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Youth in Mission Summit

In keeping with the Moravian heritage of being strongly engaged in mission, 16 young people from the U.S., England, and Jamaica and six BWM staff persons met at Laurel Ridge for the Youth and Mission Summit Labor Day week-end. The purpose of the Summit was to inspire the young people and to enlist their creativity and energy in helping the BWM to begin shaping its Youth in Mission program for young adults for the coming years.

As a result, we now have a Moravian Youth Website, www.moravianyouthmissions.org, which shares information about purpose, opportunities and pictures and reports from recent mission trips. This is part of the initiative to support the recent Synod resolution which states, “all congregations in the Southern Province are strongly encouraged to engage youth in the life and ministry of the church by utilizing their talents, abilities, energy, and enthusiasm.”

The Summit participants had been assigned to teams and each team was given a task prior to the Summit. The tasks were all related to mission strategies, training, recruiting and principles. Sister Glenna Tasedan organized the event and her husband, George, was “chief cook and bottle washer” (the Five Bean Soup was the Summit favorite!).

Here is an excerpt from a letter composed by the Summit participants and sent to the Board of World Mission:

“The Youth Mission Summit that was held at Laurel Ridge over Labor Day weekend was an exciting and motivating time of vision casting and commitment.  As we came together on the first day of the Summit we shared our experiences of mission so far and our dreams for the future, individually and collectively. It was clear that God has been and is continuing to lead us to reach people in the name of Christ and to witness to His great love and sacrifice for the sins of the world.  We are eager to contribute our ideas, effort, gifts and time to the work of mission in our world through local and global initiatives.”

The participants in the event were: Rebecca Craver (Moravian Theological Seminary), Sarah Barnes (Raleigh, NC), Dusty Harrison (Inter-Varsity, William & Mary College), Christin Higgins (NC), Anne Fagge (Friedland), Thomas Baucom (Holly Springs), Zach Bailey (Lititz), Tammy Byerly (Grace), Oniel Clarke (Jamaica), Kyle Diehl (Hope Center), Amy Frantz (East Hills), Elyse Jurgen (Lititz – Moravian College), Angie Hoglund (Minneapolis), Hannah Spring (Kernersville), Morgan Smith (First Greensboro, living in Tennessee) and Katie Stehly (Central Moravian). Staff and Summit leaders were Chris Giesler, Russel Winfield, Glenna Tasedan, George Tasedan, Will Sibert, Sheila Beaman and Sam Gray.

In 2007: Leadership Focus

Start making plans to attend an important Southern Province workshop in 2007. Leadership Focus ’07 will have a missional “edge” to it, providing tools and resources for being in ministry and mission together.

Workshop topics will include:

Youth Ministry, Children’s Ministry, Curriculum selection, Moravian Identity, Tools for Mission, Developing Mission Leaders, Moravian Disaster Response, Spiritual Growth, Community Ministry, Welcoming Newcomers, Stewardship and many more topics. The workshops will be:

·        in Winston-Salem on Saturday, February 17^th

·        in Miami, on Saturday, March 3^rd

·        in Raleigh, NC, on Saturday, April 21^st.