Over the course of adolescence, young people need multiple significant adults who know, love, and guide them through the peaks and valleys of adolescence. In this post, we look at compassion, consistency, and Christlikeness as three characteristics of adults who effectively relate to young people.
Communion is a powerful reminder of God’s unconditional love for us and his call to repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. Every time I serve communion I am reminded of our frailty and our desperate need for God’s grace.
The famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by French Impressionist Georges Seurat is a powerful illustration of the church as God’s work and the role of youth ministry within the masterpiece that is the local church.
The goal of discipleship is christlikeness. Christlike behavior is the external fruit that is the result of an ongoing internal transformation, and this internal transformation is the result of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in the life of a believer who, by grace, is seeking Jesus and his kingdom (Matt 6:33). This greatly impacts how we minister to teens!
Ministry on the front lines with young people is filled with ups and downs. But our success and/or failures as a youth workers don’t form our identity. Our identity comes from Him who calls us “beloved.”
The local church is a family of faith, which makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. This means “the” youth are “our” youth … our brothers and sisters in Christ.
