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- The 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering kicked off Tuesday in New Orleans with a mass gathering at Smoothie King Center. “You are not the church of tomorrow; you are the church of right now,” said Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop. Photos: Caroline Davis
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- For the first time in six years, thousands of ELCA young people from across the country gathered in one place.
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- Josiah Williams performed an energetic and responsive set of hip-hop songs.
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- Throughout the evening the Gathering house band led the crowd in worship songs.
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- The house band was often accompanied by groups of dancers performing choreographed routines.
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- “There are 16,000 of us here together in the city of New Orleans to change lives and be changed,” said Joe Liles, pastor of the Neighborhood Church, Bentonville, Ark. “You cannot keep the Spirit of God inside this arena.”
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- “It is amazing to look back and remember that, even when I have had to be brave, I was never alone,” said Jhonson (last name withheld), who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador.
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- “Already today, you guys are reminding me of the power of faith within a community,” said Gathering Emcee Agnetta Fasasi.
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- “We were made from the inside out, not only for ourselves but for others,” said Michael Chan, vice president for mission and inclusion at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
For the first time in six years, thousands of ELCA young people from across the country gathered in one place last night. After postponing and ultimately canceling the national event in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering kicked off Tuesday in New Orleans.
At the Smoothie King Center, nearly 16,000 youth officially began the week’s events at a mass gathering centered on the message “Created to be Brave.” This year’s Gathering, held July 16-20, features a different daily thematic focus. Following Tuesday, each will highlight how attendees are created to be authentic, to be free, to be disruptive and to be disciples.
To more intentionally incorporate the pre-events into the overall Gathering, the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) and the tAble also shared this year’s theme (with the latter meeting under “Created to be wHoly you”). And for the first time, an ELCA Young Adult Gathering is also taking place concurrent with the Gathering, under the same theme.
“I get asked so often, ‘Where are the youth and young adults in the ELCA?’ And here you are.”
As youth groups, each outfitted in their own identifying colorful T-shirts, packed the arena Tuesday evening, Peoria, Ill., artist Josiah Williams performed an energetic and responsive set of hip-hop songs. That energy did not let up when Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop, took the stage for her introductory remarks.
“I get asked so often, ‘Where are the youth and young adults in the ELCA?’ And here you are,” Eaton said to wild applause. “You are not the church of tomorrow; you are the church of right now.”
Over three days, Gathering participants will join local leaders in trainings and accompaniment service projects throughout the city. Joe Liles, pastor of the Neighborhood Church in Bentonville, Ark., spoke about the role bravery plays in living out one’s faith in tangible ways.
“There are 16,000 of us here together in the city of New Orleans to change lives and be changed,” Liles said. “You cannot keep the Spirit of God inside this arena. … You need to walk out your faith into this city and share the love of Christ. We all need to walk our own faith in our own way.”
Created for community
Jhonson (last name withheld), a recent high school graduate who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when he was 7, shared his experiences with bravery and the role community has played in his faith and life. After seeking asylum due to the gang violence his family faced, Jhonson began attending an ELCA congregation, where he met a friend with whom he remains close.
“God has given me strength and courage, hands to hold and friends to lean on,” he said. “It is amazing to look back and remember that, even when I have had to be brave, I was never alone.”
The sense of relief and excitement at being together again following a long break was a through line of the event. Agnetta Fasasi, one of three Gathering emcees, shared that she attended church regularly prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Then things changed. “Suddenly, Sundays were no longer about gathering together, singing or sharing meals,” she said. “We were isolated, disconnected and navigating a period of uncertainty. Church became a distant memory as I adapted to this new normal.”
“We were made from the inside out, not only for ourselves but for others.”
When in-person church services returned, Fasasi realized how much she had been craving the feeling of connection to others. “It wasn’t just about attending church, it was about reconnecting with my faith, with a community, with something greater than myself,” she said. “Already today, you guys are reminding me of the power of faith within a community.”
Throughout the evening the Gathering house band led the crowd in worship songs, often accompanied by groups of dancers performing choreographed routines.
Prior to Dallas rock band the Afters closing the night with a performance, Michael Chan, vice president for mission and inclusion at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., spoke about how God created us to be in community. “The Hebrew text claims that humans are not only the result of God’s work,” he said. “We are divine acts of creativity. In Psalm 139, God is an artisan, who masterfully, lovingly and astoundingly crafts humans from the inside out.”
Everyone’s first act in the world is to be changed, Chan said, “from a creature that lives in the depths of the womb, intimately tied to a single human person, into a being that belongs to the whole human community. … We were made from the inside out, not only for ourselves but for others.”
Following the mass gathering—and after each gathering this week—community life events offered games, dances, craft supplies, quiet spaces, devotional materials and question-and-answer sessions with speakers at hotels around the city.
