By Jim Vitale
Let’s commit to relationship rather than to ideals.
That was the message at the heart of this year’s Winterfest—a gathering of youth and young adults in Lancaster, PA sponsored by the Lower Susquehanna Synod and held January 2-4. The gathering’s theme this year was “Better Together” and explored the ways that God gathers and sustains us in community.
We here in the Upper Susquehanna Synod had the pleasure of sending three youth, two young adults, and four chaperones down to Lancaster for the weekend. Over the course of the three days, we engaged in large-group and small-group sessions, worship services, games, meals, and a very impactful service project.
Worshipping Together
This was our third year participating in Winterfest, and the worship services continue to be one of the most impressive things about the gathering. The leadership team works hard over the course of the year to plan high-quality, thoughtful, engaging worship. The praise band is top-notch, the guest speakers are compelling, and the atmosphere is electric.
Most impressive of all, however, is seeing 260 people, over half of whom are youth and young adults, worshipping together in the same space. No one has the opportunity to worship with such a large, young crowd on a Sunday morning in our synod—and it is amazing to see the impact this one weekend has on our participants.
Feeding the Hungry
This year, we came together for a service project—something Winterfest hasn’t done for a long time. On Saturday, we partnered with Rise Against Hunger, a meal-packing ministry focused on providing food to the poorest and hungriest people in the world. In just 55 minutes we packed 30,000 meals.
It was amazing to look around the room and see everyone—youth, young adults, chaperones—standing at their stations, dedicated to their work, dancing to the music the DJ was playing, and generally having a good time serving others. One of the leaders also noticed that for 55 minutes, no one was on their phone. Everyone was completely engaged in true community.
Family Time
One of my favorite parts of Winterfest is always “family time.” When the day is done, each congregation gathers together to debrief and talk about the themes of the day. Since we are currently such a small group, the Upper Susquehanna Synod participants meet together. By the second night, we all were feeling very comfortable with each other, willing to open up and talk about our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It was here that the theme “Better Together” really shone. We had spent the weekend gathering in community, worshipping together, talking together, playing together, serving our neighbors together. As we talked over our experiences from the weekend, we could hear God’s calling loud and clear: commit to relationship over ideals.
Better Together
The world teaches us that our ideals, our principles, our convictions are the most important thing and that if a relationship doesn’t line up with our ideals, then the relationship must go. Through our experiences at Winterfest, however, we came to find that the opposite is true. Through the cross, God calls us to commit to relationship, to love and serve each other even if (especially if) we disagree.
Our God is a God of community. Because God is trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—God is always in community with God’s self. From the beginning of creation God the Father has been active in our world. God also became a human being in the person of Jesus so that God could be in greater community with us. Now the Holy Spirit moves within us, drawing us into communities of the faithful, making us the body of Christ.
In an age of political division, cancel culture, and social media, “Better Together” was the theme we all—youth, young adults, and chaperones alike—needed to hear.
We need you!
Winterfest is an amazing experience for everyone who participates and we want you to help us share this experience with as many people as possible. The next Winterfest will be held January 8-10, 2027 and the theme will be “Rhythm.” Talk to the youth and young adults in your life and encourage them to attend. Consider attending yourself as a chaperone! Scholarships will be available.
If you are curious about Winterfest and want to talk to someone about it more, reach out to us at cml@campmountluther.org!
We are better together!