The ELCA Youth Gathering is a triennial event for high school-aged Lutherans from around the world. This year’s ELCA Youth Gathering, “Created to Be,” takes place Thursday, July 16 through Saturday, July 20 in New Orleans with 18,000 in attendance including almost 400 from the North Carolina Synod.

The evening live-stream sessions begin at 7 p.m. Central and are available on YouTube.

Learn More about the Theme

We have been created to be ourselves. Created by the Holy One. Since the last time the ELCA came together for an ELCA Youth Gathering, our young people have experienced several major life events. Still today, we are experiencing an ongoing public health crisis mixed with an economic and political crisis. However, we can rest assured that we are created to be in relationship with one another.

We are created to be brave, to show up with an open mind and heart, willing to be challenged.
We are created to be authentic, to bring our whole selves and know that we are loved by our Creator.
We are created to be free, to be transformed by the gospel.
We are created to be disruptive, to work for justice for all our siblings.
We are created to be disciples, to be sent out into the world to love our neighbor just as we are loved by God.

Our host city, New Orleans, has always been its true, authentic self. Our theme, “Created to Be,” highlights the arts, music and soul of this beautiful, vibrant and resilient city. New Orleans was built to host and be a city where all God’s children come together.

We plan to dive deeper into justice, mental health and anti-racism conversations throughout the Gathering. These are hard conversations, but our church desperately needs to have them. We also hope to foster relationships and be a sanctuary for one another. We are saint and sinner simultaneously, and we need forgiveness when we aren’t or can’t be brave, authentic, free, disruptive disciples.

To incorporate our pre-events —the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) and the tAble — into the overall Gathering more intentionally, we are excited that both events will share the “Created to Be” theme. A brand-new Young Adult Gathering, to take place concurrent with the ELCA Youth Gathering, will share the theme as well.