Present: Emily Wichman, Kristen Fields (Ritter), Mark and Liz Huff, Al and Barb Pleasant, JJ and Christie West, Tom Ritter, Karen Ritter (observer)
Not able to attend: Matt and Sara Ritter, Emily Tomes, Jen Gerike, Pete Freudenberger

We tried to define “young adult”.  While we were able to put a low end limit on it – college age- we were not able to put an upper age limit on this group.  Young thinking seemed to apply best.

The discussion centered on a central theme.  What would this group like St. Paul to do for them, and what can they do for St. Paul.

After excellent discussion:

1) Social interaction is important.  Those present felt it would be great to get to know each other socially.  It was the general feeling that social activities should be scheduled outside of one another’s homes.  Ideas included, game nights, volleyball, movie nights, bowling, picnics after church, progressive dinner, etc

2) An attempt would be made by the more outgoing members to interact with    younger visitors following worship services.  (as well as each other)  Some of the members of our group had never even met prior to this meeting!  Mark Huff related his personal story that one of the main reasons he is a member is because of Norb Henke’s approach to him on his first visit to St. Paul.  Once a social schedule is off the ground, an effort would be made to assimilate new members into this group.

3) Communications was determined to be very important.  Young people have very busy lives and being able to plan activities in advance is necessary.  Church weekly e-mail blasts, current bulletin board at church, yearly calendar on the web-site all were ideas presented.

4) Worship and music were discussed.  The liturgy did not seem to be much of an issue at this time.  It was determined however, that if St. Paul is to appeal to younger people, there needs to be changes in the music selections.  No one was advocating the use of rock bands, but comments were made that there is beautiful Christian music that may not be present in the various Lutheran hymnals.  There would be no compromise on beliefs or doctrine to incorporate more modern music into the worship service.  The comment was made that in Martin Luther’s day the hymns he wrote were actually quite radical from the music used during that time period.  No one could remember a Biblical text banning guitars from the worship service.  

5) We talked about the relatively small numbers of young people and young families at St. Paul.  This can be a detriment for growth of this segment of our church family, therefore each new young member is important for the next new young member.  The low numbers of young families effects many of the programs of the church. i.e Sunday school, youth groups, etc.  Comment was made that the Voter’s assembly is mostly composed of older members, thus decisions are usually made by that more conservative segment of our church family.  All in attendance were encouraged to apply for voting membership.  It was suggested that the church body as a whole realize the importance of its younger members and their recommendations to growth in that segment.  We actually had an interesting discussion about the entire Church structure and constitution.  Most of them had never seen a copy of the constitution and have no idea what is in it.  

6) Bible Study- Tom had suggested that the Board of Education would like to create a Sunday Morning Bible Study specifically for young adults.  In order for some of our group to be involved, baby sitting in some form would have to be provided.  It was determined that we would like to proceed with this.

The overall feeling during this initial meeting was one of excitement.  There were some members who were ready to search for a new church home just as the MIMIC program was instituted.  They decided to stay to see if change could in fact happen in this Church.  All of the above topics are important to them so we did not attempt to prioritize the list.  The young people will work on their own social events and more interaction with each other and visitors to St. Paul   They will develop ways to communicate better within their group.  The Board of Ed will work with them on a creation of a new Bible Study.  

They would truly appreciate the Music committee taking a good hard look at the entire Music program.  While many of the traditional Lutheran hymns are incredible, there is other more modern music which is beautiful as well.  Blending the two together could be compromise that could appeal to the entire congregation as well as new younger potential members.

St Paul Lutheran Church

updated:  February, 2008