The Youth Ministry Collective is here—a place for youth pastors who believe that the love-driven, grace-filled theology of John Wesley is not just compelling, but is the most transformative way to understand the working of God in the world. Join other leaders in conversations about how this looks in youth ministry.
As a youth minister, I love games and as a youth group we play a lot of them. I think games are good. I think having fun is an important element in youth groups and in churches. However, our goals as youth ministers must go beyond fun and games as well. One way we can do this by keeping in mind the “big-picture” themes of youth ministry.
In my youth group “club,” everyone was very familiar with everyone else, which felt great. We had certain things we talked about, and we were always on the same wavelength. But what about the people who were not a part of the club? They probably thought we were a little weird. Instead of being the grand poobah of a club, I encourage you to be a facilitator of the greatest movement the world has ever known.
From cleaning toilets, to overspending, to crossing the generation gap, there are more than a few ways for youth directors to strengthen their work in their churches. Rusty Freeman, Director of Youth Ministries for the Southwest Texas Conference, shares his top ten tips.
For many churches across the United States, the move from being a multigenerational church (comprising several generations) to an intergenerational church (several generations interacting with one another) is a pipe dream. For Holly Allen and Christine Ross, this shift is totally possible.
In the past five years working in my current setting, one of the attitudes that surprises me most is one that suggests children and teens should make their own choices when it comes to involvement in the local church and even in faith as a whole. As a parent, you should be the primary provider of spiritual care and nurture.
When the boys come to us, they still love playing with toy guns. When they graduate they can legally buy real guns. When the girls come to us, they still kind of like playing with baby dolls. When they graduate they can legally get married and have real babies. Youth ministry matters.
I have always enjoyed good working relationships with my pastors as a result of some key things early on in my career that helped me connect and gain the respect of my elder colleagues in ministry. Here are seven things I have discovered over the years that senior pastors want from their youth pastors.
Read Part 1 of this post. — Counting the Cost It is also important to make taking care of your volunteers a priority in your ministry, which is often reflected in how you organize and
Why Gifts Are Important As the end of the school year rolls around, we typically start to reflect on the year before and gear up for the year ahead. We look back with humble gratefulness
Order copies of Shaping Their Future. We are giving away 3 copies of Shaping Their Future: Mentoring Students Through Their Formative College Years by Guy Chmieleski. Here’s what you need to do to enter: Tweet
Mentoring. I think one could easily build the case for this being one of the most challenging times in history to attempt to mentor—especially young adults. And at the same time I think one could
