Monday, February 10, 2003
Contact: Brad Lyons, Director of Communications
(314) 991-3000 - blyons@dhedisciples.org

Six congregations have been recognized for their innovative approaches to develop their youth for leadership in the church as part of "Leadership Harvest," a new program administered by the Division of Higher Education.

"Our church has an urgent need for young leaders, and Leadership Harvest was created as a way to gather the good ideas congregations have about leadership development and then share these programs so individual congregations can improve or start their own programs," said Linda Plengemeier, DHE's Vice President. "The entries we received demonstrate congregations are already putting a lot of thought into developing these programs."

The six congregations provide a sample of the diverse approaches to leadership development.

• East Side Christian Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma, (average Sunday attendance: 199, youth participating in program: 12, www.escc.org) emphasizes mentoring, discipleship, and hands-on learning with four guiding principles in mind: study, outreach, life, and service. The youth produce their own newsletter and elect officers.

• First Christian Church of Fulton, Missouri, (110/12, www.fcc-doc.org) has developed "Stickin' With Jesus," a program utilizing dowel rods, music, and dance to dramatize scripture and song. The program provides an opportunity for youth to perform at regional events and churches in other denominations.

• First Christian Church of Salem, Oregon, (452/20) held a two-day youth lock-in designed to introduce and implement skills in team building, service, leadership, and being a Christian role model. The lock-in involved both junior- and senior-high students. The church also has a youth leadership team to help with the church's administrative duties, leading programming, coordinating service projects and special events.

• First Christian Church of Salem, Virginia, (215/25, www.geocities.com/docchurchsalem) has a four-pronged program emphasizing a summer internship, youth officers, mission trips, and participation in district, regional, and national youth events. The program exposed youth to other ministries in other parts of the country, which in turn helped them reflect on their own faith.

• Northside Christian Church of St. Louis, Missouri, (68/18) gets their youth involved by working at community oriented events, participating in worship, serving the church's senior citizens at an after-church lunch that also raised money for camp tuition, and traditional recreational activities.

• Overland Park Christian Church of Overland Park, Kansas, (200+, 60, www.opcconline.org) developed a cellgroup ministry that creates small, individual, focused groups geared to foster peer-to-peer ministry. The five individual cells vary in size between five and 18 members and are led by a senior high school student. Leaders are trained to identify spiritual gifts of their cell's members. At the program's core are prayer, edification, and evangelism.

DHE works to nurture transforming leadership for the church in partnership with the 14 universities and seven theological institutions in covenant with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In addition, three schools and three theological institutions maintain historical or associate ties with the denomination. DHE is also affiliated with more than 80 campus ministry programs across the country. Including cooperative efforts with local congregations, DHE helped distribute more than $269,000 in scholarships in 2002.