Youth Ministry Coming Together

By Pastor Daniel Vang (Mt. Olive, Folsom)

It started first with a couple of us pastors meeting at a coffee shop in Sacramento late 2023 and recognizing how many of us were experiencing the same thing with our youth: small in number and disconnected from our Lutheran churches. We found that either our kids would be pulled to their friends’ bigger churches and programs or their parents would connect them to those youth groups so that they might have Christian friends—totally understandable. 

So we set out to do something together pulling in whoever we could from the bi-circuit of Sacramento. We started out with one simple goal: Connect our Kids with Other Lutheran Kids

And we’ve been doing just that since January 2024 by rotating between different churches that would host and facilitate on every third Saturday of the month from 4-6pm.

Starting in January 2025, we decided to plant the youth ministry at Faith, Fair Oaks when considering how far some were drive (we have some who come from as far west as St. Paul’s, Woodland and as far east Light of the Hills in Cameron Park). Since then, we’ve been gathering on a monthly basis relying on congregational youth leaders to facilitate games, provide food, and a devotion/bible study for all of us to work through. When the kids can, they often like to play Mafia. One key cultural practice we’ve been working amongst ourselves: before we depart we share peace with one another.  We’re teaching our youth that as Christians we give away Christ’s peace.

This trip out to San Francisco and participating in a service project was a first for us! We’ve been wanting to do something a bit different from our usual gatherings. Pastor Jared Eggebraten of Faith, Fair Oaks reached out to some of his contacts in San Francisco. He got a hold of Vicar Anthony Tin of Canaan Lutheran Church and asked him to see if there was anything our youth could do to help out the church. So Vicar Tin put us to work cleaning the church property.  He was incredibly gracious, hospitable, and energetic. He gave us the tour and shared history with us concerning the church and her life there. I hope we get to drop by again; it’s always a good thing to support one another and be together!

Other highlights of the trip: before heading into San Francisco, we stopped at Sonoma in order to visit with the mission there. We took our time to soak in the history of California and our Christian brothers and sisters who were present then. After our service project with Canaan Lutheran, we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge and began hiking south on some of the trails enjoying the sun, the cool breeze, and the ocean water. We wrapped up with dinner at In-N-Out in Vacaville. 

For the time being, we’re planning to gather on September 20th from 4-6pm at Faith, Fair Oaks. In regard to future joint events and service projects, we’ve recently been talking about connecting with someone here in the greater Sacramento area for a project. We’re also open to any suggestions! If you know of any, please share.