Christus Victor Lutheran Church

For some, it’s the stories about struggle that resonate most. For others, it’s a tale of abuse, addiction or loss that grabs opens their heart.

Over the course of three days, kids who attend Minnesota Metro Lutheran Teens Encounter Christ weekend walk away with a deeper relationship with God and a better understanding of where to find Him in their everyday lives.

Started 25 years ago, Minnesota Metro Lutheran Teens Encounter Christ is a peer-led retreat aimed at bringing youth (9^th grade through 1 year post high school) together to explore their faith, experience God’s Love and develop a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.  “At TEC, kids share their personal stories and show how through different things going on in their lives, Christ has been there for them,” Paula Nierengarten, one of the adult volunteers at Christus Victor who has long been involved with TEC. “When kids come back from TEC weekend, most have a better relationship with God and they learn to look for Him in the little places.”

The weekend begins at 4p.m. on a Friday afternoon, known at camp as “Die Day.” That first day serves as a time of personal reflection. Saturday is Easter, “Rise Day” – a celebration of the newness of life through Christ’s resurrection. Sunday is “Go Forth Day,” where participants prepare to go home and meet the challenges of sharing Christ with those around them.  While some might think of TEC as just another bible camp, Nierengarten has seen firsthand the impact TEC can have on youth.

“All of us come to the table with different opinions and ideas about what our faith is,” Nierengarten says. “To begin to evangelize about your faith and what you believe, you have to do it in a safe environment because otherwise, you could be shut down right way. TEC provides that sort of safe environment.

The kids that walk in reluctant to explore their faith, or perhaps unsure of what they believe, leave with a fresh perspective and an open heart. TEC helps them build up confidence in their faith and figure out how they can share God’s word with others, Nierengarten said. By the time the weekend is over, most of the kids are ready and willing to share that faith with others.  Many walk away with such a high level of confidence, that they return to the church leaders; helping with communion, leading at Sunday School and volunteering more time with the younger kids of the congregation at Vacation Bible School.

“These kids figure out their faith, share their faith, do deeper bible studies and become leaders in the congregation,” Nierengarten said. “Those are the kids that keep our youth programs alive.”

Privileged to help train and coach the Christus Victor Youth Ministry team!

 Kids are too busy to participate? Not true! Busyness creates emptiness. Busy kids are often the most spiritually hungry kids. Kids make time for what is most meaningful, and gives purpose.

 Ministry is built on relationships. God became flesh and dwelt among us. (Jn 1.14)  It is in the caring, welcoming and affirming acts of others gives an understanding of God’s Love. We love because Christ first loved us. (I Jn. 4:9)

 Expand and deepen ministry? How? We train and equip relational faith people. That is why Christus Victor’s youth ministry is growing. The math is simple. If you have one person doing all the relational work, you end up with 4 to 8 kids. That is a person’s relational capacity for keeping up with people on a weekly basis. So, we have trained some dedicated youth and amazing adults in Peer Ministry Leadership who now are leading WED night high school gathering. The numbers are up, and new depth added. As kids are learning and being led by other kids who can pray, lead faith life discussions, and open a Bible to explore. Kids listen to kids! They are real people modeling out an every day, everywhere and every relationship kind of faith.

Applaud! Encourage! Ask about candle times! about Grace Place!  about Faith and Life discussions!  Most of all get to know a young person you have not met yet. Care, welcome and affirm that young person. They are not too busy. Especially if they have not gotten a chance to get to know you!

May 2 – Regular Large and Small Group Time

May 9 – BBQ Potluck Picnic with parents and kids!

We’ll provide the hot dogs, brats, and buns, families bring a dish to share (salads, side dishes, desserts).  We’ll have some activities and then end the year with a rocking Recharge worship service!

Next Fall:  Confirmation Service of Affirmation of Faith, Sunday, October 28 during the 11:00am service!

By Ed Odden

A few weeks ago one of my co-workers came to work not looking so good. Inquiring about his health, he told us that they had a small get-together with his family and his wife made two different hot dishes.

The guests ate from one and he and his wife ate from the other. That night he and his wife got very sick. Yep, they had given themselves food poisoning.

Have you ever had a food borne Illness? I have, and it was not what I would call a fun time. It can also cause death in some groups of people.

To prevent this from ever happening at CV, I will be putting together a training course on Food Safety and offering it to all at CV. My goal is to get 100 people to take the course.

The course will run approximately 30 to 40 minutes and there will be NO test.

Why are we doing this you ask? Certainly to prevent food borne illness, but also because the state of Minnesota is telling us we must have a trained food safety person for some of our food events that we have at CV.

Our leaders at CV feel that at ALL of our food events we should be adhering to good food safety practices.

So keep your eyes open for the signup sheet and please sign up.

In the meantime, here’s a good food safety tip: WASH YOUR HANDS with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before beginning food
preparation, after handling food, and after using the bathroom, changng diapers, or touching pets.

The Golden rule of food storage is “When in doubt, Throw it out!”

Gods blessings and Happy Safe Cooking.
The Food Cop (Ed Odden)

May 4 & 5 — Mark your calendars for fun, friends, food, service, learning, Jesus – oh, and getting away together! We’ll meet at 4:30 p.m. at Christus Victor on Friday to carpool to Gustavus Adolphus College, and return to CV on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. Thirty dollars each, but please call Pr. Mary Kaye if the cost is an issue, because WE WANT YOU ALL THERE.

Mark your calendars, we have WAPO summer camp dates set.

June 22-24: Wapo SEEDS campers (students who have completed second or third grade)

June 23-29: TIM teamers (those who’ve completed 9-12th grades)

June 24-29: Youth campers (those who’ve completed 4-9th grades)

**Wilderness Canoe Base service/adventure trip will be in July, dates to be announced soon.

Completed Wapo registration forms should be returned to Pastor Mary Kaye, with a check made out to “Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp.” Spots currently reserved for Christus Victor campers amd friends on those dates will be relinquished on March 7. After that date, we cannot guarantee that WAPO will have room for us those dates. Please talk with Pr. Mary Kaye if any questions.

An orientation session for parents/children and youth new to Camp WAPO (or anyone else who is interested) will be held immediately following the last worship service on June 3.

Save the date! Fun, friends, food, service, learning, Jesus – oh, and getting away together! We’ll meet at 4:30 p.m. at Christus Victor on Friday to carpool to Gustavus Adolphus College, and return to the church on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. Thirty dollars each, but please call Pr. Mary Kaye if the cost is an issue, because WE WANT YOU ALL THERE.