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This can feel like just another list of things to do. Yet we know consistent, small, deliberate changes can be powerful in their impact. They help form the culture and environment where the Gospel can be shared clearly, and young people can be discipled well. As a leader, your words and actions set a tone whether you want them to or not. Considering how you can add even just one of these things can help move you closer to reflecting God's warmth, challenge, and grace. Developing a culture of warmth, challenge, and grace means learning to be people of warmth, challenge, and grace through the work of the Holy Spirit. In these steps, we are not only setting an example, but we are teaching young people how to bring warmth, chal- lenge, and grace into their lives and vocations. We can teach these concepts, but it is all the more powerful when young people see them at work in our actions. Congregational communities can be a teen's testing ground for seeing if God's love described in His Word is effectively applied and active in real life. We know that some young people feel the church is pushing them away one small cut at a time. On the other hand, we heard from many young people who could not point to a single person or moment that drew them closer to Jesus and the church. Instead, they spoke about many people and circumstances that built them up through small interactions—parents, extended family, supportive adults, peers, and congregations that gave them space to learn, grow, and serve. Instead of a thousand cuts, they experienced a great cloud of witnesses that pointed them regularly back to the cross and their gift of faith. Every congregation has its own history, norms, practic- es, and community that all impact the congregational environment. We can recognize the powerful pieces that brought us to where we are today while also see- ing new ways of being in community together. We celebrate the many people who grew up in the church and can point to a thousand different ways the church has cared for them. This is what we believe healthy youth ministry should look like. There is no prescription or program for creating a healthy environment. We wish there was. Instead, the work of creating this environment of warmth, challenge, and grace is done by God through us, deep below the surface over time. In taking small steps, leaders model God's love overflowing in action and build connections that share the Gospel. May God use you and many others to walk alongside teens and point them to Jesus with warmth, challenge, and grace. w Lutheran Life 15

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