imagine yourself in the world…

Young Adults in Global Mission

Program Overview

YAGM

• One year service-learning experience

• Young adults between 19-29 years of age

• Opportunity to serve in ten countries around the world

• Variety of placements and assignments such as:community development

teaching

working with the homelessadvocacy

youth ministry

social justice

working with the elderly

campus ministry

health awareness/education

music ministries

human rights

2011-2012 Country Programs

YAGM

• Argentina & Uruguay

• Central Europe (Hungary & Slovakia)

• Jerusalem/West Bank

• Madagascar

• Malaysia

• Mexico

• Southern Africa

• United Kingdom

Program Concept

YAGM

• Accompaniment: walking together in solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality

GOD´S STORY

Your Story My Story

Meet people where they are, overlapping your story

and my story within God’s story

Program Requirements

YAGM

• Age: between 19 – 29 years of age

• ELCA Connection: • Congregational membership

• Attendance at an ELCA affiliated college or university

• Participation in Lutheran Campus Ministry

• Service at a Lutheran summer camp or outdoor ministry

• Language: mandatory for some programs; helpful but not necessary for most

Program Cost

YAGM

• ELCA contributes 70% of the cost of service per volunteer

• Fundraising expectation of $4,000 per volunteer

• Friends, family, co-workers, congregations, synods

• Scholarship support available

More than just money… fundraising is the foundation for a strong network of support throughout the year of service

Program Purpose

YAGM

• Develop servant-leaders for the church

• Utilize relationship building and service to enhance cross-cultural skills

• Provide challenging & engaging opportunities that result in globally formed and globally informed young adults

• Allow young adults to grow in faith and better understand their place in God’s world

• Share the stories of the global church and community

My Journey with YAGM

Give God a Chance

YAGM

• University

“It was not until I traveled to Lesotho during a service learning trip through Wittenberg University that I learned the wonderful ways in which God is working across the world.”

• ……….Then what?

Dumela! (Hello!)

YAGM

• Placement Site: Bloemfontein, South Africa

•Lebone Village Orphanage

•Tshepo Daycare Center

•The Monama Family

• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa • South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana

• Orphanage, agriculture, daycare center, Sunday school

Learning to ‘Be’

YAGM

• Encountered: • racism, HIV and AIDS, poverty, social injustice and inequality

• cultural and traditional practices different from my own

• personal challenges: what was I supposed to be ‘doing’?

• Informal ministry

• Part of a global family and church community

• Authentic experience

Part of the Family

YAGM

• Move in with the Monama family

• New placement, new housing… same family, same faith

• Becoming a big brother and son

• Fellow YAGM volunteers, in-country support system

Ubuntu is an African concept that roughly translated, means “I am because we are”

Motlalepula

YAGM

• ‘One who brings the rain’

• Excited and hopeful for the future, grateful for the past

• Open to God’s call in my life, and feel liberated that I am able to trust in His plan, even if I don’t know what it is

• More aware of the global community, and looking forward to encouraging others to get involved, in any way, in the world in which we live

go ahead… stop imagining

www.elca.org/yagm