08/27/2014

Many Volunteer Opps for 2015 Youth Gathering in Detroit--Check Out What's Available and How to Apply

Serving the youth of our church is a vocational calling that requires careful discernment. Every volunteer who serves at the Gathering must agree to follow the terms of our Volunteer Servant Covenant Code of Conduct and submit to a background check by the ELCA. By clicking through this online application process, you will be given the opportunity to complete each of the five steps. All are welcome to volunteer. If you are a member of an ELCA congregation, be sure to have a copy of your congregation’s ID number ready before starting the application process.

There are three volunteer opportunities. Read on to learn more about each category of service. The application fee is $75.

If accepted to serve at the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering, you will be responsible for the following:

• Transportation to and from Detroit and parking on-site, if you drive.
• Arrival in Detroit by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 12, 2015, and staying through Sunday, July 19.

The Gathering will provide the following:

• Per diem or catered meals on days of service at the Gathering.
• Complimentary hotel accommodations with check-in on Sunday, July 12, 2015, and check out on Sunday, July 19, 2015.
• Travel stipends of $250 per individual.

Volunteer Opportunities

Community Life

Community Life volunteers work as a team within their assigned hotel to help create a welcoming atmosphere. Everyone begins and ends their day in a hotel at the ELCA Youth Gathering.

A Community Life Team staffs each hotel and is responsible for providing hospitality, being a conduit for communication with Gathering planners as well as hotel staff, and troubleshooting situations that arise. 

A Community Life Team consists of hotel pastors, adult counselors and young adult leaders who may facilitate worship, and generally promote a healthy, fun and faith-forming experience for young people at the ELCA Youth Gathering.

Eligibility: Applicants must be 19 years of age and at least out of high school (successfully graduated) for one year.

Gathering Volunteer Corps

The Gathering Volunteer Corps serves in multiple capacities throughout the Gathering. This can include, but is not limited to, ushering in the Superdome, checking wristbands at Community Life activities, directing foot traffic in the Interaction Center, helping with registration, answering telephones, staffing an information booth, or moving equipment in the Convention Center. 

Eligibility: Applicants must be 19 years of age and at least out of high school (successfully graduated) for one year.

Servant Companion

The 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering will invite all attendees, youth and adults, to deepen their faith by encountering Jesus in the humanity of Detroit, and to return home to practice compassionate justice. Compassionate justice includes studying Scripture, praying, knowing the world around us, actively helping and truly caring about others.

Compassionate justice is less about what we “want to do” and more about accompanying people where they are in their journey – “God’s work. Our hands.” Young adult Servant Companions will accompany congregational groups as they serve with and for the people of Detroit at the Gathering. 

Eligibility: Applicants must be between the ages of 19 and 30 by the time of the Gathering. 

For more information and to apply please visit The Gathering website registration/volunteer page at http://www.elca.org/YouthGathering/Registration/Volunteers.