Salem Lutheran Ministries and Christo Para Todos, Springdale AR received a $6000 Grow Grant from the Mid-South District for their development of life-long catechesis and Faith formation for the next generation. The grant works directly into the Mid-South District’s initiative to bring Generation-to-Generation awareness of faith formation for generations to come. Their efforts could become a template for other congregations to address the need to keep our young people active and involved in the church.
Rev. Brandon Martin, Associate Pastor, Salem Lutheran Church, explains further. “We are evaluating, revising, and expanding our faith formation to utilize the strengths of Lutheran doctrine and practice in order to develop mature, life-long disciples in our multiethnic congregation.
In other words, we want ALL our youth to trust and follow Jesus . . . with ALL their heart . . . and for ALL their life!
We lament that we have lost many youth following confirmation. So for several years, we have evaluated how to revise our faith formation (youth catechesis) in order to be more enduring. This past year, we sought the help of two experts in this field and began to implement some of their recommendations.
The results so far have been fantastic. We are now partnering with parents, equipping and encouraging them to be spiritual leaders in their home. We have also centered our faith formation on the Divine Service, where God gives the gift of faith and nurtures that faith for life.
Yet we still face various challenges in our multiethnic context. The Grow Grant is helping us to gain further feedback from our coaches, developing a long-term plan, implement further changes, and then share what we learned with other multiethnic congregations.”
If your congregation has a great ministry idea to share the Gospel within your community, consider applying for a GROW Grant. Visit the Mid-South District website today for details on GROW Grants and how to apply: https://mid-southlcms.org/grow-grants/
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