By Brianna Dehn
Last year, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) received a $250,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help LCMS congregations develop effective ministry for youth. The grant, Practicing Healthy Youth Ministry, was awarded through Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative. It is intended to support congregations as they help youth grow in their relationships with God and with each other and in service to their communities and the world.
In August, LCMS Youth Ministry hosted two training sessions — one on Aug. 11–12 and one on Aug. 18–19 — for nearly 30 congregational youth leaders, both church workers and laity, who will serve as facilitators for the project. Each facilitator will work with up to five congregations in his or her geographical area that have indicated an interest in strengthening and/or growing their ministry to youth.
Facilitator Tim Kightlinger, DCE at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Urbandale, Iowa, said that he hopes to “help churches and be a person who can walk alongside them [as they reach] students with the Gospel … and not only bring [youth] into the church, but [show them] how to live that faith out.”
A recurring theme of the training was the difficulty of living that faith out in a world that is often at odds with it.
Angie Nitz, DCE at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Belvidere, Ill., said, “Kids today are hearing about who they are and why they’re here from so many different sources. … [To] give them an identity first as a baptized child of God that will filter into those other areas [of their lives] is so important.”
Similarly, Christiane Hobbs, who serves as youth ministry and commissioned minister specialist for the LCMS Texas District, said, “We … live in a time where our children are facing an environment that’s more critical of them as Christians. And they have to be able to be resilient; they have to have that strong foundation in their identity in Christ.”
A guiding resource for facilitators as they seek to help congregations build that foundation in their youth is the book Seven Practices of Healthy Youth Ministry, published in 2023 by Concordia Publishing House. Written by the Rev. Dr. Mark Kiessling, director of LCMS Youth Ministry, and Julianna Shults, Youth Ministry manager, the resource explores both the markers of healthy youth ministry and strategies for developing that ministry. However, DCE Shelli Haynes of Maryville, Tenn., emphasized that the book is not intended to serve as a one-size-fits-all approach to youth ministry.
“It’s less about me saying [as a facilitator], ‘Do this youth program,’ but more about saying, ‘What can you identify as the strengths in your congregation?’” Haynes said. “And then helping them to build off of things that they already have, to be able to grow their ministry. That might not look the same in every church, because all of our churches are different, but it will have the same core mission.”
Eric Dunn, DCE at Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Ill., said that, for him, an important takeaway from the training was that “nobody’s got it right, nobody’s got it perfect, and we can all learn from one another.”
Jolene Siebarth, DCE at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Jenison, Mich., also emphasized the importance of community, both for youth and for those who work with them.
“I would like to remind [youth leaders] that no one’s in this alone,” Siebarth said. “That even if it feels like you’re the only person in your congregation investing, there’s a community around you, people to uplift and encourage and work together.”
Siebarth continued: “This was our congregation’s first time [to go to the LCMS Youth Gathering] in 20 years … and for our kids to see that there are more Lutherans out there than just our small pocket of the world, that was something that really resonated with them — that even for them as students, that they’re not in this all by themselves. So I think that same message to leaders of congregations is important — that we’re here to build each other up in the Body of Christ.”
Dr. Mark Blanke, professor emeritus at Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, Neb., serves as coordinator for the Practicing Healthy Youth Ministry project. Blanke said, “Youth ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. … Research shows that certain practices yield better results than others, and the facilitators will work to help congregations to put energy towards those practices.”
Brianna Dehn is a freelance writer in Missouri.
Posted Oct. 20, 2025
