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- Adults and youth attend a Faith Webs meetup event at First Lutheran Church, Onalaska, Wis. The program creates connections among members.
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- Throughout the year, Felicity Renkas has made a connection with her Faith Web sponsor, Sue Bodenschatz. For the congregation, Faith Webs serves as a community builder and as a “community raiser.”
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- Al and Sandy Hutson spend time with Kendall Foley (left) and Addie and Felicity Renkas. First’s website says studies show that children who grow up to have an active adult faith life are likely to have had six or more adults with an active faith supporting them as they grow up.
A “holy experiment” has blossomed into a full-fledged program at First Lutheran Church in Onalaska, Wis., where youth and adults find value in Faith Webs—a community builder and “community raiser.”
“Faith Webs is the way that we make our large congregation feel small,” said Carla Stanton, who leads the ministry. “We do that by building community.”
The idea was formed in summer 2023, when church leaders dreamed of ways to encourage youth to participate in the first ELCA Youth Gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic. Faith Webs began in September of that year as a ministry that meets two goals.
The first goal, and most important, is to grow community by creating connections between people who might know each other casually and want to have deeper connections.
The second goal, which members call a “community raiser,” is to help relieve the financial obstacles that many families face when their children want to participate in a faith formation experience such as summer camp, mission trips or youth gatherings.
“The idea to build community between our members by rallying around the common goal of getting to know our youth better felt like a perfect combination,” Stanton said. “Faith Webs has always felt like a very Spirit-led ministry, and once we got going, we decided to include kids who wanted to go on a middle school mission trip and kids that wanted to go to a faith-based summer camp.”
“Our world is so divided right now, but raising our children in faith is something that almost nobody can argue with.”
Stanton said the need was and continues to be threefold: One, after the pandemic, everyone was craving more human connection. Two and three, time and money are always the primary objections to youth participating in faith formation events. The cost of summer camps varies but averages $600 for a full week. Mission school trips are approximately $900 and high school mission trips $1,200.
“There’s this preconceived idea that we’re helping the youth,” she said. “And that’s certainly a part of it, but it’s not at all what we set out to do. We’re building community by finding a common goal.
“Our world is so divided right now, but raising our children in faith is something that almost nobody can argue with. These are the young people in our congregation who have committed to doing some faith formation experience. They’re looking for connection, and you are looking for connection if you’re new to our congregation. So find somebody among these Faith Webs, because it’s not just the child, it’s the family too.”
How it works
Youth who want to participate in an overnight faith-based summer camp, a middle school or high school mission trip, or attend family camp with the adults in their life are encouraged to sign up for a Faith Web. Participants are then paired with adult supporters in the congregation. These “webs” spend the year getting to know each other better and building relationships.
“We hold a few meetup events at church but mostly we encourage them to spend time together outside of church,” Stanton said. “The things we have heard about families doing together have been amazing.”
Each Faith Web gets to decide how they are going to connect based on what works best for them. Examples include meals together, attending youth sports or music and theater performances, job shadowing and camping.
The youth’s family is asked to contribute the first $300, and each supporting household also contributes $300.
“The first year we got a hundred and whatever families to participate and raised close to $40,000,” Stanton said. “I mean, it was a lot of money, but we did it because once you get to know [a child], you’re like, ‘Oh, here’s 300 bucks.’ Nobody batted an eye at it because they knew who the kid was, and they got to know the family, and they formed a relationship.
“Families have so many demands on their time, and kids are always under pressure to achieve more and do more. By signing up early in the fall for the following summer’s activities, we are helping to name and prioritize faith formation. By adding in the financial support, we enable more families to send their kids on these experiences.”
Getting to know you
Cathy and Rich Wittchow are advocates and a sponsor family for Faith Webs. “Going to church, we often see families sitting in the same pew every Sunday,” Cathy said. “We recognize their faces, but we often don’t know their names or background. Faith Webs has provided us with an opportunity to connect with the youth and their families and get to know them on a more personal level.”
This is the second year that Michelle and Brian Renkas have participated in the program. “I feel strongly about youth needing a web of witnesses to help raise them up in faith and have definitely watched this play out through Faith Webs,” Michelle said. “We have had the opportunity to connect with members of our congregation that we normally would not have known well.”
“I have gotten to know more people. It’s one more familiar face at church that I can talk to about life.”
The financial support the sponsors provide has also allowed the Renkas’ two daughters to participate in extra summer faith opportunities.
This year the girls have several sponsors with whom they are making connections through texts, cards, small gifts (such as books, games and puzzles), and by attending church-sponsored events and outings together.
“It has been wonderful to watch relationships develop throughout the year,” Michelle said. “The sponsors not only take an interest in the girls’ church-related activities but also their activities outside of church. Through this I have also witnessed our girls’ confidence at church continue to grow.”
The Renkas’ daughter Addie, 13, said, “I love Faith Webs because they help me deepen my faith. I have gotten to know more people. It’s one more familiar face at church that I can talk to about life.
“I also love that they always love to hear what I am doing outside church. They like to hear about my summer faith events … who I met, what I did, etc. … It’s also fun when I get to go to their house and hang out—and eat good food!”
For more information, click on “Faith Webs” in the top right corner at First’s website.
