Pastor Katie of New Promise Lutheran in St. George, Utah opened us with prayer of gratitude asking for guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us forward in our understanding and connection with our youth. She outlined a framework of historic change in our own history that mirrors the changes and challenges we see today. Historically, it was the change from a church/state structure to a voluntary structure. That change brought insecurity, fear, and uncertainty with it. Today we are moving from an older system of Age of Structure characterized by service groups, labor unions, denominations, political parties, etc. The ~40 year-olds and younger are the Age of Authenticity which focus on identity, discovery of self. There are gospel critiques on both sides of this. Each of these comes with lists of positive and negative attributes but the way to reach them is to come with NO AGENDA to ask them what is important to them, what brings them joy, and what keeps them up at night, to list a few. Then listen to their answers and take small steps to implement some ideas and be ready to adjust as you find what works. For more information and resources go to faithlead.org/ebooks/spiritual-life-listening-tool. Submitted by Colleen Klatt
