A day for 20-and-30 Somethings Struggling with Spirituality

www.soibelieve.com

When:   Nov. 5, 10-5
Where:  N St Village, 1333 N St NW
Who:     Enuma Okoro, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, You

Faith Lutheran Church, Arlington, VA

2010 is the Year of the Young Adult in the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod. During the year, lay people and clergy from congregations all across the synod  (and even beynod its geographical and denominational borders) have come together to learn about who young adults are and how our congregations can connect with them.

As the Year of the Young Adult comes to a close, we want to think about where we go now.  How can congregations do young adult ministry in their communities? What will that look like ? What resources are avaialable? Who’s doing this well? What’s already happening in the synod?

This conference will address these questions and many more.

THE SPEAKER will be Pastor Matt Miofsky of The Gathering United Methodist Church in St. Louis, MO. Pastor Miofsky will tell the story of his congregation, which started with young adults and grew into a growing, thriving, multigenerational congregation. He worked with the denomination to re-open a congregation which had closed.

In addition to learning from Pastor Miofsky’s experience, we will learn about what is happening in the synod, what is working in the synod, and what resources the synod has to offer your congregation in this endeavor in your community.

THE COST OF THIS EVENT IS FREE! Due to the synod’s emphasis on young adult ministry and its generous support for young adult ministry in tthe year 2010, we are able to offer this event at no cost to particpants! We hope this will enable congregations to bring as many people as possible to dream about what is possible in your congregations and communities!

Click here to register!

Image copyright 2010 by Luther Place Church.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.

All young adults from the Metro DC Synod are invited to join us for the weekend of September 17-19 for a retreat and recreation at Mar-Lu Ridge www.mar-lu-ridge.org – just over an hour from downtown DC. Get an early start by going out Friday evening or plan to arrive by 10am Saturday. There will be some planned activities around our theme, but also free time for hiking, canoeing or doing the ropes course. It is a beautiful area and we should hit the start of the turning leaves!

Overnight accommodations are available for both Fri (8 spaces) and Saturday (35 spaces) nights in cabins with full bath. Day-trippers are welcome, but please consider staying over 1 or both nights as there will be fellowship late into the night you might not want to miss!! Meals will be prepared by camp staff and eaten in the dining area.

Suggested cost is $65/person to cover retreat expenses. Please indicate your contribution on the registration form which you may download below:

>>> Click Here For Registration Form <<<

Please send your completed form to:

Lutheran Church of the Reformation

212 E. Capitol St.

Washington, DC 20003

Attn: Brian Hornbecker

Join us for fellowship and conversation around Martin Luther and what it means to be Lutheran!

At Veranda on 11th & P Sts.

May 26th, 6-8pm with Guest Facilitator, Rev. Mike Wilker

June 25th, 6-8pm with Guest Facilitator, Rev. Amy Sevimli

July 28th, 6-8pm, Guest Facilitator TBD!

Join fellow St. Paul’s Young Adults for our monthly Lunch Bunch. Catch up on what’s been going on at church, what’s coming up, and get to know those other young un’s sitting just a few pews over from you. Please contact Heather Buckner at buckhe01@gmail.com if you’re interested in joining us.

image by Heliotrop3 (rights)

The first ever St. Paul’s Young Adults Retreat will be held at beautiful Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, MD. Young Adults are invited to spend the weekend water tubing, floating on a pontoon, and spending time with personal reflection and prayer. We’ll plan to leave after work on Friday and return on Sunday afternoon. Please contact Heather Buckner at buckhe01@gmail.com if you’re interested in joining us.

Check out our event announcement on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=118069421539536&ref=ss

image by >>>WonderMike<<< (rights)

• Check back soon for resources!

• When: June 6 -12, 2010
• Who: College/Graduate School Students and Young Adults post-high school to age 27
• Where: Neon, Kentucky
• Why: To rebuild homes/cabins and lives, to share God’s love, to have fun while we work, and to learn more about Christian servanthood and compassionate justice.

BUILD is designed to benefit the young adults and those we serve. Young Adults may participate as individuals or as part of a small congregational or college ministry group.

Much more information can be found in this info letter, available in (PDF format) and (RTF Format).

Here’s the registration form (PDF Format).

BUILD will be a partnership between the Synod and the non-profit HOMES Inc.  Here’s some information on HOMES (PDF Format).

image by Chris Tirello (rights)

More and more people are using the internet to find information.  Everything from phone numbers and maps/directions to where to eat dinner.  This includes using it to find a place to worship and connect with God.  It is for this reason that a church web site is perhaps the most vital piece of any evangelism project.

Your church’s website is an entry way into your congregation for many people.  What it looks like and the information it contains tells a potential visitor a lot about your community – so it should be done well.

If your website is in need of an update or your congregation doesn’t have one, here are a few resources to get you started:

First, does the congregation have anybody gifted in technology and web design?  If not, then it is probably best to spend the money to have the site designed for you.  Two possible resources are the fine people over at 3Spot (http://www.3spot.com) and Cloversites (http://www.cloversites.com/).

If there is somebody gifted in this way, then grab them and put them to work!  And if you are looking for resources to make the job a bit easier, here are a few.

The web site has to have a place to call home – we call these places and the companies that provide them hosts.  One inexpensive and helpful host is 1&1 (http://www.1and1.com).  They have several different packages to choose from depending on your specific needs(the ‘Home’ package seems to be sufficient for most congregations).

Once you have a host, an easier way to create a dynamic site is to use WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org).  The software is opensource which means many different people are working on it and provide it free of charge.  Additionally, it’s easy to update the look of your site by downloading various themes (sort of like templates).  Most themes are offered free of charge (http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/), but there are a few themes that are offered for a one-time fee and often include support by the creator(s).  These themes are commonly referred to as premium themes and for novice web designers may be worth the money.  One can easily find these themes by Googling “premium wordpress themes.”

Now if you’ve got a site and want to add content, you must begin with the question of who the site is for.  Because the site is most often the entry point for visitors, it is probably best to tailor it to a first-time visitor.  No “insider” information, but only items that will help somebody who has never connected with the congregation before.  This includes, but is not limited to:

• Pictures of people in the congregation
• Information about upcoming worship services – this includes times and places
• A clear, easy to find map of where the congregation gathers (or the church building)
• The address, phone number, and email of the congregation
• A listing of staff members including the pastor(s).  Pictures of these people and a way to contact them are always helpful.

Make it simple, clean and easy to use.  I don’t want to have to hunt for information any time I visit a site.  But also don’t try to cram too much on one page.  In many ways it is an art… for a few useful tips of what NOT to include, visit this site - http://tonymorganlive.com/2005/05/14/10-easy-ways-to-keep-me-from-visiting-your-church-because-i-visited-your-website/.

Many congreations struggle with what kinds of photos to include and where to find them.  One tool to use is the Flickr community.  People post their pictures and some even license them under the Creative Commons License which allows people to reuse their stuff.  To find photos with the CC license, then check out http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ and select the Creative Commons box at the bottom of the page before searching.  This is the method by which this site finds and uses photos.  Most of these require that you give credit to the photographer – for an example of how to do this, then see the bottom of this post.

For examples of church websites that are well done, take a look at:

• St Paul’s Lutheran – DC
• Hope Lutheran – Clinton, MD
• The National Cathedral (designed by 3Spot)
• National Community Church

If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment here or send an email to webmaster@dcyoungadults.org.

Photo courtesy of Markies (rights)