Youth & Family

The focus of Youth &Family ministry at Central is on supporting our children and youth by involving them in the life of the congregation and working together to build a supportive, nurturing church atmosphere for our young people.

The Central ministry staff and congregation have created a solid base from which we work to build a stronger Youth & Family ministry program. We have much to celebrate. A visual image of Central's Youth & Family ministry is similar to connected circles of working teams within our community that nurture the growth and development of families with children. Examples of such circles of influence and support include: our Sunday School and confirmation classes, children's time during the service, Advent and Lent fairs, occasional family events, a continuing celebration of milestone events, a music program that includes handbells, singing, diverse and inclusive worship music, and more.

At Central Lutheran, we focus on the positive by recognizing and lifting up the gifts our children and youth bring to the congregation. Working to nurture faith and build assets, we seek to:

We celebrate milestone events by giving books to those who have been baptized during the last year. We give books to first graders, recognizing their "graduation" from "the nursery to Sunday School." We provide Bibles for our third grade members. We celebrate the first communion of our children. We encourage personal journeys through Confirmation instruction and community service activities.

Throughout 2005, the congregation saw more and more children coming forward to participate in our worship services. Our kids served as cantors, lectors, musicians, communion helpers, acolytes, ushers, offering collectors and more. Where two years ago there was one or two children brave enough to serve as cantors, now there are ten or twelve. Many more children gather around the altar for the pastor's kids' message. Also of special note was our December Christmas play presented by the children and youth. It was, to quote a familiar line, "the best Christmas pageant ever!"

One of the simplest and yet important things we do is encourage families with children to sit towards the front of the church. The message to our children is that they are front and center; they are important; they need to be seen and heard. It is a message of welcome and support.

Marla Lewis, Lynn Rasmussen and all of our Sunday School teachers, along with JJ Aalto and her host of volunteer mentors and young adult group helpers, are to be commended for their amazing work and their generous gifts of time and dedication to make meaningful programs available for Central’s children and young adults.

We also have a long way to go. The population of children, and especially young adults, at Central continues to slowly increase. While we are blessed with strong ministry leaders (our pastor and musicians) who work diligently to support, involve and love our children, we continue to rely largely on volunteers to create and maintain most of our youth and family ministry programs. This is appropriate. It is also challenging. The congregation at Central Lutheran has made it clear that Youth & Family ministry is important. We must continue to challenge ourselves to find creative ways to grow this ministry.

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