The FLC Youth Board
Youth Board information for FLC members (login req.)
Campus Ministry
About FLC's Youth Board:
The First Lutheran Youth Board is active in providing leadership for our youth. Youth groups are organized for each age group. Regular meetings are held, activities are planned, and numerous events help to bring our youth together in a loving, Christian atmosphere.
First Lutheran sponsors activities for the following age groups:
· Lutheran Student Fellowship (LSF), college students and college-age adults
· High School Youth, 9th thru 12th grades
· Confirmation Youth, 7th & 8th grades
· Junior Youth, 5th & 6th grades
· Joyful Juniors, 1st thru 4th grades
· Joyful Noise, nursery & kindergarten
These groups provide places where young people can gather and share the Christian experience. They discover that Christians can celebrate and serve; Christians can play and have fun, and know the joy of Jesus' gift of salvation.
The youth, of all ages, of First Lutheran are involved in numerous activities at church - from Bible studies to servant events, helping as acolytes and ushers during the church services, and many fun times of Christian fellowship together.
Please contact members of the board or the church office if you, or your children, would like to be involved in FLC's youth activities.
To view pictures of a couple past adventures of our youth group:
A hike in the Anaconda Pintlars, a hike near Missoula.
Recommendation for a Youth Pastor - August 2007
Youth Board Long Range Planning Recommendation
August 2007
It is the recommendation of this board to both grow and strengthen the youth and education programs for all ages at First Lutheran Church. We believe our youth are worth the investment of time, leadership and finances. They represent the future of our congregation. After a year of meeting, planning, observing our youth and other youth programs and insights gleaned from the National Youth Gathering this board would like to recommend the following to our pastoral staff and the congregation.
We strongly believe this congregation needs to have on staff one person dedicated to youth/education activities. There are a number of possibilities from a full time youth pastor to a full/part time DCE (Director of Christian Education) or a full/part time lay assistant. It is our desire that this position be primarily for youth and education as past experience, both in this congregation and observation of many others, shows that if a pastor is hired with several duties with an emphasis on youth, the youth duties can often be lost in the myriad of other responsibilities. It has also been the observation that other congregations that employ a dedicated youth worker (including our sister district congregation, Kalispell) have very strong, vibrant youth programs. The pulse of the whole congregation is noticeably stronger.
For the majority of the history of this congregation we have relied on volunteers to run our youth and education programs. Volunteers are vital to any youth ministry, but should not be the only structure. The youth program will vary greatly from year to year depending on being able to find an adult team willing to take the time necessary for a successful program. Our youth are very much looking for a hands-on spiritual mentor outside their immediate family. They long for consistency, a positive role model and a feeling of being wanted and needed. A trained pastor, DCE or youth worker has the training and skills to be able to connect with the youth on their level. They also have the skills to help lead and train our adult volunteers, making them more effective. If we don’t reach our youth, they will disconnect and we lose them. Currently only 10 percent of our high school youth are actively involved in church. Less than 50% of our Sunday School age children attend with any kind of regularity. Some will become active again as adults, but many will not. Having a lively, engaging youth/education program not only keeps our current members active, but will be a big draw for families looking for a church home.
How do we achieve this goal? A periodic review of the congregation’s needs and staffing should be conducted. At the current time we are doing just that. As we look at our needs we can leave things the way they are, restructure current staffing or hire additional staff. Hiring additional staff will certainly require a financial commitment on the part of the congregation. We need to ask if the investment will be worth the outcome. What is our ultimate goal? If our goal is to spread the gospel to as many people as possible, we believe growing a strong youth/education program will have the desired outcome. Not only will we add youth participants, but we will add families, the backbone of a congregation.
The National Youth Gathering is an eye opener of how possible it is to actively engage our youth in their spiritual walk. Youth are craving spirituality and a way to express it. A trained leader with a passion for youth can channel that desire into a life long way of life. If we don’t fill that need, the youth will find other earthly ways to fill the void. This particular community offers many other choices. We have a prime missionary field here in our own backyard. We feel this is a tremendous opportunity.
We ask that you prayerfully consider this board’s recommendations.
Respectfully submitted,
First Lutheran Youth Board
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