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Welcome to July! It's time for your favorite Youth and Young Adult ministries newsletter, Five Petal Friday!
VOLUME ONE ISSUE TWENTY-SIX of 5PF will come your way on July 19th via email. If you haven't subscribed yet, click the box at the bottom. If you need to UN-subscribe, please send a request to our circulation department at delaney@vasynod.org.
The results of last week's 'Best Literary Fish' debate are in! Moby Dick and Nemo tied for last, each with 15% of the vote. Rainbow fish garnered 24% of votes, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish AND Blue Fish really blew if out of the water with 46% of the vote. Congratulations! Or, in their language, "Glub glub!" As 4th of July just passed, we're wondering, what's the best flavor on a rocket pop?
| THIS WEEK'S RANDOM DEBATE: | |
| What is the best flavor on a rocket pop? | | | |
The 5 Petals for Vol. 1 Issue 25 of 5PF: | |
Our 5PF team is happy to report that Kairos 2024 was a big success! 48 high school youth and their leaders gathered for a week of faith sharing and fun at Roanoke College. This year's theme was “We Are The Church,” which centered on Psalm 133:1 (“Behold how good and pleasant it is when God’s people dwell together in unity”) and the five marks of the church in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (Gathered, Called, Enlightened, Sanctified, Kept-Sent). In addition to the usual large group presentations and small group discussions, event participants spent Wednesday morning building 30 beds with the local chapter of Sleep-In-Heavenly-Peace, a national organization that provides beds for children who are housed but do not have a bed of their own. We were also visited by some very enthusiastic church mice that shared a passion for ministry (mice-istry?), music, and Cheesus. We sang around 70 songs and ate about 70 times our weight in snacks from Junk Food City. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the event, and we here in the 5PF office/bunker couldn't have been more happy to crawl out into the light and the heat to celebrate with all of you! Many thanks to everyone who participated, offered leadership and behind-the-scenes help, and who prayed on behalf of the Kairos community last week. | |
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Announcements & Reminders
--> Do you have updates on where your graduating High Schoolers are headed in the fall? Please let our campus ministry leaders know using this form. Even if our new graduate is headed to the workforce or military or gap year or something else other than college, having this information will help us keep track of the youth who have been formed by our congregations!
--> ROANOKE COLLEGE LUTHERAN VISIT DAY will be on Saturday, August 31, 2024 (10am to noon) for any young person who is discerning whether higher education may be in their future after high school. PRE-REGISTRATION is not required, but it will help us plan space and supplies for the day. Click here to pre-register!
--> Be sure to download the annual download-able youth events poster (pdf format - it will expand or shrink to any size!) Send it to everyone in your congregation! Click here!
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Are you curious about which Virginia Synod congregations are sending groups to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans later in July? Here's the list! | Bethel, Winchester … Christ, Fredericksburg … Emmanuel, Virginia Beach … Epiphany, Richmond … First English, Richmond … First, Norfolk … Grace, Rural Retreat … Grace, Winchester … Lutheran Church Of Our Saviour, North Chesterfield … Messiah, Mechanicsville … Our Saviour, Christiansburg … Our Saviour, Warrenton … Reformation, New Market … Salem, Mount Sidney … St Michael, Virginia Beach … St Peter's, Stafford … St Philip, Roanoke … St Stephen, Williamsburg … St Timothy, Norfolk … Trinity, Newport News | |
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Pride is all year long <3
Though June has passed, it's not too late to check out the ministries of the Virginia Synod Tapestry Team.
Here are the links to last week's virtual Pride Worship Service on Youtube and Facebook.
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THINK OUTSIDE!
Outside the box? Yes, always be ready to do that, but in this case, we mean literally *outside*! This is the month when the teens in your ministry are most likely to benefit from some recreational time together in the great outdoors.
1. Do you have an outside space where you can stage a game day to coincide with the Olympics? Youth do not have to be athletic or competitive to enjoy easy-to-construct games like four-square, circle-frisbee, or invisible obstacle course. Instead of gold, silver, and bronze, give medals for being welcoming, encouraging, and enthusiastic!
2. Are you near a public water recreational area? River tubing, beaching (even inland at some of our state lakes!), and back-yard water games are great ways for your group to bond without a lot of effort, even if there is a fee for some things.
3. Do a scavenger hunt in the nearest downtown, not to collect items, but photos (the cornerstone of a church, a piece of trivia from the library, the front door of a service agency, a detail from a cemetery, etc.).
4. Even along the coast, Virginia has more hiking trails than almost any other state. Don’t just go for a walk, though – provide some guidance for reflection along the way from Psalm 104 or Genesis 1.
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Keep up with all things VA Synod Youth and Young Adult Ministry by following us on Instagram and liking our Facebook page! Snapshots of each edition of 5PF will be posted there on publication day! | |  |
If you liked what you read here, don't forget to subscribe to receive 5PF issues bi-weekly! You don't want to miss out on a single issue! Share with your friends and on social media! | |
To provide feedback ... ask questions ... obtain more info on any of this ... contact Dave Delaney, Virginia Synod Director for Youth and Young Adult Ministries: delaney@vasynod.org | | | | |
