While many youth headed down to New Orleans this summer, one group came 1,191 miles northeast to New York City for what looked much like the National Youth Gathering, just on a smaller scale. The group was the Kansas City Lutheran Youth Coalition, or KCLYC. The coalition was comprised of four Kansas City Lutheran churches and was joined together for service, worship and fellowship. The week-long mission trip to New York City highlighted Metro New York Synod’s coalition of partnerships. Over 14 Episcopal and Lutheran congregations and agencies welcomed the visitors for service, worship, fellowship and meals.
Watch a video of KCLYC 's mission trip theme song.
The group of about one hundred youth and chaperones were welcomed to our synod by Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education of NYC. LMHE coordinated housing in
The New Life School, a public school in the Bronx through
Lutheran Social Services of New York. The school specializes in meeting the needs of exceptional students and served as home base for the visiting volunteers.
Each morning, the travelers journeyed to
Transfiguration Lutheran Church in Harlem. Beginning their day with prayer and worship, they moved quickly into work projects throughout the building. Volunteers repainted the exterior of the church and interior Sunday school rooms, broke down walls, repaired concrete floors in the parish hall and did tasks that might take months to complete with a high price tag. John Holt, the NYS Mission Trip Leader, said of the experience, "Our youth get an opportunity to serve in a way they’ve never done before."
Watch a video with trip interviews from MNYS Pastor Martin Malzahn, other trip leaders and members of Transfiguration, Harlem.
Each afternoon they took in the sights and the culture of New York, visiting the High Line, the Apollo Theatre, and Central Park. Groups also took time to visit various congregations including
Holy Church of the Apostles, an Episcopal Parish in Chelsea, Transfiguration Lutheran Church in the Bronx and
Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish. In each of the places they learned about the history and social ministries of these places before sharing dinner together.
They also worshiped in a variety of places such as
Advent, Manhattan, Trinity, Manhattan and
St. Luke’s, Manhattan. For many who visited Trinity, they experienced their first bilingual worship service with English and Spanish.
Watch their wrap up video from the trip.
Not only have these youth been changed by their experiences here, they have made a difference in our own backyard as well. On the
KCLYC Facebook page and the
Columbia Lutherans Facebook page, you can see more comments, photos and videos of their trip, as well as the many words of thanks.