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.
161. 15 Years to Redemption — A Conversation with Dave Durocher
160. Reckoning with Marriage — A Conversation with Rachel Rueckert
159. How to Celebrate Holy Week — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman
158. The Other Side Academy: "Zion with F-Bombs" — Joseph Grenny at Restore
157. Using Your Gifts for Good — A Conversation with Liz Shropshire
156. Friendship in Faith — A Conversation with Andrew Teal
155. A Year of War and Miracles — Svitlana Miller and Nancy Cadjan
154. Every Needful Thing — Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook
153. Developing Sexual Wholeness — Jennifer Finlayson-Fife
152. The Richard Bushman Interview
151. When Faith is Hard — A Conversation with Terryl Givens
150. How Are We Like the Ancient Christians? — A Conversation with Kristian Heal
149. Don't Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste — Jared Halverson
148. Equal Partnership in Marriage — McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding
147. Bittersweet - A Conversation with Susan Cain
146. Savior of the World - A Conversation with Esther Candari
145. Envisioning the Restoration's 3rd Century — Patrick Mason
144. The Art of Transformation — A Conversation with Makoto Fujimura
143. The Sin of Certainty — A Conversation with Peter Enns
142. The Truth Will Set You Free — A Conversation with Jason Portnoy
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