By Krystal Erickson
“Has everyone used the bathroom? Is everyone buckled up?” I joked as we pulled out of the church parking lot in the van with 12 youth headed for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) youth rally in Knoxville, Tennessee. Months of recruiting, advertising, and anticipation had gone into planning this trip, and now we were finally on our way.
This trip to the youth rally was an opportunity for young students to attend sessions to learn more about their faith walks, to hear speakers talk about the importance of putting God first in their lives, a chance to visit the Ark Encounter, and the opportunity for youth to connect with one another in fellowship. We understand that fellowship is an important part of spiritual growth as 1 John 1:7 says: “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son. . .”
God had led me to help plan and chaperone this trip after I had been praying for a way to help my kids to feel more connected with other youth after COVID. When our congregation finally returned to in-person worship following COVID, we were faced with the sad realization that many of the families we were used to seeing in person were no longer attending our church. My three kids showed up to youth events, and they were the only ones there; as time went on, they were reluctant to attend these events as they felt awkward when they were the only youth present. They were missing fellowship. We were feeling stuck.
During the Knoxville, Tennessee trip, I was grateful to see my children having a renewed excitement about their faith again. They met kids from all over the country, but they also met some new friends from another church near our home in New Prague, Minnesota. As a result, God stirred us, and we began to pray about attending a different church where my kids could make a few new friends and where they would have the opportunity to worship with other youth their own ages not just on a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, but also while attending weekly church services.
I now realize that this trip, and the stirring that I felt afterwards, was God leading me. God guides us on our faith journeys, and when something that He wants for us is missing, He leads us to what we need. I have seen God’s guidance in the legacy and consistency that I have experienced during my faith journey, and I have experienced the truth in Psalm 37:23-24: “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.”
Legacy
My faith journey is covered in a legacy of intentionality, prayer, and fellowship.
I was baptized as a Lutheran (specifically Church of the Lutheran Confession) just days after my birth by the same pastor who confirmed my mom and married my parents. My mom took my brother and me to church every Sunday. My dad was baptized and raised as a Presbyterian but didn’t attend church after high school other than his wedding, our baptisms, Christmas, and Easter. I remember wishing that my dad would join us in church; I wanted him to know the love of Jesus. However, I remember my mom saying that it wasn’t something she could push him to do; he needed to do it on his own.
Another part of my faith formation was my confirmation. As I look back on it, I realize it was an intense process: after years of courses and study, it culminated with an oral examination in front of the congregation. In fact, I studied Luther's Catechism and the Bible for three years to prepare for this expression of faith.
Although this experience was, at times, excruciating, it prepared me to rely on my faith during my high school and college years; I was heading into these formational years with the knowledge that Jesus will be near me throughout anything I would face.
Consistency
Along with the legacy of my faith walk, God led me through consistency. I attended the same church from birth until 2016. It is where I was married to my husband, Jaime, and it is where we baptized our three children. I also had the same pastor over the course of all those years. Prior to getting married, Jaime chose to become a member of my church. Shortly after Jaime became a member, my brother’s fiancé (at the time) and my dad also chose to become members. It was such an answered prayer having all of my family together on Sunday mornings. Jesus was bringing us all together in fellowship with one another and with Him, and I knew my dad finally knew the love of Christ.
When my children Ashlyn, Nate, and Tori were born, in the same legacy and consistency I had experienced, we baptized them and made it a priority to bring them to church every Sunday. We valued the fellowship of my family church each Sunday, and we appreciated the Sunday school opportunities. I remember how exciting it was when each of them learned to say the Lord’s Prayer on their own. I also loved watching them sing their love for Jesus in the children’s choir.
I had seen the impact of worship music on my own spiritual development starting around high school when I discovered Christian music. I’ve always been a fan of live music of so many genres, and in college, I loved vespers (live worship) at Bethel on Sunday nights. Praising Jesus through music along with other college students was powerful, and I became a “groupie” of Christian artists like Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, and DC Talk. As I watched my children singing in the choir, I prayed that this love of Christian music would be something that we could enjoy together, and God has answered that prayer.
Each year we pick a couple of concerts to attend together: TobyMac, MercyMe, For King and Country, CAIN, and Elevation Worship are just a few of the shows we have enjoyed. It makes my heart so happy to see my children praising and loving Jesus through music.
As someone who had experienced such a rich legacy and consistency in my faith walk, we were faced with a difficult decision when it was time for Ashlyn, our oldest daughter, to begin Catechism classes in fifth grade. Again, we felt stuck. We were driving about an hour to attend my childhood church, and now this drive would need to happen more frequently in order to bring Ashlyn to Catechism classes. We realized this drive was way too long to be doing multiple times a week.
After a lot of prayer and deliberation, we made the difficult decision to find a church closer to our home in New Prague. It was so hard to leave this church that I had been a big part of my entire life; our roots were deep there. My pastor was amazing, and it felt like he was a part of my family. For example, I remember one day he stopped by to watch the kids get off the bus to say hello just because he happened to be driving through New Prague. He was an incredible man who cared about the people of the church! It was also hard to leave because my family (my mom, my dad, my brother, and his family) were still attending our church.
Although it was hard to leave, we wanted our children to get involved with their church, to build relationships, to make connections with others in their own community of New Prague, and to grow their faith in Jesus while in fellowship. Driving an hour to church meant most of the kids their ages were from other communities.
The church we found closer to New Prague was a rural church rich in (WELS) traditions. It was a beautiful old church located in the middle of a farm field. At first, there were many youth opportunities for our children, and because it was a smaller congregation, it felt like a family. We knew everyone’s names, and we knew if someone missed worship or other church events: someone would check in on them. We had several opportunities to volunteer and to serve to show our love for Jesus.
We had been at this church for almost eight years and were fed with tradition, consistency, and fellowship, but after COVID, we were faced with that difficult decision to find a church with more opportunities for our kids to connect with others.
The Bible has so much to say about the importance of fellowship in building and maintaining faith. For example, Acts 2:47 says: “All the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
We recalled that some of the new friends the kids had met at the Knoxville, Tennessee youth rally were from NorthCross, so we decided to give NorthCross (https://www.northcrossmn.org/) a try. Immediately, we all loved it. We were hooked on the atmosphere, the worship community, and the fellowship at NorthCross. We decided to have our youngest child, Tori, finish her confirmation at NorthCross; she confirmed last month, and we continue our faith journey at NorthCross. We are currently in the process of becoming members of this faith community.
Attending Northcross is like going to a live concert every weekend, and we all love the live worship music so much. More importantly, we love praising our Jesus through the great messages, and each week we arrive with anticipation and excitement to learn more about Jesus at NorthCross.
Psalm 37:23 says: “The Lord directs the steps of the Godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” I have witnessed the truth of this verse firsthand; God does lead us through our faith journeys in the ways that He knows we need to be led, but we have to be listening to him when we feel that stirring. We cannot get stuck in legacy or consistency when a piece of what God wants for us is missing. I am grateful that God helped us to get unstuck by prompting us to find a faith community that has what we need to keep growing in fellowship with one another and with Him.
