The Bible says that without a vision the people will perish and I have found that people (young and old) are more vibrant and engaged when they are working towards something – some goal is encouraging them along the way. Some time ago my wife preached a sermon called Freedom from Mundane Thinking and, as [...]
In youth ministry we run the risk of being out of balance by failing to consider the varying needs of the young people in our care. Human beings are complex creatures made in the image of God, with different aspects of need, different areas of development. Adolescents often need outside input and influences as they [...]
We are not designed to go it alone so I suggest that we build a team of youth workers. This post is looking at a vital support team that
I would recommend you begin recruiting straight away [or
encouraging if you already have one] – a prayer support team.
The concept isn’t a new one – we can [...]
The dictionary definition of accountable is: Adjective: liable to account, responsible, explicable.
My first experience of youth group leadership (in the late 1980’s) did not give me a good example.experience of accountability in action. The theory was good in that I was accountable to the senior pastor of the church. The weakness was in the practical [...]
These would be four books to get you thinking:
1. Postmodern Youth Ministry – Tony Jones – Zondervan
“This book might make you mad. It might run completely against your ministry philosophy – and even some of your long held beliefs about the church and your faith. But in the end, it will prove an indispensable reference [...]
Accountability is essential
Balance spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social
Challenge them to change their world
Disciple your young people
Everything flows out of your relationship with God
Freedom within boundaries
Games are fun and can be learning experiences
Help them to discover their gifting
Individuals need treating individually
Joint ventures with other youth groups
Keep short accounts
Love can never be in excess
Memory building experiences
New people need [...]
A couple of quick questions to set the scene: What is community? and Why bother building it?
What is Community?
Often it is easier to define what something is by considering what it isn’t. So community in your youth group would not include:
Cliques and small ‘in-groups’.
Teasing others because they are different.
Kids that won’t sit with other kids [...]
I don’t intend to make this a habit (posting a link without much extra commentary from myself) – but this article says it all!
Looking at how churches are using Halo3 to bring youth to church and the dilemma that creates using quotes from a New York Times article as a basis for the discussion.
I suggest [...]
In a recent post Undernews reports on a recent Barna study with some very interesting results. Of course the commentary varies slightly from one website to the other so for the purpose of this post I will stick with the Undernews site as it is more provocatively written (well from a Christian stand point).
Some [...]
This story, of a young man I will call Luke, spans a period of about 5 years – and is still ongoing. Luke appeared in my life as he was passing through my city for a college course and he became part of a local church youth group. Somehow we clicked. (I say somehow although [...]
