This spring Luther Seminary’s Children, Youth and Family Ministry program hosted the inaugural First Third event. Through a unique approach, the First Third event functions as a dialogue around youth ministry. About 130 people from all over the country attended the three-day event. They included college students, educators, volunteers and pastors who focus on youth ministry.
Held March 1-3, the First Third event featured Dr. Kenda Dean, associate professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary; and Dr. Andrew Root, assistant professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary. As two of the leading voices of theological youth ministry, Dean and Root led three days of dialogue around the issues that most concern youth workers.
Shannyn Magee, an M.Div. senior in the Children Youth and Family program, said of the event, “I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to hear Kenda Dean speak. She is on the cutting edge, with deep theological insights and implications for the changing culture of today’s youth. Her focus and passion is a benefit to all those working in the church across generations.”
Dean also presented the annual Aus Lecture at Luther Seminary. Archived footage can be viewed online.
The next dialogue will take place Sept. 28-29, 2010. It will feature Elizabeth Marquardt, author of “Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce” and Andrew Root, author of “Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being.”