Youngchurch
Going the extra mile W
hen it comes to mission, ELCA youth know how to “walk the extra mile.”
In 2008, Sunday school students
at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, Council Bluffs, Iowa, discussed two old adages—“Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” and “Walking the extra mile.” They talked about how Christ followed these adages and what they mean for people today.
As part of the lesson, the students calculated that it would take 84,480 pennies side-by-side to stretch a mile. To go the extra mile to help others, they started a drive to collect 84,480 pennies. With donations from the congregation, families, friends and community groups, the eight youth collected 85,000 pennies by Sept. 1, 2010. The money was given to the pediatric floors of two area hospitals. Showing they can walk the extra
Send stories of your youth group (pre- school-confirmation age) or craft ideas to: Andrea Pohlmann, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago IL 60631; andrea.pohlmann@
thelutheran.org.
mile, the youth are involved in other projects, too, including raising funds for World Vision; helping with food drives; collecting coats, hats and mit- tens; singing at a nursing home; par- ticipating in worship services; walk- ing in the CropWalk; and more. Every year in Greendale, Wis., the children of St. Luke Lutheran Church take on a special outreach project during Lent. In the past they have purchased a water buffalo, sheep and rabbits. In 2010 they wanted to raise money to provide clean water for people somewhere in the world.
Through ELCA
World Hunger, a well can be dug and installed for $2,500 (
www.elca.org/ hunger). The chil- dren decided to go for it. When all was
40 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Children from St. Luke Lutheran Church, Greendale, Wis., present Joe Young (top, right) from the ELCA with a check for $3,500. ELCA World Hunger used the money to dig and install a well to bring clean water to a village in need.
said and done, their offerings added up to more than was needed—$3,500. For more than 20 years, the sixth-grade Sunday school class at Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn, Wash., has sponsored a “Mission Sunday” in May. For six weeks before Mission Sunday the students learn how they can serve others through their faith, words and actions. With donations from the community and congregation, a silent auction is held and a breakfast with freewill offering is served between worship ser- vices. To help in the fundraising, each class (3-year-olds through sixth-grade) develop projects to sell. Last year’s big item was a worm bed tended by the preschool class—15 individual containers of 100 worms were sold. In 2010, the sixth-grade class chose Heifer International as beneficiary of
its work (
www.heifer.org). At the end of Mission Sunday, their $6,500 was able to fund a Gift Ark, which offers hope to people who don’t have resources to provide income for their families’ basic needs. The ark includes 15 pairs of animals, including cows, sheep, oxen, water buffalo and camels. The students also purchased a Gift Knitting Basket that provides two sheep and two llamas for warm, income-producing wool. And they bought a Gift Milk Menagerie—a quality breed heifer, two goats and a water buffalo. But remember, even a few kids can go the extra mile. In spring 2010, the Sunday school children of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa, donated some of their allowance to purchase seven goats for Angola and 40 chickens for Jamaica. With the congregation’s help, the two—yes, that’s two—students raised $398. M
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