I teach an online class on Christian theology. Designed for adults who didn’t complete college right after high school, the course often has students who are intimidated with taking a Christian theology course in person. In return, they usually take the opportunity and the online ‘security’ to be honest and discuss their spiritual lives with great honesty and detail.
Now, I haven’t conducted any rigorous research from the papers and discussion boards, but I have heard common themes over the past two years, 14+ classes, and over 200 students from the Midwest US. I have heard them share what happened in high school, often growing up in a ‘Christian’ home, and what happened since high school.
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Posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2012 at 2:42 PM in BELIEF MATTERS. No comments
Before social media, cell phones, or computers (yes, once youth ministry leaders had to lead and work with teens without technology’s aid), I knew a youth pastor at a church who spent a significant amount of time (hours!) each month cutting and pasting together his calendar and mailers for students and parents.
About 20 minutes’ drive away from him another youth worker I watched in action spent little time on flyers or mailers. He wasn’t part of a church, so each week his youth ministry had to find ways to be attractive to teens without the push of parents. And it was. Students would pack into large living rooms to spend an hour playing some games and discussing a hot topic that related to faith in Christ.
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Posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2012 at 6:18 AM in YOUTH MINISTRY. No comments
I work in multiple worlds – education, youth ministry, and publishing. They wonderfully mix together in my love and concern for the youth of the world and I’m able to contribute in a variety of arenas that work with young people ages 10-25.
One of the consistent concerns in teaching and youth ministry is the trend toward adult-centered programming. Much of how decisions are made and what is ‘produced’ is centered on the adult by convenience (it makes the job ‘easier’ for the leader) and purpose (the adult determines what it taught and rarely, if ever, checks to see if anyone is engaged or not). Gavin Richardson observed this about youth ministry this when he wrote, “Youth ministry as it is most often lived out today is really a series of adult controlled environments strung together with the hope (and expectation) that youth lives will be transformed.”
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Posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 7:11 AM in CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, YOUTH MINISTRY. No comments
An event recently took place that caused me to question what we in youth ministry are communicating (in our silence) to students in our youth ministry. The ‘normal’ ones, the young people who don’t want to go into vocational ministry. I caught myself teaching and talking in a way that made vocational ministry the ultimate level of obedience. And the silent inference was that those who didn’t aspire to that weren’t living up to their highest potential.
When we talk about discipleship, how do we describe it? How do those in youth ministry talk about what it means to follow Jesus faithfully? We often elevate the apostles’ stories and draw some analogy to the vocational minister or missionary as the ‘ideal’ to follow. And many of our students may feel they don’t measure up. We champion the short-term mission trip as the ‘ultimate’ thing we do each year.
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Posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012 at 7:11 AM in BELIEF MATTERS, YOUTH MINISTRY. One comment
Photo courtesy of @istockphoto\@CEFutcher
In a recent discussion on books for teens, one of the group members stated they didn’t want a book to be too ‘churchy’. I’m sure we’ve all used that word before, particularly in youth ministry settings where we want to demonstrate relevance to ‘today’s teen’. But I think the word is problematic, even though its use may be appropriate in some cases.
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Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 at 6:16 AM in YOUTH MINISTRY. No comments
The recent attention given to intergenerational ministry, Orange, Sticky Faith, and family-based youth ministry has prompted me to look at what we do in ministry through a new lens. If you stop to examine how often we youth and children’s workers work (often unaware we’re doing so) to become surrogate authorities/parents to children & teens, you’ll be surprised at what you may discover. I recently talked with parents of a teen who had scheduled a special family celebration for him and his grandparents on the same night as his youth ministry’s small group. When the teen texted his small group leader, the response was emotionally charged and questioned the boy’s ‘commitment’ level. Commitment to what? (small group) Over what? (parents and grandparents) And who will be committed to this boy four years later?
So, I’ve been looking at common practices in a new light. I wonder if we trust parents and families. I wonder if we want families to be a primary source of faith development (see Deuteronomy 6 for more on that, though). Not sure I have it all figured out yet, but I’ve run across some cool ideas like this one:
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Posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 5:41 AM in BELIEF MATTERS, CONNECT EFFECTIVELY, LEAD WELL, YOUTH MINISTRY. 2 comments
Before the comments light up on this one, I’m not saying they’re the church of the future and thus imply that they aren’t now. In fact, the Think Orange and Sticky Faith movements (perhaps there’s a better word than movement) have challenged (again) our thinking about youth as part of the church family. And appropriately so.
What I am saying, however, is that often what happens in youth ministry will happen in the broader church ten years from now. Or sooner. Because youth ministry happens on the edges of ecclesiology (see? I think youth ministry is the church now) and its intersection with culture in our communities, youth ministry is actually an experimental expression of the future church. Singing choruses in passionate worship (60s & 70s), going on short-term mission trips (80s and 90s), doing community service projects (90s & now), and now (wait for it….) visual arts as worship (or curating worship) all developed with younger people who then wanted those as part of their future church experience.
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Posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 5:45 AM in YOUTH MINISTRY. 2 comments
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