Inspiring a deeper and richer connection to Christ, our community, and each other.
Middle School (5th-8th Grade)
Milestones
The middle and high school years bring a lot of change, new freedoms, new responsibilities, bigger questions, deeper relationships, and plenty of figuring out who you are and who you are becoming. And right in the middle of all of it, God is there.
Our Milestone Ministries for youth create intentional moments to pause along the way, connect what is happening in their lives with their faith, and remind them that they are surrounded by a community that knows them, loves them, prays for them, and walks alongside them.
Some milestones include time for youth and their grown-ups to gather and learn together. Others mark significant moments in worship when our whole congregation gets to surround our young people with prayer and blessing. Through it all, we want our youth to know that faith isn’t something they have to have figured out, it is something we continue to grow into together.
Back-to-School Blessing | All Ages – September 13
A new school year brings new classrooms, schedules, friendships, challenges, and possibilities. Students of every age, along with teachers, administrators, coaches, support staff, and all who serve in our schools, are invited to bring their backpacks and come receive a blessing for the year ahead. Wherever this year takes you, you do not go alone.
First Communion | All Ages
Gathering: October 29
Celebration in Worship: November 1
At Lord of Life, Christ’s table is open and all are welcome. There is no required age or grade when someone must begin receiving Holy Communion. For those preparing to receive Communion for the first time—or anyone who simply wants to learn more about this meal—we’ll gather to explore Jesus’ promises, ask questions, and celebrate the gift of grace we receive at Christ’s table.
5th Grade | Holy Communion Milestone
Gatherings: March 18 & March 24
Bread Baking: March 24
Celebration in Worship: March 25 | Maundy Thursday
Fifth graders and their grown-ups will dig deeper into Holy Communion—what this meal means, why we gather around the table, and what Jesus’ promises of grace, forgiveness, and new life mean for us. Along the way, we’ll get our hands into the experience by baking the bread that will be shared in worship. Then, on Maundy Thursday, we’ll gather around Christ’s table and celebrate the meal at the very heart of our life together.
9th Grade | Affirmation of Baptism • May 16
Affirmation of Baptism marks the culmination of several years of intentional learning, wondering, questioning, serving, and growing in faith. Our freshmen will affirm the promises made at their baptisms and claim those promises again for themselves.
This isn’t graduation from church or the moment when anyone is expected to have faith completely figured out. Instead, it is another beginning—a chance to say yes to continuing this life of faith, surrounded by a community that promises to keep walking alongside them.
10th Grade | Freedom in Christ Milestone
Gathering: October 28
Celebration in Worship: November 4
Sophomore year often brings a whole new level of freedom—driving, greater independence, more decisions, and more responsibility for where you’re going and how you’re getting there. Together we’ll explore what it means to live in the freedom Christ gives us: a freedom that invites us to grow in trust, make choices with care, love our neighbors, and discover who God is calling us to be. We’ll celebrate this growing independence while reminding our 10th graders that wherever the road takes them, Christ goes with them.
11th Grade | Your Story + God’s Story Milestone
Gathering: January 13
Celebration in Worship: January 20
Our stories are still being written—and God is woven into every chapter. Juniors and their grown-ups will have space to reflect on the people, places, experiences, joys, challenges, and questions that have shaped them so far while wondering about what might come next. Together we’ll celebrate the truth that their story matters, God’s story continues to unfold in and through them, and they don’t have to know the ending to trust that God is already there.
12th Grade | Senior Blessing • May 23
Graduation is filled with endings and beginnings, excitement and uncertainty, looking back and wondering what comes next. As our seniors prepare to leave high school and step into whatever is ahead, we will surround them with prayer, wrap each of them in a quilt made with love, and remind them of something we hope they carry wherever they go: they belong to Christ, they remain part of this community, and they never travel beyond the reach of God’s grace.
Watch for more details and invitations as each milestone approaches. We are grateful to walk alongside our youth and their families through all of these moments, and all of the ordinary days in between.
Club 56
Open to all 5th & 6th grade families, join us Wednesday evenings from 7-8 p.m. throughout the school year. Attend Wednesday night programming and then engage in conversation with family and friends. Club 56 is every other Wednesday from September to April.
Confirmation
Confirmation is a time to dig deeper into faith, ask honest questions, build relationships, and discover what it means to live out the promises made in baptism.
Throughout these three years, youth will explore Scripture and Luther’s Small Catechism while growing into the baptismal promises to live among God’s faithful people, hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper, proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, serve all people following the example of Jesus, and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
And we don’t just talk about those promises—we practice them. Confirmation includes time for learning and conversation, prayer and worship, serving our neighbors, building community, and discovering how faith connects with the questions and experiences of everyday life.
There is plenty of room here for questions, doubts, wondering, laughter, friendships, and figuring things out along the way. Confirmation isn’t about having all the right answers. It’s about growing together and discovering again and again what it means to belong to Christ and live as God’s beloved people in the world.
Confirmation is open to students in 7th–9th grade and meets Wednesday evenings from 6:15–8:00 p.m.
Middle School Youth Group
Middle school is better when you have a place where you can show up, be yourself, and know you belong. Middle School Youth Group is a chance to take a break from the busyness of the week, hang out with friends, meet new people, play some games, laugh a lot, and make space for faith and the things happening in your life. Through games, conversations, activities, service, and time together, we’ll keep discovering what it means to follow Jesus and be part of a community that shows up for one another. Bring a friend, bring your questions, and come as you are.
Middle School Youth Group is for 5th–8th graders and meets the second Sunday of each month from 5:30–7:00 p.m, September through May.
ServeCAMP
We believe middle schoolers are an important part of how God is at work in our community right now.
Throughout the week, 5th–8th graders head out into the Brainerd Lakes Area to serve alongside local organizations and community partners, learning about the work they do and discovering real ways we can care for our neighbors. We’ll also serve right here at Lord of Life, working alongside our quilters, spending time in the Faith Works Shop, and jumping into projects where extra hands can make a difference.
And because it’s camp, there’s plenty of fun woven in too! Each day includes time to serve, play, eat together, build relationships, reflect on what we’ve experienced, and connect our service with our faith. The week also includes optional evening activities and the chance to camp overnight at Lord of Life.
More than anything, serveCAMP is a chance to discover that serving isn’t just something we do for other people. We get to know our neighbors, learn from them, work alongside them, and see the many ways God is already at work all around us.
serveCAMP is for youth entering 5th–8th grade and takes place for one week in August, with daytime programming from 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. and optional evening and overnight experiences.
Registration deadline: July 1.
Summer Stretch
Anyone entering 7th through 9th Grade should be a part of our Summer Stretch ministry! Together with other students from local ELCA churches, our youth will gather Thursdays in June and July, both to serve and have fun at outings, culminating in a trip to a Minnesota Twins game. Hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Middle School Late Night Out
One Friday night a month, middle schoolers from Lord of Life and other area ELCA congregations come together for a night of faith, friends, and a whole lot of fun! We’ll start with dinner and fill the evening with games, snacks, faith conversations, and plenty of time to hang out, deepening friendships you already have and making some new ones along the way. Watch for registration information to come.
5:00–11:00 p.m.
December 4 – January 15 – February 19 – March 19
NE MN Synod All-Youth Gathering
This weekend retreat (November 22-23, 2026) offers youth in grades 6-12 the chance to grow in faith and build relationships and connections with hundreds of peers from across the NEMN Synod! There will be large group assemblies with a keynote speaker, band, games, activities, basketball, swimming, crafts, and much more! Cost: $100.
High School (9th-12th Grade)
Confirmation
Confirmation is a time to dig deeper into faith, ask honest questions, build relationships, and discover what it means to live out the promises made in baptism.
Throughout these three years, youth will explore Scripture and Luther’s Small Catechism while growing into the baptismal promises to live among God’s faithful people, hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper, proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, serve all people following the example of Jesus, and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
And we don’t just talk about those promises—we practice them. Confirmation includes time for learning and conversation, prayer and worship, serving our neighbors, building community, and discovering how faith connects with the questions and experiences of everyday life.
There is plenty of room here for questions, doubts, wondering, laughter, friendships, and figuring things out along the way. Confirmation isn’t about having all the right answers. It’s about growing together and discovering again and again what it means to belong to Christ and live as God’s beloved people in the world.
Confirmation is open to students in 7th–9th grade and meets Wednesday evenings from 6:15–8:00 p.m.
Teens Upstream (High School Youth Group)
Teens Upstream is a place for high schoolers to step away from everything pulling at them and simply be together. Come hang out, laugh, eat, play games, talk about what’s actually happening in life, and make space for the questions about faith that don’t always have easy answers. Some nights we’ll dig into a topic together, some nights we’ll serve, and some nights we might just need the chance to slow down and reconnect. Through it all, Teens Upstream is about building relationships, growing in faith, and having a community where you can show up exactly as you are. Friends are always welcome, and you don’t have to make it every time to be part of the group. Come when you can—we’ll be glad you’re here.
Teens Upstream is for 10th–12th graders and meets every other Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm.
Senior High Leader's Gathering
For high school youth who are ready to dig a little deeper, this small group creates space to explore faith, leadership, and what it means to use who God has created us to be in the church and in the world.
Together we’ll wrestle with bigger questions, grow in our understanding of ourselves and one another, explore different ways of leading and serving, and discover how faith shapes the choices we make and the ways we show up for others. There will be conversation, Scripture, prayer, opportunities to lead, and plenty of space to wonder about where God might be calling us next.
Senior High Leadership Group meets on the 4th Sunday of each month.
NE MN Synod All-Youth Gathering
This weekend retreat (November 21-22, 2026) offers youth in grades 6-12 the chance to grow in faith and build relationships and connections with hundreds of peers from across the NEMN Synod! There will be large group assemblies with a keynote speaker, band, games, activities, basketball, swimming, crafts, and much more! Cost: $100.
Senior High Mission Trip
The Senior High Mission Trip is a chance to get away, experience something new, serve alongside others, and discover the ways God is already at work in communities beyond our own.
Throughout the trip, high school youth spend their days serving with local organizations and ministry partners, learning from the people we meet, and putting faith into action. But the mission trip is about more than the work we accomplish. It’s also about the relationships built along the way, with the communities that welcome us and with one another.
There will be plenty of hard work, but also laughter, adventures, shared meals, late-night conversations, worship, reflection, and the kind of memories that come from spending a week together. Along the way, we’ll ask where we see God, what our neighbors have taught us, and how what we’ve experienced might shape the way we live and serve when we come home.
Details for our 2027 Senior High Mission Trip are coming soon! Watch for information about our destination, dates, registration, and everything you need to join us for the adventure.
Get Connected
The foundation of our worship is sharing the good news of God’s grace and inviting people to grow in their relationship with Christ, community and each other in creative, engaging and inspiring ways.