“Living Acts”—Millersburg Mennonite offers caring response for youth of area

  • Shelly Webb
  • January 8, 2011
  • 311
                        
The congregation at Millersburg Mennonite along with its pastors, Patrick and Christine Nafziger want to see the young people of the area return back to the community after college. As a result of that hope, the church has implemented a program called, “Living Acts”. According to Pastor Patrick Nafziger, “Living Acts” is “an intentional Christian community in Millersburg, connected to Millersburg Mennonite Church.” “It's part of our response to the trend of young adults in small towns like Millersburg going away for college and not coming back, or leaving the church because they find it irrelevant,” Nafziger explained. “So basically, we have a house and a program that we're inviting young adults to participate in together. Our goal is to have young adults come back and re-engage in our church and our town instead of writing off Millersburg because of opportunities they find in bigger cities.” There are many opportunities for internships, apprenticeships and so forth in larger cities especially where ministry is concerned. If an individual participates in an internship or takes part in this type of opportunity in a larger city, chances are they will discover other opportunities and avenues during their time of service and end up staying in that area logistically. This is unfortunate for smaller communities because it makes it hard for students to return their area and gain the experience and observations needed to continue their goals. The “Living Acts” house and program has a very explicit mission statement explaining the goal of the program. That mission statement is "To explore the connection between faith and life in order to serve our God, our church, and our local community." The mission statement clearly wants to help participants minister and grow in their faith locally. To accomplish this, Nafziger says it is the hope of the church to see that both individual and corporate spiritual disciplines are encouraged and developed throughout the program year. This will give participants the best overall experience possible. When young people enter the program and take up residence in the house the church offers them the time and support needed to learn more about what God wants them to do and where he wants them to be. Through serving others and taking part in group projects, the concept of outreach and ministry is taught and practiced and it’s taught and practiced locally. “We seek to foster an environment where each participant is able to safely identify who God has created them to be and creatively use their gifts in service to God and the church,” Nafziger said. “We hope to help participants form and maintain healthy relationships with other people, develop their communication skills, and experience mutual respect in group decision making. We desire the participants to serve others as a natural part of their daily life, and we want to define outreach in this model as being gracious guests in our community.” The program began in April 2010 with five participants. “Our goal was to get on a year long schedule from September through August of each year (to coincide with the school year for college students), so that first group went through August and we transitioned to the first full year in September of 2010,” Nafziger explained. “Currently we have four participants right now for this year. If people are interested in more information, there is an application process and they can always contact the church for details regarding the program.” Nafziger is encouraged by the interest in the program and is hopeful that many young people will consider “Living Acts” as an avenue to discover more about their faith and service and where God wants to use them.


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