Church Leadership Initiative

LIFT students have the rare opportunity each semester to take part in a number of very different church worship settings, visiting four or five area churches during their time here. This is in no way an endorsement of the popular "church-hopping" or the "consumer" mindset that we see in many church-goers today, but rather a concerted effort at challenging preconceived ideas of how church "should" be.

Many individuals have grown up attending a certain type of church and are critical of churches who embrace other types of worship settings. Here at LIFT, our students get the chance to intentionally visit a range of churches and examine their own beliefs and why they feel the way they do. Most of them come away from the semester able to better discern whether a particular form of church worship is appropriate and glorifying to God - regardless of whether or not it's similar to what they've grown up with.

Each church that is chosen for LIFT attendence is done so for a reason. This semester, LIFT 19 is attending the following churches:

• Grace Fellowship, Latham, NY
• St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Saratoga Springs, NY
• Terra Nova Church, Troy, NY

We are grateful for the opportunity we have at each location to have a session alone with a pastor who is able to give us a more in-depth look at why they do what they do, and answer any questions the students raise. These times have been incredibly helpful to us as we grow in appreciation for the diversity we see in styles of church leadership.

While we believe each of these churches shares the same core beliefs as we do at LIFT, there is no question that the styles of worship vary greatly! From upbeat contemporary to traditionally liturgical, students must face the challenge of deciding which beliefs should be held firmly and which should be open to change.

One LIFT grad sums up her Church Leadership Initiative experience: “Thank you for helping me to express my views and engage others in conversations of such nature in a non-abrasive manner, and with kindness. I honestly did not realize how poorly I came across and how cutting my words were. I am truly thankful for the patience that everyone showed to me, and that I learned to root it out now rather than falling hard later when my brothers and sisters were not there to teach me in grace.”