SUMMER 2013

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SUMMER 2013

PUBLICATION INFORMATIONPublished by: ELCA Youth Ministry Network www.elcaymnet.org

Subscription Information: call 866-ELCANET (352-2638) or visit: www.elcaymnet.org connect@elcaymnet.org

Contributing Writers:

George Baum, Helen Blier, Lyle Griner,

Dawn Rundman, Christian Scharen

Design and Layout:

Michael Sladek

Impression Media Group

www.impressionmediagroup.com

Contributing Editor:

Debbie Sladek

Connect Editorial Board:

Rachel Alley, Chris Bruesehoff,

Todd Buegler, Tim Coltvet,

Nate Frambach, Sue Mendenhall,

Jeremy Myers, Dawn Rundman,

Clint Schnekloth, Michael Sladek

Cover Design ©2013 Michael Sladek

Welcome! 4 Todd Buegler

Ethnography 101– Adapted from Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethic 5 Christian Scharen, adapted by Clint Schnekloth

Paying Holy Attention 7 Helen Blier

Making People Real 9 Lyle Griner

D.I.Y. Ethnography: Kid Edition 12 Dawn Rundman

Facebook Conversation: Network Members 14

Facebook Conversation: ELCA Clergy 15 A View from Somewhere Else 17 George Baum

Calendar of Events 18

CONTENTS

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The ELCA Youth Ministry Network exists to strengthen and empower adult youth ministry leaders in service to Christ as a part of God’s mission.

Julie Miller: Board Member

Rev. Ben Morris: Board Member

Yvonne Steindal, AIM: Board Member

Valerie Taylor Samuel: Board Member

Erik Ullestad: Board Member

Rev. Mike Ward: Board Member

Rev. Todd Buegler: Executive Director

ELCA YOUTH MINISTRY NETWORK BOARD

Science! (Fall ‘13)

The Church in the Public Sphere (Winter ‘14)

How Do We Teach Stewardship? (Spring ‘14)

The Link Between Youth Ministry and College (Fall ‘14)

UPCOMING CONNECT ISSUE THEMES:

I have often thought to myself, “If I were starting over in my congregation, knowing what I know now, for my first year, I would start no new programs. I would just get on my bike and ride around the community, getting to know everyone and everything, and listening to what’s going on.”

While I’m not sure that I could convince my congregation that this would be the best use of my time, I am convinced that it would be incredibly valuable, and that the impact on my ministry would be tremendous.

The Concise Encyclopedia defines Ethnography as a descriptive study of a particular human soci-ety. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork. The ethnographer lives among the people who are the subject of study for a year or more, learning the local language and participating in everyday life while striving to maintain a degree of objective detachment. He or she usually cultivates close relationships with “informants” who can provide specific infor-mation on aspects of cultural life.

I like to think of ethnography as ‘deep listening.’

And I believe that to a certain level, doing faith formation with children, youth and their families begins with, and always entails, doing ethnographic research in and among the people where God has called us to do ministry.

Too often, people in our roles come into a community with a pre-conceived sense of ‘vision.’ I did. When I came in to my congregation I had been involved in campus ministry, and I had five sum-mers of camping ministry under my belt. I knew what I wanted to do. And this worked for a little while, until the bag of camp tricks I had was emptied out. I remember being surprised then, when my ideas and visions were met by our young people and their parents with a resounding “meh.”

So I understand why the turnover rate for people involved in this ministry is so high. Once people hit this ‘wall’ they either decide that they don’t have what it takes, so they quit, or they decide that it’s the congregation’s fault for not latching on to their vision, so they quit in frustra-tion or are fired.

Those who I know who have been able to stay at this long term, are those who have learned that it is far better to listen than to talk; it is far better to observe and empower than to plan; and that the best vision is one that is created in community.

They might not know it, but they are doing ethnography. They are practicing the art of deep-listening and of observation. God speaks in community. If we are quiet and attentive, we can hear what God is up to.

So in this issue, we’re getting at ethnography. How do we, in our congregational contexts, step in to the role of researcher and listener. We listen to God’s people, and in the midst of that we hear the still small voice of God.

Blessings!

Todd BueglerExecutive Director – ELCA Youth Ministry NetworkPastor —Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, MN

Todd@elcaymnet.org

Nominations are being accepted for indi-

viduals to serve on the Network’s Board

of Directors. The Board gives oversight to

the ministry of the Network, and provides

direction to the Network’s mission and

vision. For more information, please visit

www.elcaymnet.org/board

Housing reservations are now being

taken for Extravaganza 2014 at the Hyatt

Regency in St. Louis. You can guarantee a

room now at our steeply discounted rate by

going to www.elcaymnet.org/housing. Gen-

eral event registration will open on July 1.

New Companion Guides for the resourc-

es coming out of the Practice Disciple-

ship Initiative are now available. These

will help you take the materials and apply

them to your congregation. You can find the

materials at www.practicediscipleship.org

Interested in leading a workshop at the

Extravaganza? We’d love to have you think

about submitting a proposal! You can do so

at www.elcaymnet.org/workshops. Get your

questions answered there!

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY? Throughout this is-

sue look for links to great online resources

about ethnography recommended by the

Connect Journal editorial team.

http://bit.ly/s46zmH For a look at ethnogra-phy, faith and World of Warcraft

http://bit.ly/120BsYX Ethnographic insights into campus ministry

http://bit.ly/17tDcwb Mr. Rogers was onto something

http://slidesha.re/dnJwIX Ethnography how-to PowerPoint from Ryerson University

http://bit.ly/XFO3Bn A Practical Matters issue on ethnography and theology

http://bit.ly/pVe9Ip A web site on ecclesiol-

ogy and ethnography

WELCOME! NEWS BITS

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SUMMER 2013

WHY YOU, TOO, SHOULD TRY ETHNOGRAPHYEditor’s introduction: Last year Christian Scharen (Assistant Professor of Worship and Director of Contextual Education at Luther Seminary) and his colleague Aana Vigen published Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics. This volume represents a rise in cross-disciplinary work between ethnography and theology. Youth workers and pastors with seminary degrees from the 90s might think of this kind of cross-disciplinary work as “reading the audience.” The basic assumption is that human lives animate theological reflection. As a result, there is a sense in which ethnography is theology, and theology is ethnography.

What follows is an adaptation of Christian Scharen’s essay excerpted from that volume for “those willing to give ethnography a try.” If indeed you are willing to give it a try, read through this essay with a possible study context in mind. Write some notes along the side as you read: where will you muck around? What data will you triangulate? What do you need to see for yourself? Who will you interview? Clint Schnekloth

Ethnographic studies go beyond reporting ‘what is.’ Instead, they paint a fuller picture of what these facts mean in community. In other words, they are best at getting at ‘how’ and ‘why’ kinds of questions that shape individual and social decisions, activities, and practices.

MUCKING AROUNDWhile approaches vary widely, a common thread pulls together the various things we include under the term ethnography—that thread might honestly be named ‘mucking around’. Ethnography engages the difficult and often messy work of going out to join in the life of people where they live. While for traditional anthropology this might require learning the tribal language of a people and living in difficult circumstances overseas, for you it might just mean learning the neighborhood, its peoples and their lives. Vivid writing and close to the bone reflection about the theological and moral issues at stake can only arise from the messiness of fieldwork in the midst of people.

Yet such ‘mucking around’ might also require long hours, in another context, of careful listening to people’s lives. Such listening cannot simply be structured by a narrow set of prede-termined questions but instead, relies on open-ended interviews that let questions emerge in response to the salient points raised by the person interviewed. Often such interviews take narrative form, allowing the multilayered unfolding of life lived.

Practical details matter in ethnography. One must, for example, choose a site for ethnog-raphy study that balances the need for access with the prospect of rich experiences related

to one’s research question. One must plan with some flexibility the duration and details of the research, and its potential and complex effects for those participating in the study. Specific plans for use of core techniques of research must be thought through: participating and observing what, how, for how long, with which methods of recording; interviewing which sorts of people with what general questions, and so on. Historical, sociological, and other kinds of contextual data are needed to supple-ment the ethnographic materials and so on.

TRIANGULATING: THE GOOD KINDThe rule of triangulating data is important to consider. This means one has at least three overlapping but distinct angles of vision on a given project, each offered by virtue of a different method (interviews, observation, participation, document analysis). It also means that as a whole, a research endeavor often relates ethnographic data to relevant quanti-tative sources of information (e.g. US census data, health/healthcare statistics, poverty indexes, historical documents or narratives of a community, nation, or place, etc.) Resourcing relevant quantitative sources of information can help to contextualize what one hears and sees through the ethnographic study.

GOING TO SEE FOR ONESELFAt the heart of every ethnographic research project, participant observation might be also described as ‘going to see for oneself.’ But it is more than this, for one can go and see for oneself as a curiosity-seeker, with no intention of doing more than fulfilling a desire at the moment to find out more. One can, as well, be a

journalist who goes to see and learn more with an aim to share what one has found. But par-ticipant observation as part of ethnographic research is ‘untimely.’ Not captive to personal whim or the latest news cycle, this sort of participation can take time to dwell, listen care-fully, and wait, if necessary, for the insights and experiences that help make sense of people’s lives in a particular place. A key aspect of such participant observation is, not surprisingly, recording one’s thoughts, re-actions, observations, and wonderings. This is often done through what many call ‘fieldnotes.’ While this is mostly a background reality in the research process, it is absolutely essential. It is, in a way, a memory aid. While of course one might use photography, video and audio recording, or other techniques, nothing really replaces the discipline of notes. It is helpful if one is able to jot some notes during the midst of any given event or experience, but regard-less, within a few hours of finishing for the day, one ought to spend the time to recount the experiences as fully as possible. The key here is narrative detail, and if a reactive judgment arises it can be placed in a margin and set aside so that the narrative focuses on giving as disci-plined a picture of what transpired as possible without the shortcut terms we use for passing judgement (e.g. “His shirt was ugly” versus “His shirt was a bright green and pink Madras plaid, a bit wrinkled and untucked at the waist”).

INTERVIEWINGInterviewing also has a key role in ethno-graphic research. One might say that when one ‘goes to see for oneself’ part of that process is asking questions of those one goes to see.

NEWS BITS ETHNOGRAPHY 101—adapted from Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethicsby Christian Scharen, adapted by Clint Schnekloth

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Christian Scharen is the Director of Contextual Learning and Assistant Pro-fessor at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN., His main research and teaching interests center on worship and practical theology. A leading scholar working at the intersection of eth-nography and theology, he lectures and writes in the areas of ministry, worship, ethics, ecclesiology, and popular culture.

While one-on-one interviews are most typical, group interview are also common. They are not synonymous with focus groups, however, which are more like an opinion survey done in person and at slightly more depth than the typical phone, Internet or mail-in survey questionnaire.

Interviews are difficult, and not least because they require both careful listening and very effective modes of asking questions—both opening questions and various sorts of follow-ups. Odd as it may sound here in a discussion of how to do ethnography, having a handle of one’s own issues, and being spiritually ground-ed oneself, is of great help in the process of research generally and interviewing particu-larly. One can easily slip into either judgment or attempts at fixing. Books and mentors do indeed help with interviewing strategy but the best teacher is reflective practice, interviewing over and over and over, with critical evaluation of one’s efforts via the transcript.

ANALYZING THE DATA YOU HAVE COLLECTEDTypically, one does not wait until the research is over to begin analysis. In fact, when one enters into a research project with one’s question(s) in mind, the analysis begins right away. This happens informally as questions arise as to what this or that comment or observation shows about the situation. There are disciplined methods of identifying themes that allow looking at patterns across multiple interviews. Simply attending to the discipline of research often leads one to begin to see key issues, common patterns and important new insights. As noted above with the initial research question, there needs to be room for taking stock of how what one thought would be the central themes or conclusion turned out to be off base or in need of substantive revi-sion. Learning deeply and authentically from the field is a central commitment of ethno-graphic study.

Moreover, while this thematic analysis is certainly important to do in relation to one’s accumulating data, it is also a place for collabo-ration so that one is forced to present findings to others and hear their reaction. A collabora-tive research project in a local community or congregation could be designed and carried out. This is much more common in the natural and social sciences, and ought to become more standard in pastoral and youth ministry. The complexity of the world today—and the acces-sibility of so much information—make the lim-its of one researcher much more pronounced. What might it look like for church leaders to imagine a ‘co-laboratory’ or ‘studio’ model in which the whole process-from generating concepts and questions through publication—is shared?

Editor’s conclusion: So are you ready to give it a try? Remember the framing questions with which we began: Where will you muck around? What data will you triangulate? What do you need to see for yourself? Who will you interview? Let me offer some examples of ways I’ve engaged these kinds of practices in my own context, not offered as prescription but rather example to spark the imagination.

In my context, my favorite way to muck around is to just walk around the neighborhood. Go into stores near the church you’ve never visited; try to tour factories; go down the driveways to farms. Plan an itinerary for this. Do four walks in a month. On the first week, walk north of the church. On the second week, south of your church. And so on. Spend the whole day walking. Take your time. Let what happens happens. There are of course many other and diverse and deeper ways to muck around, but this is a good start.

There’s plenty of data to triangulate. Often cities provide all kinds of demographic and city

information on their municipal web site. Evalu-ate where you are weak, then add data from there. In our recent strategic planning process, for example, we were heavy on statistical infor-mation from surveys of our own congregation, so we made sure to include a neighborhood survey, as well as gathering a small group of unchurched people to talk about their percep-tions of our church and the church at large.

If you want to go see for yourself, I suggest places of work as a starting place. People love to talk about their work. You can get a tour, shadow parishioners for a day, and more. Pick a place of work, and spend part of a day there. If multiple of your congregation members work there, you can arrange a lunch or coffee.

Interviewing is essential. It’s time-consuming, but bears much fruit. In our recent strategic planning process, I interviewed our fire chief, the local school principal, the head of parks & rec, neighboring pastors, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and more. Prepare a simple set of questions you want to ask: What

needs in our community need to be addressed? What assets do we have in this community? How can we partner as church and your orga-nization? What do you know about our church? Who else should I talk to?

Assemble a team of people in your congrega-tion who are also doing this kind of ethno-graphic research, then meet periodically to share notes. If one of you is more into analysis of survey data, and another is better at walk-ing the neighborhood, this gives a chance to bring diverse experiences together into a cohesive whole.

Most importantly, find a way to make it fun, and be an adventure. There’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered. Oftentimes, there is far more to a neighborhood or com-munity than first meets the eye. Engage in just these simple practices listed above, and you yourself, your congregation, and your neigh-bors will be enriched immeasurably.

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SUMMER 2013

I remember it as if it were yesterday.

It was early in the semester, and I had just walked out of one of my qualitative research classes. I was on fire. Never had I been more energized, more impassioned by an academic class. Mind you, this is coming from someone who had been in school for twenty-something of her thirty-odd years, so the sample size for comparison was considerable. A friend point-ed a finger at my enthusiasm and asked me what “qualitative research” was. “It’s all about immersing yourself in a situation and using all the observation tools you’ve got, in order to learn about what’s going on: interviews and ethnography and looking at artifacts and observation and….” I gushed. My companion cocked a head. “Oh. So it’s academic justifica-tion of your basic nosiness in other people’s business.”

How else could I respond, except with an affir-mative shrug? Granted, the research methods taught in that class found a hospitable host in me. Looking back, I had been groomed for this moment from my earliest years. I grew up itinerant, the daughter of a career military father. Every two years, give or take, we pulled up stakes and moved to another corner of the globe. We had a ritual when we arrived; first, we’d pile into the Chevy Impala and spend a day driving. With a map spread between us on the bench seat, my mother and I would navi-gate as my father drove. We learned where the schools, the commissary, the playgrounds, and the office were. We saw the swanky officers’ housing and the modest enlisted barracks. We noted the trees, the manicured lawns, who was out and about, who was miss-ing. Next, we’d stop by the base chapel and introduce ourselves to the chaplain to see how we could be of use. We’d learn the landscape, locate ourselves in it, and figure out what we needed to do.

Without knowing what it was called, my family was teaching me how to be an ethnographer. “Ethnography” asks the question, “What is the culture of this group of people?”1 It’s one of the earliest and most basic forms of qualita-tive inquiry, and we engage it informally every

time we step into an unfamiliar context and try to sort out what is going on. My friend had it mostly right; it is a disciplined way of being nosy, and then some. Riding around with my family, I learned that being human in this world requires keenly developed skills of looking, listening, adapting, and responding. New surroundings on a frequent and regular basis meant being able to read situations quickly and carefully, paying attention and figuring out the best way to be present.

Moving into adulthood, I carried this practice into the work I did as a high school teacher, a student of religion and education, a professor, a faith formation director, an administrator, and even as a parent. That qualitative research class helped me take what had been an intui-tive way of leaning into situations and develop it intentionally. In fact, I would argue that anyone who practices ministry or education, especially with youth and young adults, would do well to learn how to “be” an ethnographer in the world. Why?

1. IT IS THE FIRST STEP IN DOING THEOLOGY. Learning theology (or learning about theology) requires basic literacy skills; doing theology means reflecting critically on revelation and practice and then articulating the fruits of that reflection.

Ethnography presumes that knowledge can be discerned from close, informed observa-tion of the world around us. This is as much a theological statement as it is a sociologi-cal or epistemological one. How? Practicing ethnography is a disciplined way of paying holy attention, of becoming attuned to the revela-tion in our midst. And claiming the Incarnation has practical implications. We are called to pay attention to who we are, and all that we bring to our interpretation of the world; we pay attention to the other, on their own terms; and we listen and look for the presence of the Holy as revealed in the ordinariness of life. And let’s face it – the Christian tradition is rich with narratives that remind us over and over again that the obvious isn’t always the divine. Rather, God seems to have a tendency to

choose methods of self-revelation that would be easily overlooked by those not paying at-tention. Consider Elijah, hearing the whisper at the mouth of the cave; David the shepherd, identified as the leader of his people; the birth of a baby who turned out to be the Messiah. We are called to learn how to exegete life just as we learn how to exegete scripture. In doing so, we participate in the great and ongoing act of sacred storytelling.

Furthermore, ministry is not just about doing activities or implementing programs; it is about nurturing a quality of presence – an empathetic way of being that Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster call a “Godbearing life.” They point out that working with youth is, in a way, “inhabiting an alien culture” for a time2. By paying close attention to the stories and lives of the young people in our midst and exegeting them, we teach them something absolutely crucial: their lives are a place where God’s revelation takes place and they have the capacity to mediate, discern, and participate in the holy. As a minister, you’re not bringing God to them; you help them pay attention to the God who is already there and who got there long before you (and they) did. And, hopefully, they come to know that they are indeed in the imago dei.

Which brings us to another point….

2. IT’S A NECESSARY STEP TO BE-ING CHRISTIAN, TOO. Being Christian isn’t just about listening and observing – it is about acting, as well. Pay-ing holy attention and exegeting context has consequences; it quickly leads to the realiza-tion that things are not necessarily the way they could – or should – be. God isn’t the only reality revealed; the brokenness of the world intrudes in our line of vision, too. More than just attuning ourselves to the presence of the Holy, the Christian life calls us to be respon-sive to the places in the world where God’s reign is unfolding or the imago dei begs for restoration.

As ministers among youth, we are charged with inviting them to participate in that work

PAYING HOLY ATTENTIONby Helen Blier

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– to see what is, to imagine what could be, and to step responsively into the distance between the two. But it can be heartbreaking, even paralyzing, to recognize the enormity of the distance. The practice of ethnography pro-vides a way to lean into the task, to frame the first steps for discerning how to live faithfully. It’s a means for engaging the kind of reflective practice that undergirds the oldest Christian disciplines of discernment, seeking to know God’s will and live in partnership with it. The end of this discernment is always action, and the first step is paying attention. So, if ethnog-raphy is a practice that facilitates Christian living, shouldn’t we teach young people how to do it and not just do it ourselves?

3. YOUNG PEOPLE ARE PRIMED TO BE ETHNOGRAPHERS THEMSELVES. The developmental perspectives of research-ers like James Fowler, Robert Kegan, and Carol Gilligan articulate what we already know intuitively from being with them - they are at that funny, wonderful, frustrating cusp between self-consciousness and self-aware-ness, with all the attending capacities for social observation and criticism. The task of discern-ing meaning in the world, achieving identity, and finding that to which they will commit themselves faithfully is the most crucial work of the adolescent years.

Just as they are at that work, they also stand increasingly alienated from meaningful participation in a world that, as David White

points out, defines their primary vocation as consumption and entertainment3. If the call to Christian life is at heart the transformative participation in God’s reign, then the jarring disconnect between the Christian vocation and the cultural narrative calls the Christian to action. Put differently, one hundred percent of us have been called to do God’s work in the world, and one hundred percent of us are gifted to do that work. Regardless of their age and “not-yetness,” youth have a vocation as youth, and their newly awakened capacities for observation are one of those gifts.

Coaching them in basic ethnographic skills helps to broker that gift in thoughtful ways, teaching them how to pay attention to them-selves, to each other, and to the world around them. Learning how to pay holy attention helps them temper reaction into response and practice empathy, hearing the sacred stories of their lives and others’. It brings to mind writ-er Barry Lopez’s wonderful line: “Everyone is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together; stories and compassion.” This compassion is key; it guides the connec-tion between their stories and the tradition, giving purpose and focus to their ability to act and a meaningful place in the world.

Youth ministry is a volatile field. Activities and programs are context-specific, and they come and go. The landscape in which we all do our work is constantly changing. Paying holy at-tention is a practice that has staying power in a professional world filled with new techniques

and shiny objects. Among all the best practices and skills a competent minister needs, “culti-vating an ethnographic presence” should hold a prominent place in the toolbox.

At its best, youth ministry seeks to animate young people’s gifts for observation, compas-sion, and action. Paying holy attention to them and teaching them how to do the same moves in two directions: it models their glorious status as a means by which God can be made known in the world and it shows them that they can be participants in the healing of the world. Poet Mary Oliver has perhaps said it best:

Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. 4

Helen Blier has worked as a high school teacher, a member of the Youth Theo-logical Initiative team, and a professor of youth ministry at Candler School of Theology and Boston College. She cur-rently works at the Associa-tion of Theological Schools and serves on the executive board of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the edito-rial board of the Journal of Youth Ministry.

BIBLIOGRAPHYIf you are interested in reading works by youth ministry writers who have used theologically-informed ethnographic approaches in their writing, I recommend taking a look at the fol-lowing. Many of them are published by Pilgrim Press as part of their Youth Ministry Alterna-tives series.

Baker, Dori Grinenko, and Joyce Mercer. Lives to Offer: Accompanying Youth on Their Vocation-al Quests. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2007.

Parker, Evelyn. The Sacred Selves of Adolescent Girls: Hard Stories of Race, Class, and Gender. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010.

Parks, Sharon Daloz. Big Questions, Worthy Dreams. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Rogers, Frank. Finding God in the Graffiti. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2011.

Turpin, Katherine. Branded: Adolescents Con-verting from Consumer Faith. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2006.

Van Meter, Tim. Created in Delight. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013.White, David F. Practicing Discernment with Youth: A Transformative Youth Ministry Ap-proach. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2005.

1 Michael Quinn Patton. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002), 81. The entry on ethnography provides a helpful and accessible definition of ethnography.2 Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster, The Godbearing Life. (Nashville, TN: Upper Room, 1998), 32. Dean and Foster write of youth ministry as “missionary” work; “Youth ministry compels us to inhabit an alien culture rather than just visit and pose for snapshots. This habitation does not mean that we adopt youth culture as our own. One sign of healthy adult leadership is the ability to be one with youth without becoming one of them.”3 David F. White, Practicing Discernment with Youth. (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2005), 37.4 http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/62038-instructions-for-living-a-life-pay-attention-be-astonished-tell?auto_login_attempted=true. Accessed April 14, 2013.

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SUMMER 2013

LISTENING MAKES PEOPLE REAL. Good listeners are aficionados, connoisseurs

of fine stories! People come to life as we sit

and hear their stories of great joys and great

sorrows.

Here is what really good listeners do:

• Listeners help people tell their stories.

• Listening does not “should” on people

by outdoing, fixing, changing, manipulat-

ing, debating or even preaching to.

• When someone “should” on another, they

use words like, “You should . . . ” “If I were

you . . . ” “ When I was your age . . . ” “Why

don’t you just . . . ”

• Listeners help people find their own

words and thoughts.

• Listeners help pull the words out, rather

than stuff their own words in.

• Listeners are mirrors reflecting what is

inside, including feelings, meaning, be-

liefs, values, even understanding the

workings of the Spirit.

• We make people real by helping others

know and understand their own stories.

Listening is ministry leadership. Listening

leadership often gets overlooked, when people

expect leaders to be those at the micro-

phones—people speaking, singing, lecturing, or

serving on committees— the planners, organiz-

ers and those who wrestle with issues. Please,

don’t misunderstand; microphone and commit-

tee leadership is important. These roles exist

to equip and inspire all of us to care, welcome

and affirm others every day, everywhere and in

every relationship. Microphone and committee

leadership should be what equips and inspires

us to be lovers of others, loving because Christ

first loved us, empowering us with skills and

the heart to care enough to make people real.

Listening is the front lines of ministry.

Jesus sits beside the well with the Samaritan

woman in John 4 and offers to give her “living

water.” The beauty of the story is that Jesus

never defines “living water.” For her that day,

“living water” was the experience of someone

knowing her story. Jesus makes her real, while

sitting at the well, face-to-face, heart-to-heart

and person-to-person, sharing the realities

of her life. Listening ministry is about making

people real, offering them “living water.”

KIDS LISTENING TO KIDS IN CANDLE GROUPSEmma and Melissa are high school juniors.

They lead their Candle Group. The evening

started with a game funneling everyone

together. A song added focus. A creatively

shared Bible story gave the background

for their topic. Groups split up and chose

darkened spaces around the building. Emma

and Melissa chose a back corner in the church

basement for their group. Emma lit a candle.

Melissa shared a short prayer. Emma asked

an opening deep question. The group talked.

They shared life, they shared faith. They got

silly, they got deep. When asked, kids say

things about their groups such as “This group

is what gets me through the week;” “We just

leave our masks and all the pretend stuff at

the doors before we come in;” “I love it that

people actually listen to me;” and “I like it that

our friends are allowed to lead. Adults, tend to

talk too much.”

Opportunities to sit beside wells seldom

happen. Campfires might be a more likely

experience. As the flames rise, so does the

willingness to trust. Everyone’s shadows, vexa-

tions, apprehensions and inhibitions seem to

flicker away. People sit staring into the flames,

sharing anything and everything, sometimes

all night long.

Candle time creates that vibe. Emma and

Melissa are culture keepers of this campfire

atmosphere, building trust, honoring each

other’s stories. Kids lead kids. The group

grows because of them. Emma and Melissa’s

job is to help kids tell their faith and life stories.

God is part of that group. Kids leave, feeling

they have been heard. There is grace in the

world, there is love, everyone senses they are

a little more real. Everyone has experienced

a bit of God being reflected by their group.

The evening ends after the groups gather and

the candles are placed in the center of the

darkened youth room. Candle Time Prayers

are shared.

Melissa and Emma are Peer Ministry Lead-

ers, part of a core group of about 15 youth

at Mount Calvary in Excelsior, Minn. All are

trained as caring, welcoming and affirming

listeners. The ministry grows in numbers because of the ability of a team of leaders to

keep up more ongoing relationships than a

single leader could sustain. Listening is mag-

netic. Kids discover an unusual group of kids

who care. The ministry grows in spiritual depth

because “real people,” not just “paid prayers,”

model spiritual practices.

Peer Ministry Leadership is taught to be lived

everyday, everywhere and in every relation-

ship. It is an education of the heart. Getting

beyond teaching only head knowledge takes

a lot of intentional work. Listening ministry

requires that leaders learn skills. Teaching

skills gives leaders the confidence to listen

to others. Teaching skills that help others tell

their stories requires practice. Beyond that, it

is dependent on role models and mentors who

live the skills.

EVERY DAY, EVERYWHERE, EV-ERY RELATIONSHIP MINISTRYThe enemy of youth ministry is not hockey,

football, band, play practice or even the chess

team. As kids learn caring, welcoming and

affirming skills, they also learn to listen outside

the walls of a congregation. Youth ministry

celebrates and affirms kids who are not in

the church building! Kids are asked, “How is

basketball going? How are the relationships on

your team? How are you using your ministry

skills? How can we be praying for you? We are

so glad you are there! Our church needs you

there! Keep on caring, welcoming and affirm-

ing your teammates.” “You are doing ministry!”

MAKING PEOPLE REALby Lyle Griner

9

Note a couple things that are happening! One,

kids are learning that the church is more than

a long series of events. “The church needs

you there!” is not the usual words heard from

church leaders, who more often communicate,

“You should be here!” Listening ministry al-

lows kids to be Christ on the front lines of life,

understanding that ministry is lived every day,

everywhere and in every relationship.

Two, sharing faith is being taught as a ministry

that believes that God’s love and grace is

truly unconditional and for everyone. This is

very different than the experience of some

Christians who need to change and convert

others, who approach others assuming that

some form of belief, or lack of, will put people

in categories of “in” or “out,” with God. Kids

are learning that listening and caring for your

neighbor is sharing faith.

The big “ah-ha” for many youth is the discov-

ery that they are already doing ministry. We

just forgot to tell them that what they do

counts. Listening, caring, welcoming and af-

firming friends is ministry. Help kids think of it

this way. It is the mission trip that lasts beyond

the week and now is lived every day, every-

where and in every relationship.

SPIRIT NUDGESListening requires seeing people. Teach kids

to be attentive to the Spirit’s nudges. Spirit

nudges come with sensing or seeing situations

that need care. Teach youth to observe others

as a way to begin to get outside of themselves,

caring for their neighbor. All ministry begins

with seeing. Seeing and sensing that some-

one is being left out, maybe even pushed out,

that someone is quieter than normal, missing

someone who usually shows up, or someone

sitting alone - all of these may be a signal that

it is time to put those listening skills to work.

Real friends step in when everyone else is

stepping out. Real friends are attentive to

Spirit nudges.

YOUTH MINISTRY?We are relational architects. We make rela-

tional connections. We help people grow rela-

tional faith skills. The congregation embodies,

equips, engages, empowers and allows people.

Our outcome is people who understand ev-

eryday relationships as ministry and have the

skills and heart to listen so that God’s grace

and love is reflected to others.

Therefore, we design programs as opportuni-

ties for intentional relational connections.

Programs include a core of caring youth and

adults who know this to be their role. Oppor-

tunities are provided in the midst of programs

for face to face, heart to heart, person to

person connections.

We embody the results we want, surround-

ing youth with people who model and mentor

relational faith. Leaders first live it!

We equip youth with very specific skills for

living a relational faith. Teach relational faith

skills to develop an atmosphere of care. It is

the DNA training that underlies the culture

of everything we do. It is that for which our

ministry becomes known.

We engage relational service opportunities.

Help youth discover that Christian leader-

ship is relational leadership. Constantly

give youth relational opportunities. Leading

candle groups, going with you to visit another

youth in the hospital, pairing up with a new

member family who has kids, leading camps,

retreats, and every outing. We lead kids into

conversations with people in our communi-

ties and people beyond our communities. We

learn from cross cultural and cross genera-

tional conversations. We learn that you can-

not hate a person whose story you know. No

matter where we go or who we talk to, God is

already there.

We empower youth to live life using their

skills. “It’s not a job, it’s an attitude,” declared

one youth. Relational faith is meant to be lived.

Therefore, we ask kids how their ministry is

going. How can we pray for you? How can

we help your ministry? In the midst of your

friends? Team? Work? Family?

We allow kids to lead. Kids are either leading

or they are leaving. “Our kids are not ready

for this,” underestimates our kids. If they have

friendships, if they live around people, they

are in dire need of learning relational faith

skills! See youth differently. They really can be

the church of today. See your youth as your

ministry team.

SURPRISE! Ministry doesn’t require a sign up form; it is

all around us. “Incline your ear, and come to

me; listen, so that you may live.” -Isaiah 55.3.

Living water... by the well, by the campfire,

around the candle, in the cafeteria, in the living

room, in the office, across the street, the other

side of town, and the other side of the world.

Listen, as God’s love surprises us and God’s

grace captures us.

I will listen to your story. You listen to my

story. Together we shall know a little more

about God.

Lyle Griner Is the National Director of Peer Ministry Leadership. He works with congregations to learn how to train youth, and coaches congrega-tions on how to implement systems for caring student leadership. To learn more go to www.peerministry.org or contact him at pml@everydayllc.org.

10

SUMMER 2013

Join the conversation!www.elcaymnet.org/3tc

3rd Tuesday Conversations are monthly gatherings of

friends. They are great continuing education events. They

are opportunities to hear from, and interact with experts in

the field. 3TC conversations are free for Network members.

Our schedule:

Stay tuned at www.elcaymnet.org/3tc for Fall schedule!

Times:

All 3TC conversations begin at:

2:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Central

12:00 p.m. Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific

Our conversations:

We use online webinars. You can log

in to a special webinar site and listen

to the conversation while watching

images on your screen. Or, you can

watch on the computer while calling

in and listening on your phone.

You will have opportunities to ask

questions as well.

11

Here’s our belief:There is an amazing amount of talent,

expertise and skill within our community.

And we have all developed resources for

use in our congregations.

Many of us are willing to share those

resources that we have created. MartinsList

is a place to do that. Here, we can share our

work with each other...and can create a

community of mutual support in our ministry.

It’s open source ministry.

It’s MartinsList.

open source youth ministry

www.MartinsList.org

Ethnography. The term may seem like one

best left to those who work in the social sci-

ences, or perhaps you have associated this

word with the design firms and ad agencies

who are creating products and advertising

for futuristic electronic products. But when it

comes to faith formation for children in your

congregation, one of the best (and most ac-

cessible) settings for ethnography is your own

church building.

Stepping into the role of ethnographer in a

place that is so familiar to you requires that

you view the experiences of kids through a dif-

ferent lens. But it’s definitely possible . . . and

you might even have some fun along the way.

Here is a quick look at how you could try

out some DIY ethnography with the goal of

learning more about how you can design parts

of your church to be more welcoming and

focused on children. Take a camera, record

notes, jot sketches and be ready for some

surprises along the way.

ENTRANCES AND EXITSStart your project by identifying where kids

typically enter your building. The narthex?

The education wing? Before you walk into

the space, squat down to a kid’s eye level and

stay there a while. What do you see? Is there

signage that uses words and pictures? Do kids

know where to go next? Are there artwork

and symbols of the faith that kids can easily

view? What messages, both intended and un-

intended, are kids receiving when they enter

your building?

WHERE IN THE WORLD DO THEY WORSHIP?Stand in your sanctuary and sketch a quick

map of the seating. Where do kids and their

families often sit? Draw circles there. Can

parents make a quick exit with little ones

(especially during the toilet-training months)?

Use lines to show this path. Are there areas

that seem to have an invisible “Grown-ups

Only” sign? Make X’s there. What patterns do

you see?

FAITH IN THE NOOKS & CRANNIESNext time it’s Sunday morning and you can

take a few minutes, note the spots where

kids make themselves comfortable . . . and the

places they avoid. Are they gathering around

the donut table, jumping off the stair landing,

or (a common occurrence in my congregation)

waiting outside the sacristy like hungry birds

for pieces of the remaining communion bread?

Has it been months since a kid-spotting in

the library? Do kids bolt out of Sunday school

classrooms the moment they are dismissed?

Do any of them get a chance to see a pastor

or other staff members in their offices, or are

those spaces off-limits? By looking at your

whole building and all the possibilities for faith

moments to happen, you may come up with

some ideas for rearranging furniture, hanging

kid-friendly art and inviting kids to visit.

MAKE FAMILY MAPSIf you have architectural plans of your build-

ing, size them so that each floor can fit on an

8.5x11 page and then distribute these maps to

some families. Ask them to map a typical Sun-

day morning, using lines of different colors for

each family member. Where do they go? How

much time do they spend in each location?

(Does any kid NOT use the bathroom at least

once?) After collecting the maps, review sev-

eral of them to look for patterns and outliers.

Who needs to see these visual representa-

tions of how and when these spaces are used?

SHOW AND TELL In addition to observing how kids use the

space in your context, ask them! Take a photo

of each kid holding up a whiteboard that has

their answer to a question about the space.

(Examples: Where is your favorite spot?

Where do you feel connected to God in our

church?) Print the photos and create a display

in a common area to show others the results

of this ethnographic project.

A KID’S-EYE VIEWIf you want to involve kids in another way dur-

ing this DIY ethnography, invite one or more

kids to help you! Give them digital cameras or

smart phones and ask them to take photo-

graphs in and around your building. You could

ask them specific questions (see the sugges-

tions in Show and Tell above) or give them the

freedom to shoot photos where they want of

what they want.

D.I.Y. ETHNOGRAPHY: KID EDITIONBy Dawn Rundman

THE FOUR-F APPROACHSo how do you go about making your con-

gregational spaces more inviting to kids? For

starters, you can approach a specific room in

your building with this Four-F approach. For

each statement below, jot notes that reflect

what your ethnographer’s eye views.

NAME of the Room/Space:

FUNCTION—What is the function of this space?

FEATURES—What are the physical features of this space?

FLAWS—What are the flaws in this space?

FIXES—How could we make this room more welcoming to kids?

12

SUMMER 2013

SAMPLE FOUR-F APPROACH

NAME of the Room/Space: Fireside Room

FUNCTION—What is the function of this

space?

Adult forum some weeks when the usual space is occupied with other activitiesInformal gatherings during the week (Bible study, committee meetings)Impromptu meeting spacePreparation room for weddingsSometimes parents with young kids come in here between services

FEATURES—What are the physical features

of this space?

Close to sanctuary and bathroomsCarpetComfy chairsExposed brick around fireplace

Decorations (unlit candles, vases with artificial flowers, wall hangings)Overhead fluorescent lighting

FLAWS—What are the flaws in this space?

No artwork, religious symbols or words, or other faith-based imagesLots of stuff that kids could breakLit gas fireplace with kids in the room could be dangerous

Fixes—How could we make this room more

welcoming to kids and families?

Remove breakable decorative objects (or place them on higher shelves)Add table lamps for warmer, cozier lightingAdd a rocking chair so a mother could nurse during worship

Dawn Rundman is on the Connect Journal team and is a longtime fan and supporter of youth ministry volunteers and profes-sionals. She is a resource developer for children’s resources at Augsburg Fortress and sparkhouse, its ecumenical division. Dawn also presents workshops in congrega-tions and at events about how to become a Child Loving Church. Dawn lives in the Twin Cities with her husband Jonathan and their two children.

13

ETHNOGRAWHAT?A FACEBOOK CONVERSATION - NETWORK MEMBERS

Q: Where are your “listening posts?” That is, where do you go within your community to listen, observe and learn about young people and their cul-tures? Your responses may be published in the journal, the theme of which is on “Listening,” and how ethnographic research can be a tool in ministry

Paul Clark My community has a pretty awe-some (and I am sure rare) program for adult volunteers to be allowed into the school dur-ing the school day... so twice a month I wander the halls and deliver office notes into class rooms.

Don Marsh Listening is the most important thing I do in ministry. Experience taught me long ago ( and continues to teach me) that what I have to say about life is far less impor-tant than what others NEED to tell me.

Rachel Slough Sports events. Bleachers are an enlightening place to observe and listen--and as a bonus, you get to watch youth you care about shine (or, worst case, be there to comfort).

Rachel Slough With caution, I also use facebook as a listening post. I know this is a slippery slope. But if the youth ask to friend me and I don’t seek out their posts, I’ve found it to be a very honest forum and way to know what’s happening in their lives.

Sheryl Zeis I work more with young adults now. Coffee shops and the stores around campus can be very enlightening, especially Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market.

Melinda King The local coffee shop, school events (band concerts and sporting events), Twitter (they are most open there), and luckily the 3rd floor of our church where the youth tend to hang out.

Gene Ramsey Best listening post I ever found was the front seat of a car chauffeuring 3 teenagers in the back.

Tracy Bieger I agree with Gene Ramsey, one of the best places I’ve found is during trips, even short ones. They are pretty honest on Twitter as Sheryl Zeis mentioned, and my youth are definitely on Twitter much more than facebook these days. My youth this past weekend at our synod gathering told me

“Facebook is for old people”. Exact words! I guess I’m officially old.

Jason Kramme I find that the students are the best cultural informants. Depending on your relationship with them, they are incredibly open and honest about things.

Lyle Griner Sat Sunday night with 24 parents in a Living Room, all from different church back grounds, all from the same neighbor-hood. Parents know SOOOO much more than they are given credit for. Their love and knowledge FAR exceeds what I can give kids. I learned a lot listening in that neighborhood gathering.

Andy ‘Mo’ Moscinski Sitting at one right now, Perkins on a college campus after 10 pm. Great observation and listening. Seeing how these high school and college students interact with each other, with other groups. So diverse and I am by far the oldest right here right now.

Linda Brandvold McPeak Anytime the young people are waiting for rides at school, com-munity center, mall, or church. These interim periods seem to be great opportunities to see and hear their culture preferences. Social media is another great window; what songs they listen to, videos they like, and an underes-timated one are internet memes. Memes carry quite a bit cultural info.

SugarCreek YouthDirector Middle school lunch...watching, observing, listening, and talking with them. We have youth that come from our church, our partner church, some from the community and some from no church background. It is amazing how open and com-fortable they all become through the year and how they share and just “be” when we come to eat with them.

Ariel Williams Social Media is my best way of listening to my youth... they are far more open and honest on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

etc... regarding what is going on in their lives, than they ever will be face to face.

Paula Sebastian Johnson Social media and trips. Our youth are very active with instagram these days. When you go on a retreat and have the time just to interact and talk with them then begin to open up.

Rich Melheim I go here.

Mark Parker Patterson Park.the Southeast Anchor Librarythe basketball court inside my churchWorking in the planting area outside my churchSitting on my front steps with my guitarThe Pre-K through 8th grade school across the street.

Shannon Fleischfresser We have a youth drop in center at our church that the middle school students come in 3 days a week, hang-ing out at the high school after our Friday morning bible study before school starts, sporting events, going on trips- to Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, the Dells, etc.- or long trips and social media sites.

Molly Haggerty-Brewster I am a substitue teacher by day and ministry staff by evenings and weekends. This helps get perspective of youth culture in religious and secular settings. It is interesting how much the students in class want to talk about faith or religion.

JOIN THE CONVERSATIONS!For ELCA Youth Ministry Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2310375886/

14

SUMMER 2013

ETHNOGRAWHAT?A FACEBOOK CONVERSATION - ELCA CLERGY

Q: Where are your “listening posts?” That is, where do you go within your community to listen, observe and learn about young people and their cul-tures? Your responses may be published in the journal, the theme of which is on “Listening,” and how ethnographic research can be a tool in ministry

Sara Litzner Coffee shop and McDonalds play area (which was just recently taken down :-().

Sara Litzner Sometime a pizza place too

Clint Schnekloth Our play area is also under construction. This has caused concern in our household.

Sara Litzner This summer I am thinking of making the soccer field my hangout.

Sara Litzner 6-8 office hours at the soccer field near the concession

Paul Petersen The coffee shop that is part of our new campus ministry building and the patio out front

Kathi Inglis Johnson Coffee shops. Restau-rants. Shopping malls. In the fall, high school football games.

Krister Ulmanis When my son was playing soccer I did a lot of pastoral care by simply standing on the side lines and watching him play. People saw me as his dad, not the pastor, and felt comfortable talking about everything that went on in their lives. Powerful experi-ence and wonderful lesson. Have been doing something in the community ever since.

Lura N. Groen Pretty important to have close friends who aren’t in church. Local drag bar. Transgender community center. Facebook. Bus stops. Volunteering at homeless service providers. Public events at a university. And yes, coffeeshops.

Scott Alan Johnson Bible study at the cof-feeshop downtown. Meeting random people at the golf course. Sermon writing at Panera/other coffee shops in my collar.

Kim Peterson Coffee group at the local coffee shop. Develop wonderful friendships with people from the community and learn a lot.

Pastor Sherry McGuffin Bars and sports events.

Rob James I echo the coffee shop. My daughters started soccer last night and being a leader who can’t stand on the sidelines in a leadership void, I became the assistant coach-should be a lot of learning!

The other I would add is our monthly food pantry.

Stacy Hill Seger Youth choir/band/orchestra concerts, plays, etc... and, of course, Facebook. Folks do lots of talking on Facebook!

Katya Ouchakof The gym. I’m a water aerobics instructor in my “spare time” and it’s a great way to get to know folks who may or may not be churchgoers.

The sports bar. Seriously, I can’t count the number of sermons and newsletter articles I’ve written at Buffalo Wild Wings. Free wi-fi, and friendly staff who think it’s awesome that their customer is writing a sermon with a glass of wine.

PJ Holthus Student union at our campus two lunch hours every week at the same table by the traffic flow

Sarah Schaffner My neighborhood.

Gail Cromack A great old diner. From 1937. The diner-- not me:)

Noah Hepler I might add local comicons, theaters, game stores, comic shops.

Noah Hepler Also, finding a nice guild on world of warcraft. Kent Lee local bike shop, paddle board store, and local hang out/bar

Noah Hepler if its not already been men-tioned yet, there’s always the awesome pos-

sibility of speaking with, hanging out with, and listening to youth and young adults in your congregation.

Emily Pankow Nesdahl I eat lunch at the school a few times a month. Now that school is out I will be the cheerleader for the t-ball team that our congregation sponsors.

Anna Garbisch Sorenson Little League games

Joel Martin I play poker at a bar that offers a free weekly poker tournement

Matthew March Football press box, band concerts, pool, chaperone school dances, Facebook, instagram, the lake.

Eric Burtness “Listening post”? 26 hour volunteer training at the local women’s abuse shelter. As the only male.

Chris Duckworth Road Races (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, etc. etc.).

Clint Schnekloth Parties John Dietz A lot of conversations/ listen-ing happen at the grocery store here. Dairy Queen. After confirmation and Sunday School at the doors of the building.

Kenneth Melber Jr. Farmers Markets. People talk about anything and everything there.

JOIN THE CONVERSATIONS!For ELCA Clergy Conversation: http://www.facebook.com/groups/elcaclergy/

15

Thrivent Members Can Now Choose

The Network!

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network is now a

recipient of Thrivent Choice dollars! Folks

who have access to these dollars can go to

the Thrivent choice page and designate the

Network as the recipient of your dollars! It’s

a great way to support the Network!

To make a donation, please go to:

www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice . Log in,

and from there you can search for the ELCA

Youth Ministry Network in the listing of

approved organizations, and make your des-

ignation! Thank you to all who have chosen

the Network for your donations so far!

The Network is grateful to its individual donors and organizational partners for supporting its

mission and vision for the future. The Network is funded in 3 ways:

Extravaganza fees cover approximately 2/3 of the cost

of the event. The remaining 1/3 is covered by

organizational and partnership gifts.

Network operational costs are covered by

membership dues.

Funding for developing our future vision comes from

financial gifts from individuals, and organizations.

These individuals have made a special gift during the current fiscal year to help further the mis-sion of the Network. We are grateful for their support!

These organizations have taken the extra step to become Network partners this year to provide support for the Network. We are grateful for their support!

Gold Partners: ELCA Youth Gathering iGivings Luther Seminary

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! THRIVENT CHOICE

EXTRAVAGANZA REGISTRATION

MEMBERSHIP DUES

extravaganza

operating expenses

Connect Journal • Staff • Publicity • Etc...

Rachel AlleyNate AlthoffJeff “Spanky” AmlotteCatherine AndersonAndrew ArnoldKristen BaltrumSarah BaneMolly Beck DeanDon BehrendtMark BehrendtArne BerglandKris BjorkeRamona BouzardLois BrownEric CarlsonMelissa ChaddickDebbie ClipsonTimothy ColtvetHeidi CryerCarole De JardinDavid M DeedsSusan DetwilerJeffrey EngroffPatty EricksonMargie FiedlerLiz FisherShannon FleischfresserRyan FletcherRay GentryDesta GoehnerRegina GoodrichJoshua Graber

Shannon GreelyDeborah GrupeJulie HagenHeidi HagstromPeggy HahnBarbara HarnerIan HartfieldEmily HenselmeierJim HolthusMary HouckDavid HunstadKathy HunstadKate HuronChelle HuthTony KerlavageLisa KrammeKim KrummelLeann Kruse-ArciaShirley J LeeLynn LeisenMartha MaierTyler MalotkyMatthew MarchDon MarshCary MathisKarla MayTiger McLuenJulie MillerSusan MillerSarah MoeningRick Mollenkopf-GrillAndy (Mo) Moscinski

Pat NetkoJulie Schuessler PeraltaRose PrasadRachael PuttbreseLinda RambowJason ReedPaul RohdeGreg RonningNikki RudKatie RussellMarilyn SharpeDavid ShoubGeoff SinibaldoBeth SmallbeckBrenda SmithDean SmithJonathan SteinerJacob ThogmartinMary ToufarKathleen Ulland-KlinknerKatie VanBeekLarry WagnerKelli WeissHans WiersmaLindsay WilliamsJonathan WillsColleen Windham-HughesBeth WolslegelAmy WoodsTammie ZarfosStephanie Zinn

Silver Partners:Augsburg Fortress PublishingLutheran Educational Conference of North AmericaLutheridge+Lutherock MinistriesELCA Mission Investment Fund

Wartburg Theological SeminaryYouth EncounterYouth Leadership, Inc.Mike Ward Stewardship

16

SUMMER 2013

LIVING IN YOUR OWN PRIVATE ETHNOGRAPHYSo, if you’re like most people, the word “eth-

nography” sends you scrambling to google for

a definition. If you’re like me, you just pretend

you know what it means until nobody’s look-

ing, and then you sneak on to google. Either

way, I’m assuming that by the time you reach

this little postage stamp of the magazine, you

have some idea what the term means. If not,

now’s your chance to open your browser and

find out.

<cue sound of clock ticking while pages from a

calendar run in reverse order to the 1960’s>

I was baptized in a Lutheran church. I was

confirmed in a Lutheran church. I went to a

Lutheran college. I attended Lutheran wor-

ship services my whole life. I soaked up the

ethos, the theology, the practices, the habits,

the earth-tone clothing, the requisite solemn

demeanor when returning to my pew after

communion, and along the way I somehow

managed to get confirmed, despite learning a

fraction of what the pastor’s daughter knew.

And then I successfully navigated the choppy

theological waters of Concordia College in

Bronxville, and had the stamp of approval for

knowing my chops.

In short: I was born and raised a Lutheran.

(Though as my brother would insist, that

should be “born and reared” a Lutheran.) It

was what I knew, and I was good at it.

Over the years, my wife and I moved house

many times, and each new move meant find-

ing the new local Lutheran parish. In one of

these moves, we found ourselves attending a

place that was aggressively “seeker friendly.”

Sermons were often replaced by videos of

some pastor outside Chicago. Communion

was increasingly jettisoned to make room for

special occasions like Firefighter Appreciation

Awards, and 45 minute sermons of laundry

lists of things we needed to be doing better.

Grace gave way to evangelistic inadequacy,

and the Church year was replaced by a steady

flow of sermon series. Most shocking of all,

the broad-based, age-inclusive potluck din-

ners disappeared in favor of specialized coffee

and pastries, which gradually came to exclude

broad swaths of regular folks.

At some point it dawned on me that--after a

lifetime of being Lutheran--I now found myself

in a place that had the word “Lutheran” on the

sign (for a while, anyway), but had no connec-

tion to the traditions, beliefs, practices, music,

culture, ideology, or theology of the Lutheran

interpretation of faith. I had unwittingly joined

a Lutheran church that was not.

And here’s the point . . .

Though I never intentionally sat down and

said, “I shall now endeavor to perform an

ethnography of Lutherans,” it was in fact what

I had been doing all along, in some measure. I

did not set out to study Lutherans, but I lived

among them; I learned their ways; I sought to

understand them; I walked alongside them.

And, for those reasons, I could plainly see that

I had settled into a community that was not in

the least bit Lutheran.

Long story short, after a couple years in that

place, when I could take no more, I wandered

down the street to the Episcopal Church,

where much to my surprise, I found the

Lutheran Church alive and well! From the

moment I walked in the door, I could see that

it was an inter-generational place. The sermon

focused on God’s unconditional love. The Sac-

rament was distributed at every service. And

everyone was welcome. Everyone was part of

the community of faith.

Sometimes, the research is just because we

want to know. And sometimes the research

is just because we’re soaking in it. Either way,

it seems you can tell when you’ve returned

to your home, even when it’s not in your own

backyard.

George Baum is one half of the band Lost And Found (speedwood.com), and is also a supply priest in the Episcopal Church, the father of two, and the husband of one.

A VIEW FROM SOMEWHERE ELSEby George Baum

17

Start Date End Date Name Location Contact Person Web Site Targeted to:

June 22, 2013 9:00 AM

June 28, 2013 9:00 PM

Nebraska Synod Youth Mission Trip

Dallas/Ft. Worth Lisa Kramme www.nebraskasynod.org Sr High Youth, Adult Volunteers

Sep 7, 201312:00 PM

Sep 7, 2013 4:00 PM

Faith Formation Support Lord of Life Heidi Cryer Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

Oct 4, 2013 4:00 PM

Oct 5, 201311:00 PM

Practice Discipleship Retreat Luther Springs Kenny Cham-pagne

Adult Volunteers, Adult Profession-als, Parents

Oct 19, 20136:00 PM

Oct 21, 2013 11:00 AM

FreeRide North East, MD Ed Kay demdsynod.org Jr High Youth

Oct 31, 2013 3:00 PM

Nov 3, 2013 12:00 PM

ELCA Youth Leadership Event Camp Carol Joy Holling (Askland, NE)

Ed Kay Sr High Youth

Nov 9, 2013 12:00 PM

Nov 9, 2013 4:00 PM

Faith Formation Support Lord of Life Heidi Cryer Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

Nov 22, 20136:00 PM

Nov 24, 2013 12:00 PM

Lutheran Youth of Nebraska (LYON) Assembly

Holiday Inn & Convention Center-Kearney

Lisa Kramme www.nebraskasynod.org Sr High Youth, Adult Volunteers

Nov 22, 20136:00 PM

Nov 24, 2013 12:00 PM

Lutheran Youth of Nebraska (LYON) Assembly West

Sullivan Hills Camp-Near Lodgepole

Lisa Kramme www.nebraskasynod.org Sr High Youth, Adult Volunteers

Jan 18, 2014 10:00 AM

Jan 19, 2014 4:00 PM

Nebraska Synod Middle School Gathering

Bethany Lutheran Church-Elkhorn

Lisa Kramme www.nebraskasynod.org Jr High Youth, Adult Volunteers

Jan 25, 2014 6:00 PM

Jan 27, 2014 11:00 AM

RoadTrip Ocean City, MD Ed Kay demdsynod.org Sr High Youth

Jan 30, 2014 1:00 PM

Jan 31, 2014 3:00 PM

Extravaganza 2014 Intensive Care Courses

Hyatt Regency; St. Louis, Missouri

E-Team www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

Jan 31, 20147:00 PM

Feb 3, 201412:00 PM

Extravaganza 2014 Hyatt Regency; St. Louis, Missouri

E-Team www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

Jan 29, 2015 12:00 PM

Jan 30, 2015 3:00 PM

Extravaganza 2015 Intensive Care Courses

Marriott, Detroit, Michigan E-Team www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

Jan 30, 2015 6:00 PM

Feb 2, 201511:00 AM

Extravaganza 2015 Marriott, Detroit, Michigan E-Team www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Profes-sionals

July 15, 20156:00 PM

July 19, 2015 11:00 AM

ELCA Youth Gathering Detroit, Michigan ELCA Gathering Office

www.elca.org Sr High Youth, Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: www.elcaymnet.org/calendar

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SUMMER 2013

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January 30 - February 3, 2014

Intensive Care Courses: January 30 - 31

Main Event: January 31 - February 3

Hyatt Regency at the Arch

St. Louis, Missouri

www.ELCAYMNet.org/Extravaganza

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ELCA Youth Ministry Network

11821 98th Pl. N.,

Maple Grove, Mn 55369

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