AYT- Advanced Youth Training

             What is AYT? AYT stands for Advanced Youth Training. AYT’s purpose is to give enrichment education that will prepare the youth for learning in life. It is anything that goes above and beyond the normal Sunday Bible Study attendance. AYT has enjoyed traveling to various places for the purpose of deepening their understanding of the Lutheran faith and history, while also enjoying social activities and getting to know each other better.

             Once every three years, youth are invited to participate in the congregation's Lutheran Heritage Tour to Europe, where we visit sites of importance to Christian history such that the Lutheran faith comes alive. Some previous trips have included New York, Minnesota, Colorado and North Carolina. It also includes anyone who comes to Wednesday night Bible study; or during this years World Religion Study, anyone who goes on a visit to a church, or comes to hear our guest speakers. Attendance at AYT events means that you will be given primary consideration when applying for scholarships for the Heritage Tour. Next Trip is set for Summer 2011 to Scandinavia. Don’t Miss it!

Lutheran Heritage Tour- Scandinavia Summer 2010

 

This is going to be a very exciting year.  Not only are we looking forward to a great year of Bible Study and worship filled with challenging content and great leadership.  We are also looking forward to preparing for our next Lutheran Heritage Tour in June and July of 2011.

 

From our Pastor:  On Thursday, June 23rd our group of pilgrims will depart from Indianapolis for Berlin, Germany.  We will view the birthplace of the Reformation, the city of Wittenberg, from whence Martin Luther thundered the Word of God from pulpit and printing press into the world.  Then, on Sunday, June 26th, we will travel by Ferry to Copenhagen, Denmark. 

 

The reason for celebrating Lutheranism within these Nordic countries is not always understood by German Lutherans.  After all, wasn’t it the GERMAN Reformation?  It is often unknown that it was Baltic Lutheranism—northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway—that preserved the Reformation after Luther died and made it possible for us to be true Lutherans today.  Our journey will be joyful as we remember the courage and confession of these early reformers.  But it will also be sad.    Today much of Scandinavia has lost its Lutheran faith and confession.  It may not be much, it may not make much of an impact, but we intend to celebrate what they once did for us as a reminder to them and us of what the Church could be once again.  We want you to join us for this tour, in this celebration, and help us confess the gifts that have been, by God’s grace, given to us today in Word and Sacrament. 

 

I promise you, it won’t be hard on your eyes. The places we are going to see are some of the most beautiful, wondrous, breathtakingly inspiring places in the world. After visiting Denmark we will do an overnight ship to Oslo, Norway.  We’ll see Viking ships and incredible sculpture gardens and ancient Viking churches.  Then we’ll drive over the mountains to Bergen, the old seaport of the (German) Hanseatic League, where 16th Century Lutheranism took its first step into Norway.   Then we will travel over north, through mountains and fjords (and take a hike or two) and eventually arrive at the northern city of Trondheim.  Trondheim was once the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop.  He sought to stop the Lutheran Reformation by trying to overthrow the King of Denmark.  Needless to say, he did not succeed.  After worshipping with one of our sister Lutheran congregations in Trondheim on Sunday, we will hop on the bus for the long trip to Stockholm, Sweden.  It was the Swedes, more than any other Nordic people, who preserved confessional Lutheranism and willing gave their lives so that Lutherans today might have the freedom to worship God as Lutherans. 

 

Our tour group will return July 7th, 2011.  The extra ordinary distances and places that we will visit will make this trip into a two week adventure.  This will be the longest trip we have ever taken.  The extra days, the distances, the ferrys and high cost of traveling through Scandinavia makes this trip more expensive than past trips, but overall, it is a great bargain and the trip of a lifetime.  And you will be getting something to help you with that bargain:  Once again we will be providing scholarship support for our youth.  It is our goal (at a minimum) to pay for your flight, and, if the dollar continues to improve on the exchange, a little more. 

 

There will be a formal presentation about this trip on Sunday, September 12th during the Bible Class Hour.  We will show you some of the sights in the countries you will be visiting.  You don’t want to miss it, but you especially don’t want your parents or grandparents to miss it either. (That Sunday is Grandparents Day – INVITE them to come and maybe they will be inspired to join you.) 

 

If you are a confirmed student and have not graduated from high school (2011 graduates are still eligible), you will receive scholarship assistance.  If you need extra financial support, you may let me know privately and we will see what we can do to help.  No student has ever been prevented from going on a Heritage Tour  because of financial hardship.