Leader Training at Green Lake Lutheran Ministries

Green Lake Lutheran Ministries Staff Training - 120 minutes 

Articulating your Theology/Faith Stories - 60 

Situation Discussions - 20-30 

● It is the middle of the summer, and you are wiped. There is one particular peer that is driving you batty, and it is especially tiring for you in the one hour you have to rest. What would it look like for you to embody one component of your theological grounding as you navigated space and community with this peer?” 

● “There is a camper in your cabin that is obviously going through something. They’re challenging you at every turn, and it is causing a lot of tension in your cabin. What would it look like for you to lean into one component of your theological grounding as you offer leadership in your cabin? What do you need to stay grounded during this time?” 

● “During bible study, one of your favorite campers confides that she actually doesn’t believe in God. This opens up a conversation among your campers where they are openly expressing doubts, and asking you what you think. What pieces of your theology will ground you as you lead this conversation, and as you build community among your cabin?” 

Q&A - 30

Faith Stories (90) 

● (2-3) Intro to Me 

● (10) Free Write – 

o You all got here somehow. What were you curious about, or what was so compelling to you about your spiritual life, or Jesus, or God, and/or church, that, before you knew anyone at camp, you decided to spend a summer here? 

o Partner Share… 

● (20) Card Activity 

○ We have these cards (linked here)– they don’t get at everything, but sometimes they’re helpful in finding concrete language. I’d love for you to find 3-5 of these words that most closely get at the “why” of your faith. Can you put them in a sentence or two and write them in your journal? 

○ What do you believe to be true about God? What is or are God’s promise/s to you? What is God’s invitation or call to you? 

○ Write it down, Share with a partner, share with the group… ● (20) Lutheran Understanding – 

○ Can you do the same things, working with a partner, trying to find 3-5 words that work to describe what you know about Lutheran 

Theology? Maybe that’s what you’ve absorbed from this camp (or even conversations about this camp!), or from your church at home, or from a friend who is Lutheran. 

○ Overview - 7 principles (below)

SEVEN ASPECTS OF LUTHERAN FAITH, THEOLOGY, AND IDENTITY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.[1] 

1. Grace and Mercy: 

a. God loves you before and beyond anything you do or don’t do. God comes to us. You are not God, thanks be to God. Full stop. 

2. Freedom in Christ - vocation, love the neighbor on their behalf. 

a. God’s reputation for mercy before judgment inspires our systems for liberation and love. 

3. Incarnation: 

a. Our whole humanity is valuable, so much so that God becomes human, too. b. God becomes human for us in Jesus Christ. 

c. Note that for Orthodox Christians, Incarnation is salvific 

4. God and Human Suffering: 

a. God is deeply familiar with suffering and death, and stays in solidarity with us. God feels our pain and suffering. 

b. Theology of the Cross vs Theology of Glory 

5. Sin and Human Nature: 

a. God delights in our goodness, not our grind toward perfection. 

b. God delights in our goodness and judges sin. 

c. Sin as Separation, rather than a list of acts that we might participate in 6. Sacramental: 

a. Visible Signs of Invisible Grace 

b. God comes to us, but makes room for mystery 

c. Extraordinary promises become tangible, tangled up with ordinary things. God meets us in bread, wine, and water. 

7. The Word: 

a. We take the bible seriously, not literally. It is a source of authority for us, though not the only one. 

b. Respect for scripture’s authority doesn’t discount other ways God is still speaking. God is revealed in ancient traditions and the evolution of human experience. 

A Blessing 

The God who knows what it’s like to be human, who makes and keeps the very promises we need, who works through ancient wisdom and new experiences, who is with us in the suffering and tension and pain of this life, who delights in our goodness, not our grind toward perfection, who is still speaking in scripture and the mysteries of the Spirit, who is love and mercy that interrupt judgment…who meets us in the curiosity, grace and freedom of faithful conversations that never end. 

[1] THESE CONCEPTS ARE ADAPTED FROM A PAPER THAT REV. DR. GUY IRWIN PRESENTED AT THE LUTHER CONGRESS IN 2022, also using Kate Reuer Welton’s language and notes from the following article: 

https://wp.stolaf.edu/lutherancenter/2024/04/the-seven-principles-of-a-living-catechism