What People Say

First, you should know who we are!

The Partnership for Youth & Family Ministry is a hybrid... part synod, part global! Birthed from the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod (a group of ELCA Lutheran congregations in Louisiana and Texas) as a grassroots movement by congregational leaders to pay attention to faith formation, we now have partners all over the world! The Partnership is formed around a value system and a commitment to carrying out these values with intentionality.

That means we try our best to practice what we preach. So, for example, we don't host youth gatherings just to gather youth. Rather, all of our youth gatherings are also places where our leaders practice their skills, discover their gifts and discern their call. There is more going on than meets the eye!

It also means that nothing gets on our "to do" list unless we have a congregation or two sponsoring our events. More importantly though, is our commitment to engaging a cross-generational and cross-cultural community. That means we don't do student-only events. Why? Because we know that faith is caught more than taught and youth catch faith from faithful adults!

Next, what do people say?

Mostly we hear that what we do is different than other communities that talk about family ministry but still do youth ministry. We appreciate that comment, but realize we could do a better job ourselves!

We also hear that it is tough to take what we teach and integrate it into a congregation because congregations usually define youth ministry as youth group. We take this seriously. One of our main ways of serving is to coach congregational leaders as they make systemic changes in their own community. This is challenging work but we see the fruit of this labor in the lives of families -- and it is contagious.

What do you say?

We would love your feedback! We invite you to help us be more effective in our partnership with you. People like you have made a big difference in our thinking, so jump in with your comments. Thanks for caring!