board.
MAC members also chair the
caucuses during the MYLE.
"We are leaders in training. We are
training now, so that when the
opportunity for leadership presents itself,
we will be prepared. The youth
are the future of this church," said
16-year-old Romesha Williams, Zion
Lutheran Church, Chicago.
The MYLE provides an opportunity for
participants from many ethnic
and cultural backgrounds to create a
multicultural community of faith in
which diversity is celebrated and respected.
Individuals are valued for
the unique gifts and talents they bring and
all participants are challenged
to grow in their leadership qualities.
To prepare participants for future
leadership the MYLE provided
workshop opportunities with topics such as:
"Create Your Own News Release,"
"Recognizing your Leadership Style," "How to
Get into College," "Public
Speaking for Wimps," "Can Meetings be
Productive" and "Leadership
Development Techniques."
There were also workshops on church
life: "Here I am Lord, Send Me,
Send Me" and "Sharing Christ with Your
Friends."
Some workshops were simply for fun:
"Liturgical Dance," "Jammin in
Percussion" and "Good Communication: The
Basis for Long-Lasting
Friendships."
Other topics were intended to help
participants from multi-ethnic and
European heritages identify with today's
very complex society.
Participants did not spend all of their
time attending workshops.
Some went out into New Orleans communities
to assist with development
projects. There were also free-time options
for simply hanging out and
getting to know each other informally.
The Rev. Margrethe S.C. Kleiber,
Tierrasanta Lutheran Church, San
Diego, preached during the opening worship
service. She told the Bible
story of 12 stones that were taken from the
Jordan River and related it to
the 12 stones that had been placed on the
stage by the participants earlier
in the evening. The stones represented some
of the ethnic groups at the
gathering. She asked the participants, "Are
you willing to be a stone in
the river? Are you willing to allow God to
move you?"
"God's people are called to be people
on the move," she said. "I
believe that those who are stones in their
own way have said yes' to God.
I think they say yes, we are willing to be
moved.'"
The Rev. Tony Machado, Iglesia Luterana
Todos Los Santos,
Minneapolis, led the opening service liturgy
in both English and Spanish.
Billy Mills, Sacramento, Calif., spoke
to the gathering and shared
his story. He created one of greatest
upsets in Olympic history when he
won a 1964 gold medal with a
"come-from-behind finish" in the 10,000
meter
run.
Mills told the participants about a
time when he overheard a
newspaper reporter recall the 1964 Olympic
victory and refer to it as the
greatest race of all time. Then the
reporter said that Mills was probably
a drug-addicted alcoholic now -- an
assumption the reporter made based on a
negative stereotype of Native Americans, he
said.
When Mills identified himself to the
reporter, the reporter
apologized but continued to use stereotypes.
This time the stereotype was
aimed at young people. The reporter said
his comments were not simply
aimed at Indian youth or Indian people. He
meant all young people -- that
all young people in America today are
quitters, do not listen and do not
try.
Mills said he countered the reporter's
negative perception and told
him about the youth of America that he comes
in contact with and described
them as having "incredible power, pride,
dignity, character and concern for
their communities." Today Mills travels
the country motivating and
empowering youth to "reach within the depths
of our capabilities and
perform to the greatest of our potential."
While the MYLE event was for youth,
adults also had opportunity to
listen and learn. During an adult forum led
by the Rev. Kelly Chatman,
ELCA director for youth ministries, adults
expressed their concern
regarding youth and the church.
"Our job is to empower them and support
them," Chatman said. "There
is an institutional role that each of us has
... that is to provide
opportunity for the youth of this church."
"Our youth, if we listen to them, can
help us to have a vision of
what the future can be. They can tell us
what they want. We have to be
open to the vision," said Richard Mease,
Zion Lutheran Church, Chicago.
"We have to be ready to say to them that we
are ready to vision with you,
we are going to open our ears, our eyes and
our hearts," he said. "The
gospel of Christ is what we're after."
Mease said young people are staying
away from the church. "We have
to be open to listening to the youth of this
church. They are telling us
by their actions that they need something
that we are not giving them," he
said.
"A church without youth is not a
church, " said Jean Thomas, youth
advisor at Grace Lutheran Church,
Philadelphia. "Your youth are who keep
the church going. They are the next
generation to take over and lead the
church. Without them who's going to lead
when we get older and cannot do
all the things that need to be done?" she
said. "We have to provide
opportunity and activities that will keep
the youth interested in the
church," Thomas said.
"We have told these children that they
can fly, we have led them to
believe that they can' fly," said the Rev.
Reginald W. Hansome, Jr., Our
Saviour's Lutheran Church, Milwaukee. "We
have to make a place for them
where they can fly when they get back, or
else they will find someplace
where they can fly. They will find another
Christian fellowship that
allows them to express themselves" he said.
"We have a bunch of young people that
have been saying that they
believe they can fly. We have to commit
ourselves to make that happen,"
Hansome said. "We do not have the
resiliency that we had in the past. I
do not think this church can afford to lose
another generation."
The final evening of MYLE found the
youth participating in a cultural
festival and talent show, and eating Cajun
foods. The opening of the
cultural festival featured a youth group
from Puerto Rico that performed a
liturgical dance to celebrate "God's gift of
eternal life," and popular and
traditional dances from the island. The
range of talent included story
telling, poetry, singing and liturgical
dance.
Offerings taken at the MYLE will be
distributed to New Orleans area
community projects including Bethlehem
Lutheran Church's youth program.
Hansome preached during the closing worship
service which featured the MYLE
gospel choir, liturgical dance learned at
one of the MYLE workshops and the
Bethlehem youth gospel choir.
-- 30 --
For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director, News and Information
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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