Questions and Answers Guide for Parents and Students ! Faith Lutheran Church! Goshen, IN! When is the Gathering? ! The ELCA Youth Gathering is July 15-19, 2015, in , Mich.

What is the ELCA Youth Gathering? ! The ELCA Youth Gathering is a ministry of the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to, with and for high school-aged youth and their adult leaders. The Gathering, as it is known, is a triennial event that takes place over five days – Wednesday to Sunday – and includes opportunities for worship, service, fellowship, study and holy play. What sets the Gathering apart from what some call “arena ministry” is its multi-month, pre-event curriculum designed to plunge teens deep into the Scripture texts around which the ministry is built, and prepare them socially and emotionally for what, for many, is a pivotal moment in their life of faith, and understanding of vocation. After-care is also an exemplar of this ministry. We know that young people will return to their congregations and synods with a renewed witness to God’s action in the world, and we try to help congregational leaders receive the witness of young people and incorporate them into the ongoing ministry of the congregation and synod as vital members of the body of Christ. Daily Programs! There are five major components to the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering daily programming. Each day, youth, volunteers and their Adult Leaders will gather in to hear the day’s Scripture text articulated by engaging speakers and Christian musicians, as well as stimulating video and interpretive dance. There is a morning session to start the day, and an evening session to close the day — the middle of the day is reserved for activities. During the middle of the day, congregational groups will participate in a three-day activity rotation that includes a day of service in the Detroit metropolitan area (Proclaim Justice Day), a day of exploratory learning with other groups from their synod (Proclaim Story Day), and a day of interactive learning in the Convention Center (Proclaim Community Day). The fifth program component is called Community Life, which takes place in various venues, including some hotels. The Community Life activities include dances, game rooms, prayer stations, and an activity called Final 15. The Final 15 was introduced at the 2006 ELCA Youth Gathering in , and has been a program staple ever since. It is a 15-minute time period where everyone at the Gathering, regardless of where they are located, stops to pray and reflect on the Scripture of the day. The Gathering concludes with Eucharist on Sunday morning, at which Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton will preach. Travel! Youth groups will be traveling to Detroit in many different ways. Some arrange for their own charter bus, some come in a church van, some fly and some take the train. We will determine our mode of transportation when we know how many youth and adults are registered with our group. Possibilities could include adults leaders driving their own vehicles, renting a 15 passenger van, or even a charter bus if we have a group of 50+ again this year. Since we are so close to Detroit, we do not anticipate travel being timely or costly. Accommodations! The two main venues for the Gathering include the Cobo Convention Center and Ford Field, both in downtown Detroit. Accommodations will be downtown and in the surrounding area. The Gathering conducts site visits of potential hotels and contracts with the ones that meet our needs. Groups are assigned to hotels to maximize the capacity. In Detroit, especially, groups need to abide by the number and type of rooms to which they are assigned. We recommend that groups budget for two people to a room, and then rejoice when they can put three and four people in some rooms based on their assignment. Hotels are assigned to each group and we do not need to make our own reservations. The entire hotel is full of Gathering participants and each hotel has assigned Gathering Staff. Food! Meals will be on own. Downtown Detroit has a lot of dining options from which to choose. There are long-time landmarks, local favorites and restaurants that simply provide a unique dining experience. Many young innovators and change-makers are making their mark on Detroit through the food business. We hope to support these young Detroiters, and are working to feature their food trucks and/or restaurants here, alongside the more time-honored eating establishments. A map of local dining options will be provided prior to the Gathering. Past experience has taught that it is best to have an eat-in breakfast in the hotel. Not all hotels have breakfast included. If they do, imagine the entire hotel on the same schedule heading for breakfast at the same time. Therefore, it is best we bring our own breakfast (fruit, granola bars, muffins, juice, etc.) to stock pile in the hotel rooms for breakfast each morning. How do we register? Congregations register and attend the ELCA Youth Gathering as a group. Each group has a primary leader who will handle all the coordination and registration for all Gathering participants in the group. We are asking that you fill out pre-registration forms with Faith Lutheran Church so that the primary leader will have all the information to register every participant when the time comes. Pre-Registration forms can be found on the ELCA website or at www.faithgoshen.com under the Youth/YouthGathering tab. We are asking that you complete these by Sept. 1, 2014. We will be looking to register 1 Primary Leader in addition to 1 Adult Leader for every 5 Youth. How much does it cost? ! The registration rate is $325 per person. There is a $150 deposit that we are asking to be paid with your pre-registration by Sept. 1, 2014. If this deposit is a hardship for you to pay, please speak to your pastor. In the past, with successful fundraising, we have given this deposit back to the student for meal/spending money for the week. We recommend that groups budget $300 per person for housing. That is based on two people to a room that costs $150/night times four nights. The price of Gathering accommodations varies, as well as amenities. Some hotels include breakfast, but most don’t. We are proud to say that the nightly rates for hotels in Detroit are comparable to the rates paid in three years ago. Gathering participants are responsible for their own meals, so depending on your group, this could expense could vary. Gathering staff and volunteers are working to make sure there is food available in or around all Gathering venues. We will also be eating a local downtown restaurants for dinners. We recommend groups budget anywhere from $40-$50 a day per person for food. Obviously, this could also vary greatly between each student in the group. Spending money is at the discretion of the students and their families. There will be free time to shop and there is Gathering merchandise for sale such as artists CD’s, T-Shirts, etc. Travel cost will vary based upon how we decide to travel. Being so close to Detroit should make travel time and cost more reasonable than in previous years. There shouldn’t be a real need to utilize transportation while we are at the Gathering, since we will walk or the Gathering will provide shuttles. There will be a small cost for a group T-Shirt. The ELCA Youth Gathering is self-supported and self-funded. All of the revenue from registration fees is put back into the ELCA Youth Gathering program. We strive to keep costs down for participants while still providing a safe and transformational experience for all registrants.

Is Detroit safe? While it's population has declined dramatically over the last few years, Detroit is still considered a major city, not unlike Chicago, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. Visitors to any large city need to make wise choices. The ELCA Youth Gathering’s Safety and Security planning team will help participants make wise choices by providing safe walking routes and by arranging for private and public security personnel at all venues utilized by Gathering participants. The Safety and Security planning team is already working with local, state and federal officials to prepare for our visit. Every precaution will be taken to ensure your safety in the city and surrounding suburbs. Gathering participants will again receive T-shirts that will make them easily identifiable to local law enforcement officials, especially when participating in a visible service experience. We will also have a original group T-Shirt to help us identify our group when we travel together. Why Detroit?! Detroit, the host city for the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering, is a diverse, distinct city with a rich history. The birthplace of the car industry and Motown music, Detroit also played a critical role in the underground railroad and in the industrialization of America. Although the media would have you believe Detroit is on the verge of collapse — its residents know a different story. The city they know, our host city, has faced and continues to face its share of challenges. Yet there is a growing revitalization effort underway, and we believe God is calling us to Detroit for the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering to learn from and serve among our brothers and sisters there. Downtown Detroit, where the two main venues for the Gathering are located, is a hub of vibrancy and activity. With new companies headquartered downtown and more than 11,000 new employees working and living in the city, Detroit is home to many young adults at the beginning of their professional careers. With great architecture, cultural opportunities and winning sports teams, Detroit has much to offer visitors. The Detroit metro area is also the home to several faithful ELCA congregations who are living out their faith in new and exciting ways. Take Grace in Action, for instance. Grace in Action is an ELCA faith community dedicated to reclaiming the mission of the church, being transformed by God and each other and building a more just society for all of God’s people. The ministries at Grace in Action are inspired by the visions and dreams of people in the community: open mic night, citizenship class, prayer group and more. That is just one story from Detroit. Detroit has much to teach us about being a part of what God is up to at this time in our history. The story youth and their adult leaders will hear there, and will proclaim there, is that Jesus endured death for us, and Jesus rose from the grave in fulfillment of God’s plan, to make us worthy in Christ, to write us into a new story in which we are free from our fears of the powers of sin, death and the devil. There are many people in Detroit who know experiences of death, and there are many Lutherans, and brothers and sisters from partner communions who stand alongside the citizens of Detroit with the cross, proclaiming healing and wholeness in the midst of the death and despair. God is calling us to bear witness to their story, and to his creative and redeeming story of death and resurrection. We will gather in Detroit in July 2015 to be inspired, encouraged, strengthened, connected and sent out to do God’s work in the world. Join us.