Welcome!
Join young adults from the greater King County (Mercer Island/Seattle/Bellevue) region in fellowship, worship, community, and discussion. Gather meets quarterly to spend time asking challenging questions of ourselves, our faith, and our world. All young adults (18-35) from across race, faith background, gender, sexuality, and perspective are welcome here to meet, to be, to gather.
More about the ELCA Gather Network HERE
More about ELCA Young Adults HERE
What is Gather? Young Adults (YA) defined as 18-35
Gather began in the Twin Cities as a way to introduce Lutheran-connected young adults to each other. Church leaders in the Twin Cities area noticed that there were many young adults who had experienced a positive relationship with the Church (either in the congregation, through a volunteer organization, through camp ministry, or through campus ministry). But these young adults struggled with isolation. Often they were one of a few (if not the only) young adults in their church. Many didn't even feel comfortable attending church.
Gather sought to bring these young adults together. Initially, these leaders thought that worship was what young adults needed. What they discovered was that young adults actually needed community. They needed a space for their faith to be taken seriously, where they could unpack the complexities of being a faith curious young adult hoping to do justice in the world.
Gather took hold and was redefined by the community of young adults that formed the Twin Cities. In the years since, a number of other cities have developed their own Gather networks.
Gather-King County I started the discovery and formation process last spring (around March 2025) and at that time there were maybe 1 or 2 Gather sites on the west coast of the country. Now there are ones in Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Utah, 3 in WA, and more.
We were finally officially formed in October 2025, and we are called Gather-King County. I hope to reach the young adults of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Renton and beyond.
My hope to meet quarterly (so far, we have done a Dungeons and Dragons meet up in January and a book study of Hope is Here! by Luther E. Smith in May). We are also looking to form a leadership team to help make these decisions and form the events that YOU want to go to and be a part of.
Stay tuned for upcoming events! This summer we will have a picnic in the park and this fall we will be doing a Faith and Advocacy workshop.
Want to learn more or join this community? Email the group leader, Julia Glassy at Julia.glassy@htlcmi.org. Truly all are welcome and I want to hear your ideas and thoughts.
Our Goals:
- Community:
- In space and energy
- Feeling a part of something
- Something is created
- An inherited value
- Nurtured
- Feeling better afterward than when they arrived
- Give and Take
- Space to Ask [deep] Faith Questions:
- Do I believe in what I am teaching in SS or youth group or what I hear in Sunday worship?
- Space to ask life questions
- Community Celebrations
- Good things to be named
- Affirmation Style
- Making a space to share their joys with other people
- Allow other people to take part in the joy that people are bringing
Connecting to the Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 21:29-33)
- What will be the signs we can look for that will let us know that our pursuit of justice and beloved community are being realized?
- When gifts emerge organically
- Community
- We create a space for people to discern their calling
- Spontaneous conversations
- As we start to see more diversity of origins
- Leadership