Three years ago at this time, our RIH team was making preparations to host 50 young adults on campus at Augsburg University from across the country. The purpose of this gathering was to listen to the stories of younger generations as they shared their experiences of gratitude, hopefulness and frustration in the church. Collectively these stories spoke to the hunger of this generation for a more hopeful and thriving world. The young adults gathered also shared a belief that God is calling the church to engage seriously in that vision, no matter the challenges.

This gathering unleashed a much longer journey to amplify the voices of younger generations through the creation of a multi-authored book. I am beyond proud and humbled to share that , is now officially released! It will be followed by a book launch party on September 25th, 2025 here in Minneapolis (AND you’re invited – scroll to the bottom for details!)��

In a time when there is a popular narrative about younger generations being less and less engaged in the church, we hope this book will contribute to a different story that is unfolding. A story that can imagine a church and a world that makes room for all of our thriving. A story that starts one relationship at a time, setting a table, and joining others from different backgrounds, generations and walks of life to wrestle honestly with the challenges before us. This book is rooted in a belief that we need to better understand each other’s hopes and fears if we are going to meet the challenges of our day, faithfully. Folks don’t need to agree on all the topics our authors have lifted up, but rather we hope folks will accept the invitation to the tables these chapters create. Tables for connection, understanding, and hopefully, new insights and wisdom to navigate the challenges of our world.

If you’ve read this far, consider yourself invited to celebrate with us! And if you’re busy on September 25th or won’t be in the Twin Cities, we hope you’ll check out the book and read through it with some people in your life. Our local bookstore, , is carrying it as are most major bookstores. The book also comes with an online toolkit to help groups and individuals engage each chapter. The toolkit can be found at our website:

The journey of creating this book has reached a major milestone, but now a new chapter begins as you are invited to join in. On behalf of the writing community of Hungry for Hope, I am eager to welcome you to pull up a chair at the table, invite a friend or two and join the conversation.��

Hungry for Hope Book Launch Celebration

When: Thursday, September 25th, 2025

Time: 5:00pm – 8:00pm

Location: 2708 E Lake St. Suite 207, Minneapolis, MN, 55406

More details here:

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The Young Adult Book Project has surpassed another mile marker in our project! Our author team gathered for a second Writers’ Retreat at Mt. Olivet Conference and Retreat Center last month. This gathering marks the completion of mile marker #5! We’re just over a year out from The Threshold Envisioning event, where about fifty young adults gathered to share our joys, heartaches, hopes and dreams for the church and the book chapter themes were distilled from those stories and experiences. Since then, we selected a young adult author and a thought leader author to co-write each chapter. We gathered those authors in March at the first Writers’ Retreat to create a shared vision for the book and start the co-writing process. Two authors have had to discern out of this project due to needing to prioritize their time and energy on health and recovery. As people come and go from this project – we give our deep gratitude for the contributions along the way. Their departures created space to invite two new authors in.�� Each set of authors has navigated the highs and lows of the writing process, defined and redefined their expectations of each other, and wrestled with their busy schedules to write and revise first and second drafts of their chapters.

The purpose of this second Writers’ retreat was to move into the of the book.�� Rick Rubin describes the creative process as four phases: Seed, Experimentation, Craft, and Editing & Completion. The “Craft Phase” moves from generating possibilities and ideas into refining material with a clearer sense of direction and structure. For this project that means both the individual chapters and the larger book are beginning to take clearer shape and more cohesive structure. We accomplished this at the retreat by developing a shared larger vision of the overall book, large group discussion and decision making for cohesiveness across chapters, and co-author work time.��

So far, each author has focused specifically on their own theme, and Kristina and I are the only people to have read each chapter. To help the whole writing team develop a wider vision of the book, we had each author pair share a brief overview of their chapter. They explained the main concepts, the hoped for impact, the writing style, and anything else they want everyone else to know about their chapter so far. This helped everyone have a wider view of the book, with a better, more updated, understanding of how each chapter is emerging.��

Then each writer was assigned a different chapter to read and share feedback on. We paired each pair of co-authors with authors from two different themes, ones we (Kristina and I) considered having some sort of connection or overlap. They each read the paired chapter and spent time sharing their reflections on the following questions:��

1. What needs clarifying? Was there anything confusing to you or that you think might potentially be confusing to other readers?��
2. What seems key to this chapter theme? What do you think is most important (and helpful) for the reader to take away?
3. What would help you as a reader take ideas from this chapter and integrate them to your own context?��
4. What questions do you have for the author?��
5. What connections do you hear with your own chapter?

After this work to expand the team’s understanding of the book as a whole, we reflected on what we’re hearing as themes throughout the book and distilled some common themes and moved our focus onto the cohesiveness of the book. The cohesiveness will emerge with attention to shared elements across each chapter, and how the chapters are framed with the introduction and conclusion. Some of the key elements that will be intentionally built into each chapter are:��

• Voice: all chapters will be written in a distinct two-author perspective
• Contextualize Authors: there will be a clear, concise paragraph so each reader knows who the authors are for this chapter and why they are writing on this theme
• Reader Accessibility: authors will tend to the language and structure of their chapter so the readers will be able to clearly understand and receive the message in each chapter
• Application Toolkit: the end of chapter will include a toolkit to help the reader respond to and integrate the ideas into their context. The toolkit will include discussion questions, practices, and recommended resources.��
• Nitty gritty details: The specifics of citations, font and formatting will also get more attention in this draft than they previously have.��

The framing of the book will open with an introduction that serves a lot of purposes. It will build trust with the reader by sharing how this book came to be, who is behind this book, our hopes for what the book invites the readers into, and some tools for the readers as they read. The conclusion will end the book by inviting readers to respond to the invitation of the book, and each specific chapter. Much like the process of writing this book, the invitation in the conclusion will be deeply relational, imaginative, collaborative and embodied.��

We closed our time together by tying up loose ends. Each author pair had time to finalize their plan to work towards a final draft due at the beginning of February, and sent us on our way with a shared song. It was a gift to be together again, sharing space and intentional work time together, remembering our hopes and vision for the project and the church, playing games, being nourished by food, laughter, nature and rest.��

As we look ahead to the next milestones of the project, we’ll be revising and editing, having ongoing conversations with the publisher, developing a marketing and promotion plan for the book, following the publisher’s lead, and celebrating and compensating for the great work of this amazing writing team! If you’d like to get an update when pre-orders become available, fill out this google form to join the mailing list

Additional Resources:

Read more about the Threshold Event here: /ccv/2022/11/17/emerging-themes-from-the-threshold-envisioning-event/

Recap from the first Writers’ Retreat /ccv/2023/04/13/the-writers-have-met-a-recap-of-the-writers-retreat-in-montreat/

Learn more in his book (Rubin, Rick. The creative act: a way of being. Penguin, 2023.) or the On Being Podcast Episode:

The post We Meet Again! A Recap of the Second Writers’ Retreat appeared first on Riverside Innovation Hub.

We recently asked the young adult writers for the project to reflect on this experience. Below is the reflection from Amar D. Peterman.

Amar D. Peterman��(M.Div., Princeton Seminary) is an award-winning author and constructive theologian working at the intersection of faith and public life. His writing and research have been featured in Christianity Today, Faithfully Magazine, Fathom, The Berkeley Forum,, The Anxious Bench, Sojourners and The Christian Century. Amar is the founder of Scholarship for Religion and Society LLC, a research and consulting firm working with some of the leading philanthropic and civic institutions, religious organizations, and faith leaders in America today. Amar also serves as Program Manager at Interfaith America where he oversees programs related to emerging leaders, American evangelicalism, and Asian America. He writes regularly through his newsletter, “This Common Life.” You can learn more about him at amarpeterman.com. Amar’s co-author is Nicholas Tangen.

Why did you say yes to this experience and what are your hopes for the project?��

Written by Amar Peterman

Writing is always shaped by the people around us and the places we are located in. The best writing embraces this, capturing every moment as an opportunity to tell a story or find meaning in the ordinary moments of our life. Writing that reflects these daily experiences and infuses such with sacred meaning holds the opportunity to change us—even convict us—and as we are called into a community beyond ourselves.��

I said yes to this experience because of this truth. Through this project, I am not only brought into conversation with other writers across the country, but into active participation towards a shared goal. As we gather to envision a hopeful future for the Christian church, we are diligently writing and marking out tangible steps to create equitable spaces of inclusion and belonging for young people in local congregations across the United States. Together, we represent a diversity of experiences, locations, denominations, and beliefs within Christianity. These differences, though, are not a hindrance to our cooperation; they are gifts that allow this project to speak to more people than any individual could do on their own.��

Out of this project, I am encouraged by the consistent reminder that I am not alone in this work. Whether it is the weekly conversations I have with my co-author, poems shared by fellow contributors, or drafts uploaded to our shared project planner, this experience has given me the opportunity to witness God’s redemptive work taking place in the lives of each member of this project. As we write about the leadership and contributions of young people in the church, we are actively living out this mission in our lives.��

Like writing, I think faith is also formed by the places we inhabit and the people found there. My hope for this project is that we might acknowledge this—that community is a fundamental aspect of the Christian life, not a tangential one. As Christians, then, our formation within the walls of the local congregation ought to be marked deeply by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In doing so, the community of the congregation becomes different from any other because we are united by something that connects our very souls together: the redemptive work of God in the world.��

Therefore, the second hope I have for this project is that we might help the church reflect this formation by valuing the leadership, calling, and talents of young people in the church. I believe that the experiences and dreams of young people can lead the church toward our call to love God and neighbor in a unique way. Many problems within the church, I believe, stem from our failure to include the voices and wisdom of young people in our congregation, who are attuned to the realities of our world in a way that older generations cannot participate in. If our congregations seek to thrive in our modern day, young people must be in a position to lead.��

This project is a communal one—gathering writers across generations to model the very reality we propose the church ought to live into. I am honored to be a part of a project that brings together such a wide collection of voices and experiences and confident that God will use our labor to both encourage young leaders across the church and pave forward spaces of leadership and belonging for them.

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Working with the Riverside Innovation Hub on this writing project was a task that I stumbled upon. I applied full-heartedly and with a certainty that I’d be adding a rejection to my slushpile. When I received news of the opposite, I was proud of myself, but then I was overwhelmed. Our writing project had “vulnerability” written all over it, something I knew from the very beginning. My topic, “Marginalization, Inclusion, and Liberation” is one I feel both passionate about and often ill-qualified to speak on. Thankfully, I’ll just be writing.

My co-author, Dr. Jimmy Hoke, has guided our discussions and the process with the utmost care, and it’s made a huge difference. But the writing process still has its challenges. We are dealing with problems that aren’t just our own, but also of the generations and the lives that came before us. Novels could and have been written on our topic and there’s no way my writing will be able to speak on everything I wish it could. All I can do is add my own perspective to the mix and hope it reaches the right people, resonates with someone, and contributes to an on-going discussion of what our beautiful church could be.��

The hardest part? Deciding what is allowed on the page and what is still only written in my heart. While I’ve always loved writing personal narratives, I’ve remained selective about who views them. A chapter. Out in the world. Scary. Writing my thoughts, even only in draft form, can feel like an admission I’m not quite ready to make. Even though I know that there is always a backspace and more importantly, a kind conversation available on any differing viewpoints Jimmy and I have. I’m still working on it though, and my current draft is an obvious reflection of my thoughts working themselves out.��

Other aspects of our project are joyous and easy. My favorite part has been connecting with other writers, knowing that even though some of us are states away, we are all dealing with the same vulnerabilities, the same roadblocks. When I’m struggling, I picture my colleagues on their laptops too, typing away and doing their best and working it out, just as I am. We will all get there together.��

I absolutely love seeing the places where Jimmy’s voice and mine come together. One exercise we are partaking in is dreaming of a better church; imagining a world of liberation and what that would feel like. I hope when others read, they’ll imagine their own vision of the church, igniting a fire of hope and determination. Whenever I get stuck writing, I go back to that mental vision.����

I’ve been writing for a long time. From the days when I had my dad type up my hand-written stories to sharing personal pieces with college classmates, bated breath. It’s never easy. Still, I’m always looking forward to the moment when it comes together and I feel proud of what I’ve written despite the imperfections. I’m still waiting for that moment. Until then, I’ll be chugging along and chatting with Jimmy. We’ll get the right words down, written for the right people, focusing on the right things, at the right time. It’s all part of the process.����

Stay tuned for more stories about the writing process from the young adult book project!

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The Young Adult Book Project authors recently completed a huge writing milestone, they submitted first drafts of each chapter! Each set of co-authors has been working on their chapter draft since the writers’ retreat in March, and submitted their drafts in early July.��

Each chapter has a set of two authors writing on it, a young adult and a thought leader. The writing process is unique to each set of co-authors. Some have regularly occurring check-in calls, with independent writing time in the in-between. Some of them have shared writing prompts they both respond to, and then review similarities, differences, and what they want to hold on to. Some split up their outline and assigned parts to each author. All of them spend time in conversation figuring out how to weave their writing together, into one chapter.��

Each writer has a process that’s unique to them. Some set aside consistent time in the morning to write about a specific thing, some let the ideas simmer while they drive, clean, or garden and capture them in a notes app to later add to and elaborate on them. Some start their writing time by reading. All of them work hard to communicate their experiences, thoughts, wonderings, and questions.��

So far, the biggest challenge to writing a collaborative chapter seems to be finding time, time to write, time to meet, time to rest, time to celebrate. Other challenges include figuring out how to weave the different perspectives into one chapter and right-sizing the content. Does each author write from the first person point of view and just notate when they switch? Do they write as a collective “I” or “we”? How do they tackle a theme that’s so enormous and narrow it down enough to fit in a chapter?

Over the next month, Kristina and Amanda are reading, reviewing, offering feedback and conversation for each chapter’s co-authors. Help us celebrate this milestone by cheering on our authors!��

Stay tuned for more blog posts soon about how the writing process has been going for our young adult authors!

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Below you will meet our young adult writers that are leading this project. You can find the whole list of writers, their bios and headshots .

Young Adult Writers

Rev. Madeline Burbank (she/her) is a pastor serving congregational and campus ministry in southern Wisconsin. Bringing particular perspectives as a queer leader and young adult, she highlights how God embraces the diversity of human relationships and inherent worth of pleasure, which reinforce our path toward mutual liberation. In addition to writing and pastoral care, she enjoys connecting with people through tabletop and video games, or birdwatching for Sandhill Cranes. Madeline’s co-author is Kara Haug.��

Shaya Aguilar was born and raised in Southern California. She has a B.A. in Psychology and Hispanic Studies and an M.S. in Ministry from Pepperdine University. Beyond the titles of friend, sister and daughter, she has served as an Assistant Chaplain in the spiritual life hub at Pepperdine and currently works as an Instructional Developer for Fuller Equip. She is grateful to be able to serve the church by making theological education accessible to those who may not be able to afford or invest in a seminary education. In her free time, she finds joy in exploring new hiking trails, cooking, and trying local coffee shops. She hopes to contribute to the dialogue that helps foster church communities that are known for being healing, hospitable and grace filled. Shaya’s co-author is Soong-Chan Rah.��

J.D. Mechelke is a Ph.D. student at Drew University in the division of Theological and Philosophical Studies in Religion. His research centers around political theology, vocation, and ecology in the Anthropocene. He holds a M.A. from Luther Seminary and a B.A. from Augsburg University. J.D. is a nomad in the United States. J.D’s co-author is Talitha Amadea Aho.��

Sarah Brock Iverson is a physician assistant in Minnesota where she has practiced in both Family Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology. She is passionate about patient education, women’s health, and fostering habits that promote long term health and wellness. Before becoming a PA, Sarah worked in a high school science lab in Rwanda, a dementia group home in rural Minnesota, and at Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide offices in Chicago. She enjoys running, cooking, traveling, and sailing on the Mississippi River with her husband, Andrew. Sarah’s co-author is Jia Johnson.

Catalina Morales Bahena is a community organizer currently located in Minnesota. She is about to receive her undergraduate degree in Theology and English from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a proud DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient and fierce advocate for immigration rights. Catalina conducted a TEDxUMN in 2018 about the struggles of undocumented immigrants called “Why We Need to Stop Talking About DACA & Start Talking About Immigrants.” In 2019, she received the Immigrant of Distinction Award from American Immigration Lawyers Association for her work on Immigrant Sanctuary in Minnesota. Catalina’s co-author is Dr. Cherice L. Bock.��

Amber Kalina serves as a pastor in rural Minnesota. She loves encouraging members of the Body of Christ to use their gifts and passions to serve God and neighbor. A Bible verse that guides her is, “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor 16:13-14). Amber’s co-author is Reesheda N. Graham Washington.

Baird Linke attends Wartburg Theological Seminary to become a pastor. Baird has worked with ELCA Young Adults, the Riverside Innovation Hub, and Lutherans Restoring Creation. He is from Montana and loves spending time outside with his dog Kintla, reading, and playing music. Baird has found that young people have a very clear-eyed view of the world they are stepping into and the pains and joys it carries. He thinks that the church needs to listen to young adults if it hopes to stay meaningful for people’s lives. Baird’s co-author is Rev. Kristen Glass Perez.��

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I, Amanda, said yes to stewarding the young adult book project because I believe that this book, a book that centers and amplifies the voices of young adults who care deeply about the church, will be inspiring, disorienting, and transformational for the readers, congregations, neighborhoods, and communities who experience it. My hope is that this book will inspire us into hope, disorient us away from the status quo, help us remember who God is calling us to be, and continue transforming us so that we can show up more wholeheartedly in the places and spaces we are all called to be.��

We launched the writing phase of the young adult book project in Mid-March by gathering all twenty-two writers at Montreat Conference Center for a Writers’ retreat. The purpose of the time together was to become familiar with each other and this project, preview how we plan to write a cohesive multi-voice book with twenty-two authors, and have each set of co-authors spend time together, in-person, to connect and plan.��

On Friday evening, we gathered for dinner and our first session together. We introduced ourselves to each other, shared what values were carrying into the room and into the project, and looked back at the project’s story so far ().����

On Saturday, we had a mix of large group time and co-author time. In the large group, we looked at the logistics of how this project will come to fruition, and heard from each young adult author on why the theme they’ve been chosen to write on is important to the church.

In co-author pairs, each thought leader and young adult spent time connecting, brainstorming a chapter theme summary statement, and creating a game plan for how they’ll communicate, collaborate, and schedule their work. Each pair did this work uniquely, some started with a hike, some began with solitude, some took a stroll across the retreat center, some began by sharing about how their lived experiences will inform the theme they’ll write on, some began with writing, and all of them did really, really great work. Nicholas Tangen, the thought leader for the Community theme, said, “[He was] glad to meet so many new folks, to conspire and dream with my co-author Amar Peterman (who may be among the smartest people I’ve ever met), and to laugh way more than I had any business to. When people say the church is dying, I’m going to point back to rooms like the ones this weekend and let them know the church is more alive than ever!”��

After dinner on Saturday, we had an optional social hour. We enjoyed refreshments, ate some snacks, and played some group games, like Fishbowl (aka Salad Bowl). Sarah Iverson, a young adult author said, “I had the opportunity to sneak away to a retreat center in the Appalachian mountains with 21 strangers who quickly became friends – all of us invited by Riverside Innovation Hub to contribute to a book about young adults and the church. Or more correctly, a book BY young adults FOR the church. I’ve been asked to co-author the chapter on mental health. I’m so excited to be part of this team as we spend the next year writing and dreaming together. This group of humans has already made me laugh harder and think more deeply than I have in a long time.”��

On Sunday, we distilled some of the immense wisdom in the room. Everyone shared some of their best writing practices, insights on the creative process, advice and encouragement for each other, and some tools and techniques to try out as we endeavor in this collaborative book. Lunch on Sunday marked the end of our programmed time. About half the group traveled home on Sunday, and the other half on Monday. Talitha Amadea Aho, the thought leader for the Creation and Destruction theme reflected, “It was SO good for my soul to be away thinking big thoughts and having such fascinating conversations with the other 21 people who are together going to be writing a book that will help the church listen to its youngest leaders.�� Young adults haven’t left the faith, but the church has abandoned the public spaces where young people are actively living out their faith. This book will help the rest of the church follow their lead and find meaningful involvement in the issues that actually matter to our young leaders.”��

The writers were sent off to work on a chapter outline, theme summary statements, and a first draft of their chapters. In a follow-up letter to the writing team, Kristina Frugé shared, “I think this book is one way folks will be invited into curiosity about the new thing God is doing in our time. Curiosity not just for the sake of curiosity, but because curiosity unlocks room for transformation, for liberation into a better way to be and be together. And don’t we all need that? I am eager to listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in this endeavor we are on together – in through and with the many voices gathered at our table.”

Stay tuned to this blog and the Riverside Innovation Hub social media to learn more about the writing team!

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In early February, some of the Riverside Innovation Hub staff attended and presented at the ELCA Youth Ministry Network’s annual convening, the Extravaganza, in Anaheim, CA. Amanda Vetsch and Kristina Fruge presented what we heard at the Threshold Event.����

The purpose of the workshop was to share the wisdom we, at Augsburg’s Riverside Innovation Hub, are learning from young adults about their hopes, dreams and concerns for the church. In particular the about key learnings from a recent event we hosted on campus this fall, when we gathered a diverse group of young adults from around the country, representing a wide variety of ecumenical backgrounds and other lived experiences.��

Before we dove into the presentation portion of our conversation, we used Mentimeter to poll the in-person and virtual attendees. This helped us get a sense of who was attending and practice using a new tech tool. Both groups were from across the country, with a strong portion in the Midwest. We were fairly caffeinated, and the majority of both workshop groups believe that the person in the middle seat on the plane does NOT get both armrests. After the icebreaker and Menti practice, we dove into presenting about who we are, what we did, and what we heard.

Who are we?��

In 2017, the Christensen Center for Vocation got a Young Adult Initiative grant from the Lilly Endowment to create an Innovation Hub that equips congregations to explore questions around the intersections of young adults and church. One of our guiding convictions was that young adults don’t want to be attracted or drawn back to church, but would rather see the church move out into the public where young adults are actively living out our faith. The Riverside Innovation Hub spent five years working alongside congregations to be and become public churches and learn how to be led by young adults in that endeavor.��

In 2022, We got a second grant to help expand that work, and one of the ways we’re doing that is through a book project. We’re committed to practicing what we preach and teach, so the book is super collaborative and envisioned and written by young adults. To distill the themes of the book, we hosted an Envisioning Event in November, selected two authors per theme, a young adult and a thought leader, and have built a writing process that includes two retreats, lots of drafts and revision.��

What did we do?��

For the Threshold Book Envisioning event, ��we gathered 50 young adults from across the US to share what they wish the church would know and help identify the themes of the book. This group of young adults had varying experiences with church and came from a wide variety of traditions and denominations

The gathering was designed for them to share their hopes, heartaches and dreams for the church.�� Jeremy Myers and Rozella Haydée White facilitated the space. Five keynote listeners joined us to listen with deep intention to what was emerging in the space. You can read more about how the event was shaped in this blog: Threshold Recap Blog

What did we hear?����

We heard stories full of grief, love, celebration, loss and more. It was an absolute gift and honor to have those shared with us. After two days full of reflection, conversation, and sticky notes, we generated a list of the themes:

• Grief and Healing
• Marginalization, Inclusivity and Liberation
• Abundance and Scarcity
• Community
• Sex/Intimacy and Shame
• Power and Abuse of Power
• Beyond the Walls
• Courageous Curiosity
• Creation and Destruction
• Mental Health
• Tokenism of Young Adults

Audience Participation:��

Just as the young adults used the lens of desolation and consolation to think about their experiences within the church, we did as similar thing at our workshop.����

First ,everyone was invited to pick one theme from our YA’s list that resonates with themselves or a reality in their ministry context.��

Between both workshops, the theme Tokenism of Young Adult was chosen the most. Followed by Community, then Abundance and Scarcity, and Marginalization, Inclusivity and Liberation tied for third.��

Desolation:��

We then spent time individually reflecting on that theme and how we’ve experienced it as desolation.

��Some of the answered shared included:��

• One of the challenges I have encountered as a young person is having a lot of my community around me who is atheist/non-religious. Having spaces in my church community that my non-religious loved ones can participate and not feel alienated
• Existential dread re: the warming planet and the effects on vulnerable people
• Scarcity: Constant focus on too little time, too few people, too little money, always just trying not to die
• Post COVID “skill desert” of how to connect
• Not being fed but asking to feed others
• Courageous Curiosity – doubt/wonder/questions being interpreted to mean that you just don’t believe or aren’t faithful enough
• The rejection of queer voices. I can name more than a handful of individuals in my last congregation that were harmed for their identity
• “Why aren’t the YAs coming?” It feels like it sends the message that our young adults are not enough as they are unless they meet the church’s expectations.

Consolation:��

After reflection and sharing about desolation, we reflected on the chosen theme and how we’ve experienced it as consolation.��

Some of the answers shared included:��

• Creating a Pride Cafe,�� art camp to explore identity issues, creating a community center in unused space. �� Invited folks to dinner and asked what they need spiritually
• Participation in new and ongoing hunger ministries (but desolation in the fact we still need them)
• Spaces where my non-religious loved ones can participate without feeling alienated
• Hiring a mental health specialist on staff
• Curiosity – when you open up space for vulnerable and genuine conversation about life, faith, church, you feel more connected to what church can be.
• scripture and church history/tradition provide a rich source for dialogue and makes space for mystery/hard questions
• exploring creation of an LGBTQ+ Christian group in a neighboring county where there are no affirming congregations

See the full mentimeter responses here: , .

Now What?��

We concluded our time together by thinking through our next steps for our own contexts. What is something attainable we can do next, a low hanging fruit? What is something that is big and audacious we want to do, a moon shot? And who do we need to connect with, or coffee?��

Find the workshop handout here:

To learn more about the book project and receive updates, join our

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In early November, a community of fifty young adults gathered at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN to identify our deepest held concerns, hopes, and dreams for God’s church at The Threshold Envisioning event. From those conversations, we distilled key themes that Young Adults want the church to know as it moves from the present moment, into the future. Each of those themes will be a chapter of the book.

Our time together on Friday began with gratitude practices, dinner, and conversation. We finished the evening with a reception.��Our morning and afternoon on Saturday were shaped by the framework of an The examen invites you to reflect on moments of Consolation or hope, joy, freedom, and life and moments of Desolation or fear, brokenness, heartache and anxiety.

We then spent time reflecting on our life experiences with the church, noticing times, places, or experiences of desolation. Each person shared snippets of those experiences by writing them on a post-it note and sticking it to the wall.��We followed the same process for reflecting on consolation and our experiences of church. As we listened to each other, and read what was on the walls, themes began emerging. Those were shared in small groups conversation and through a Mentimeter Poll, you can read those reflections here:��

In small groups, we worked on creating a Table of Contents where each chapter is a theme of what has emerged.��Each group shared theirs and then everyone got to vote on their favorite chapters and book styles. At the end of the evening, the facilitators added up the votes and synthesized the chapters into key reoccurring themes. The keynote listeners started off our final day together by sharing what they had heard over the weekend. Then we had time to reflect in conversation and writing on our theme of choice. There were eleven themes that emerged from the weekend. Check them out below!

Themes:

Grief and Healing

Communities of faith don’t engage grief, lament, and suffering nearly enough. There is much to grieve, and yet the desire for comfort often enables us into denial and distraction. Often, when we practice grief in church, it’s on an individual level, when we also need to grieve and lament on the communal level.What do we need to grieve? What could it look like if faith communities leaned into their rituals and practices we have and lead ourselves and our neighbors through grief into healing? What else could be impacted by deepening our capacity to grieve collectively?��

Marginalization, Inclusivity and Liberation

The inclusion and liberation of marginalized identities (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, people living with disabilities, etc) is an absolute priority for young adults.��

If�� everyone was able to show up in the wholeness of who they are, we’d have a bigger, brighter, more diverse representation of who God is and what God desires for our communities.��

Inclusion is just the beginning. Doing the work of reckoning with our role in marginalization will reveal that all of our liberation is wrapped up together and lead to overall liberation.��

Abundance and Scarcity

The stories of God’s people and God’s promises have an overwhelming theme of abundance. There is enough. We are enough. God is enough. Yet we often find ourselves and our faith communities, wrestling with or defaulting back to a narrative of scarcity. We see a mindset of scarcity show up in our economics and budgeting, in our understanding of membership and church vitality, and when we find ourselves thinking that there’s a limit to who God loves and what God’s love looks like.��

Community

One of the most resounding themes of what young adults have loved most about our experiences with church is community. Church done well includes authentic belonging, vulnerability, showing up, sharing each other’s burdens, and bearing witness to God’s faithfulness. Churches can sometimes make people feel like an outsider, or prioritize the comfort of the existing community over the invitation to be part of God’s ever expanding vision.

Sex/Intimacy and Shame

The church has often cause harmed through sexual shame, purity culture, sexual abuse, and a lack of understanding of the expansiveness of sexuality and sexual intimacy (Asexuality to Polyamory and everything in between). What would it look like to be a faith community that dismantles purity culture, and engages in open and honest conversations about sex, and sexuality?��

Power and Abuse of Power

Abuse of power includes: spiritual abuse, sexual, abuse, emotional abuse, scriptural abuse, financial abuse. It’s an injustice that goes from generation to generation because there is often no accountability. The church must reckon with its complicity in and manifestation of abuse.�� What could a healthy and constructive understanding of power mean for the church?��

Beyond the Walls

The implications of loving our neighbor are vast and expansive. It requires us to center our neighbor, and in turn decenter ourselves, our buildings, and our agendas. Loving neighbors creates mutual flourishing and relationships.��

What are the ways in which the church has tried to do justice work beyond the walls and harmed people? How have mission work and charity work centered the people inside the walls of the church and caused more harm than good?��

Courageous Curiosity

Curiosity can open us up to experiencing and receiving more of what’s going on around us. While fear often closes us off, separates, or divides. Young adults both model and invite us into courageous curiosity. What would our faith communities look like if we turned toward wonder and mystery? What would we gain if we bravely moved through fear?��

Creation and Destruction

Death of creation is the death of created beings—all exploitation is tied up with each other. We get to know our human and other than human neighbors as places where God shows up and is continually creating.��

Mental Health

Young Adults are keenly aware of the importance of mental health and desire even more education, destigmatization, and authenticity. We wish the church would be better equipped to engage in conversations, resourcing, and resiliency around mental health.��

Tokenism of Young Adults

Churches can be anxious about dying, and sometimes that anxiety comes out sideways and becomes directed at young adults. We are often sought after as the “solution,” rarely without sharing any power or authority to create change or be part of any solution. Churches often tokenize us by wanting to know about young adults, wanting to know about what will get us “back to church” so then the church can be perceived as safe from death and decline. This tokenism ends up alienating young adults from the church and from real relationships that could be life giving.

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