We’re excited to bring you an episode with a genuine ‘lift-where-you-stand story’ of a family in the UK. Sam and Jen Norton have served young people in the church for more than twenty years and most recently as FSY Session Directors in London. FSY stands for “For the Strength of Youth”, and refers to the week-long summer events held for youth around the world.
As FSY leaders, Jen and Sam began facing difficult questions about how to include and support youth with a range of perspectives and lifestyles. They wanted to affirm the wisdom of the standards set by the Church for youth; they also noticed that many youth were driven away the fear of exclusion they would experience if they fell short. As a result, many youth would drop out of Church activity before giving a chance to learn what it’s really about.
Through prayer, open conversations, deep listening, and creativity, Jen and Sam were taken on a truly transformative journey; they found their way to loving the younger generation more than they thought possible, and learning how to really champion them and their unique spiritual gifts. In short, they believe in believing in the next generation and giving them a more gentle on-ramp to following Jesus and reminds them that perhaps the most important word in the sacrament prayer and baptismal covenant is ‘willing’. Their story will be valuable to anyone working with youth, or who is interested in blending top-down and bottom-up approaches to Church callings.
If you want more of what you hear in this conversation, Sam wrote a book about it called Come as You Are: Creating Space for the Rising Generation to come to Jesus Christ. The book aims to be an accessible guide to parents, leaders and teachers and invites us all to rethink about how we support our young people’s faith discovery.
181. Creative Stewardship — A Conversation with Stake President Ben Behunin
180. Renewing Our Religious Language — Terryl Givens at Restore
179. The Path of a Seeker — A Conversation with Charles Stang
178. Modesty from the Inside Out — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife
177. Tackling the Teen Mental Health Crisis — A Conversation with Gov. Spencer J. Cox
176. The Cherished Doctrine of Heavenly Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Michal Thomas
175. The Story of You — A Conversation with Ian Morgan Cron
174. Faith Journey 101 — A Conversation with Jana Spangler
173. The $100 Billion Question — A Conversation with Aaron Miller
172. Exploring Atonement — A Conversation with Terryl Givens
171. My Lord, He Calls Me — A Conversation with Alice Faulkner Burch
170. Reckoning with Mountain Meadows — Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown
169. Audacious Hope — A Conversation with Tim Shriver
168. Parenting with Grace — A Conversation with Brooke Romney
167. When Conscience and Authority Seem to Collide — The Life of Eugene England
166. Finding Beauty in the Mundane — A Conversation with Darlene Young
165. Love in the Trenches — A Conversation with Dr. Jason Whiting
164. The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez
163. Why We Can't Cherry-Pick the Bible — A Conversation with Dan McClellan
162. Rethinking Forgiveness — A Conversation with Matthew Potts
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