Welcome Back to L.I.F.E. Ministry

Please pray with me!

Dear God, we pray together to learn how our churches are serving our youth. We beg for our youth to 

engage in their own faith life so they can strengthen their relationship with Jesus. Amen!

L.I.F.E. is an acronym of “Living in Faith Ecumenically.” We have ELCA Lutherans, Methodists, and United Presbyterian Congregational churches working together to form this Christian youth group. L.I.F.E. Ministry is about loving God and loving people.

Our goal is to have middle school and high school students be involved in their faith life, so their relationship with Jesus grows. In John 14:6, Jesus reminds his disciples that He, Jesus, is “the Way the Truth, and the Life.” When we have a faith life or relationship with Jesus, we will know God. When we know God, we listen and act. In Matthew 22:37-39, we are told, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  When you follow these commandments, we will love people. It’s a cycle: when you have a faith life you know Jesus, when you know Jesus you know God, when you know God you listen and act, when you listen and act you love people and that is faith life.

We will work hard to keep the momentum of that cycle going. We will build a safe community through shared experiences like games, trips, service, and conversations. At the very end of October, we will have a trip to Duluth.  On Friday night, we will go to a Shabbat (a Jewish Sabbath service). We’ll stay at a church overnight. On Saturday, we’ll visit some different churches, go somewhere fun, do a
service project, then on the way home, we’ll stop at the Oulu Corn Maze for Fright Night! We will also use music and food to form bonds. We’re also in the process of creating plans to help at the new Homeless Shelter and the BRICK Ministry. We are looking for a Christian Concert at the DECC in Duluth or close by. We will invite guests to share a story of how God has worked in their life. As we build our community, we will be here to encourage them to use their passions to love and service God and people. One of our first community service projects is helping at the Ashland Whistlestop bucket washing. There is also a possibility of fixing the New Day Advocacy Center’s playground fence. We will work to build up, protect, and serve our neighbors.

Every other week, the middle school and high school will meet separately for Youth Group. This is so we can engage in relevant, age-appropriate, thoughtful conversations about our relationship with Jesus and our relationship with people in our faith life.

It’s a lofty goal, but we will try as sinners and saints together. L.I.F.E. Ministry is a safe community where it’s fun to be together, serve our neighbors, and love God! That is our faith life!