‘Love is Greater Than Fear’: Regional Youth Events get to the heart of gospel message

United Church of Christ teens attending this summer’s Regional Youth Events (RYE) are hearing an important message for today’s increasingly troubling world: “Love Is Greater Than Fear.”

The “Love Is Greater Than Fear” theme, anchoring all four regional events across the country, was inspired by a song of the same name that was written by the music collective, The Many.

The group, founded in 2015 by Gary Rand, a pastor and musician who began writing songs to fill the void of topics and themes missing in pew hymnals, performed at the July 17-20 Great Lakes and West Central event.

More than 130 youth and youth leaders, representing 12 Midwest Conferences, descended onto the campus of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, to sing, learn, laugh, and make new friends.

Rand shared with the Rock Island attendees that the “Love Is Greater Than Fear” song was written by his wife, Lenora, who was inspired by a sticker she found on the back of an airport bathroom door.

“I took a picture of it and sent it to my daughter. We then went back and forth discussing what it means for love to be greater than fear,” said Lenora Rand.

A song — and a relevant theme for a UCC youth event — was born.

Love at the heart of the gospel message

“Love over fear is at the heart of the gospel message. Our youth need to hear this,” said RYE planning team member, the Rev. Krissy Avise-Rouse. “How many times is ‘fear not’ mentioned in the Bible? How many times did Jesus say, ‘Do not be afraid’?”

Avise-Rouse, who is a part-time pastor for Epiphany UCC in St. Louis, Missouri, and a chaplain for Every Child’s Hope Children’s Home, has always been an advocate for youth, urging them to lean into the who God created them to be.

“Our youth need to remember that they are enough because their value is in the fact that they are a child of God,” said Avise-Rouse, adding, “I’ve always taught my confirmation classes two things: First, that you matter. And second, that truth also applies to everyone else you meet.”

Making friends; embracing difference

The Great Lakes and West Central RYE was the first in-person gathering of this kind since 2018. And it did not disappoint.

“It is exciting to get all the youth together again,” said the Rev. Sheri Nelson, member of the RYE planning team and program director of Outdoor Ministries for the Minnesota Conference UCC.

Kara Jaurigue, who has been serving as youth director at Plymouth United Church of Christ in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for 28 years, shared Nelson’s excitement.

“I am a fan of building relationships and making new friends. This is an opportunity for our kids to meet kids from other churches and to see that we are all not the same. It is cool for our teenagers to see differences,” said Jaurigue, who had in tow with her five youth, including her 16-year-old son.

The Rev. Jessie Lent, pastor of Hope United Church of Christ, Hiawatha, Iowa, agreed.

“It’s important for our youth to get a broader perspective of the UCC beyond their local area,” he said.

Sharing words of hope

Over the course of four days, teens heard the message of love overcoming fear from many different perspectives. They also heard from several UCC National staffers who shared their hopes and wisdom with the group.

During a panel discussion, Abigail Cipparone, domestic policy advocate in the Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington, D.C., reminded the teens how their voice can influence policy making, and even if they don’t see the change they want in their generation, to trust it will happen for the next generation.

Danielle Hickman, minister for volunteer engagement for UCC’s Global H.O.P.E. team, shared with the youth how she found herself by serving others, and encouraged them to “put on love” and go out into their communities.

The Rev. Amy Johnson, minister for sexuality education & justice, invited the youth “to be loud about the beloved-ness of each and every one of us” and to have that be “louder than fear of others.”

The Rev. Elizabeth Dilley, team leader for UCC’s MESA (The Ministerial Excellence, Support and Authorization team) hoped for the youth to hold on to the truth that boldness is not always speaking up or even participating in a rally. Rather, “boldness can simply be standing in the moment where you want nothing more than to run away,” she said.

Holy disruptions are good

Stephen Ingram, senior director of resource development for the Center for Youth Ministry Training located in Brentwood, Tennessee, also led several “Holy Disruption” conversations, inviting the teens to reframe every disruption they encounter as an opportunity to grow.

“Disruptions are always an opportunity to ask how you can improve your relationship with God and others in that moment,” said Ingram.

Ingram also spoke of the importance of learning to be vulnerable.

“Vulnerability is an act of faith. Yes, you open yourself up to rejection,” he said, “but, when you do open yourself up to others, you have no clue what you will get back.”

Teens were then invited to share their thoughts.

Charlie Johnson, a teen who hopes someday to be a mortician and who uses the pronouns “they/them,” shared that becoming who God intended us to be was like skipping rocks on the water.

“You can learn how to do it, and with practice you get better,” they said, adding that “sometimes it just takes practice being us.”

It was Maggie Leveridge, though, a teen from Davenport, Iowa, whose thoughts on what it takes to live authentically in a world of social media smoke and mirrors, created a hush in a room of talkative teens.

While it was just a second, the hush proved sacred — and profound.

“If you just accept who you are as a human being, then you are strong. For me, being the strongest you can be is simply being yourself,” said Leveridge, who attends The Table in Davenport, a nontraditional worship community led by her father, the Rev. Rob Leveridge.

All are in created in God’s image

Loving themselves just as God created them to be was just one of the valuable lessons the teens walked away with. The other was how to love others.

Bekah Anderson, executive committee co-chair for the UCC Disabilities Ministries, and the Rev. Jacob Nault, pastor of Union Congregational Church in Waupun, Wisconsin, began tilling the soil for seeds of empathy to grow among the teens.

Leading a workshop on disabilities and overcoming ableism, Anderson and Nault shared the challenges and the misconceptions they have had to overcome with their own disabilities.

Anderson, legally blind since she was two, then read a poem she wrote citing the many ways God could be described from a God who is Black or white, to a God who walks, crawls, and limps.

“When we talk about the image of God, that means that we can learn things about God by looking at others,” said Anderson.

The teens were given an “Accessibility Scavenger Hunt” list to take back to their churches. On the list to scavenge for were curb cuts, large print handouts, and church signs featuring braille.

“Go back to your churches and explore how to better welcome people of all abilities,” said Nault.

Teens later had the opportunity to participate in a Church World Service (CWS) service project, putting together Period Packs filled with various menstrual hygiene products to help those in need.

The next RYE gatherings are Southern RYE in Virginia Beach, Virginia, July 23-26; and New England/Eastern RYE in Sharon, Connecticut, July 28-31.

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