Ministry with Young Adults by Jeni Falkman Grangaard

I work with young adults through the program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) known as Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM). Program isn’t the right word, per se, but it is the easiest. True, there is programming—and the paperwork to prove it. The programing is the bones, the structure from which relationships are planted and tended. Relationships are the holy ground from which the stuff of ministry and life grow.

Our work with the Young Adults in Global Mission is a vibrant stream within the river of Global Mission. Global Mission in my denominational body, the ELCA, is rooted in the practice of accompaniment; service takes the shape of relationships with our companions throughout the world. We come alongside the church that is already present and walk with, work with, laugh with, cry with, pray with, eat with one another. So too is the ministry we share with the young adults we come to know; we accompany them in their time, where they are and as they are. While there are many and varied approaches to ministry for young adults, I quite prefer the with-ness that I witness in our program shared ministry.

As I reflect on the work, some major themes coalesce. The human need to connect, belong, have purpose, feel rooted in his/her/their own life and identity. There is nothing new under the sun — and yet, each person, each generation comes anew to the questions at the ground of our being: who am I, what am I doing here, who shall I be, and how is it that I came to be here? A program alone cannot answer the above questions. The questions must be lived, as Rilke says, now, and, I would add, as we are, where we are.

But what does the program do? And, what lessons does it hold? How is it able to, year after year, foster positive development for young adults?

Through YAGM, young adults are sent out into new waters, new lands and new people. Formation in a global setting brings opportunities and challenges. Out of the familiar and the comfort of home, young adults rise to the call with which they are entrusted. They struggle and grow. The YAGM year is marked with exploration: trying and doing new and hard things, carrying the weight of foreignness and loneliness, seeing and hearing and living different stories than the ones they previously knew. They also receive more than they can give through the hospitality of our companions.

Young adults are tasked first and foremost with building relationships as they work alongside our companion churches. This includes witnessing the cruelty and poverty that exist for so many in the world. Along with hearing the vibrant diversity of the gospel proclaimed in different cultures, they also cry at the powerlessness and begin to hear a still small voice of call towards their neighbor.

And then they return home, transformed by the grace of hospitality, the wider view of the human and gospel story, empowered even if fractured by their experiences, not quite fitting into old patterns and shapes. New wine that can’t be held by old wineskins.

There is no one way to be a YAGM or young adult. We all make the road by walking it. As country coordinators we walk with them. Pray with them. Eat with them. Cry with them. Laugh with them. Rejoice with them. Listen for what God might be up to with them.

Accompaniment is a way of life and ministry—not only global, but local too. It happens at the edges, in the messy middle, goes to the ends of the earth and stands in the ground on which we stand. Ministry with young adults is rooted in wisdom and practices that have given its practitioners life, meaning, belonging and purpose.

I’ve asked colleagues from around the world to share how they minister with young adults. Rachel in Budapest will share about reading poetry with young adults. Kirsten in Madagascar will share about struggling with young adults. Renee, a recent YAGM alum, will share about her hopes for finding her way and being seen. Colin in Jerusalem will share about learning with young adults. Janelle in Rwanda will bookend this post as she shares about the particularity of transformation through service with young adults.

The church in accompaniment is the church that recognizes the Jesus walking with all of us, where we are and as we are, pilgrims transformed through relationships, experiences, and the breaking of bread.

Jeni Falkman Grangaard is a pastor in the ELCA, serves as a missionary through Young Adults in Global Mission in Jerusalem and the West Bank, working alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.