All About the Heart and Soul of YouthWorkers
General Conference 2012 has ended and is in the history books…what happens next should be interesting. Yoshiro Nakajima, a youth worker from the California/Nevada Conference, was there as a delegate and shares the Young People’s Personal Point of Privilege he helped draft. This address was read by Stephanie Gottschalk, clergy (31). She couldn’t quite…
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Yoshiro Nakajima, a youth worker from the Cal/Nevada Conference, was one of a handful of professional youth workers to attend General Conference 2012. (By the way, where are the youth workers at General Conference? Our guess is that you are busy planning you summer mission trips and busy doing the stuff of youth ministry when…
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In my last post I wrote about what I think is a critical flaw in the approach that Vital Congregations used in gathering a list of potential metrics – namely that the metrics to consider must be available, in other words, already being collected. I don’t know that I made a strong enough case in…
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I was reading through the Call to Action, or maybe some other code word for a report that was on the vitalcongregations website a few months back, and something struck me as I read about the drivers and metrics and so on. The Bureaucracy Virus First, I think it is great that the UMC is…
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There have been some great pieces on the Youth Worker Movement lately about discipleship in youth ministry, and how we can be better about that work. Our focus of discipleship, or “disciple making” in youth ministry is rooted in the United Methodist Church’s mission statement of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of…
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I woke up with a ton of thoughts in this area, and wanted to try and capture some of them. I think there is a big split coming in the way most folks will experience church, and I think the two ways will become increasingly dissimilar. That’s my premise. By that I mean, that the…
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When I first heard that term, I had no clue what this guy (Jeff Dunn Rankin, VP of Youth Ministry Architects) was talking about. The phrase sounded both creepy and sad. He even had a picture to go w/ it of the outline of Mickey with an ear missing. Here’s how he ‘splained it to…
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I’m not sure how it happened. One day while sitting in worship, I looked up and as the choir stood to sing the offertory special, I noticed my ten year old sister with her conductor’s wand – a present given to my musically inclined sister years earlier – directing our church’s small choir. At best,…
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Let me preface by saying that my experience as a youth worker is a part time employee and volunteer, but I have almost 10 years of experience in ministry with teenagers. Also, I am a seminary student and preparing for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. As a part of my schoolwork I’ve done…
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As a former teacher-turned-youth director, I can attest to the power of sharing ideas among trusted co-workers. Why re-invent the wheel when you can “steal” great ideas from others and apply them to your own situation? I had the opportunity to do just that recently when I sought ways to improve communication between my high…
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If you are one of the hundreds of youth workers leading a 30 Hour Famine event this weekend, you might want to know how to encourage your youth to take their fundraising and experience to the Study Tour level. Abby Lewis, a high school junior and member of the youth group at St. Barnabas United…
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It’s January and you are probably congratulating yourself on making it through the Advent season in one piece and for getting the second semester youth programs started. (Don’t sell yourself short – pat yourself on the back for accomplishing all that!) Now it’s time to sit back and relax, right? Well, yes you should take…
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One universal truth of teen life is that NOTHING is done alone. Getting ready for a particular event, the one question I’m always asked; “Who else is gonna be there?” Teenagers identify themselves through their peers. A classic example of this is the pod of students from my church that identify themselves as the “loner group.” Hmm……
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General Conference 2012 has ended and is in the history … [Read More...]
Your phone rings right after the youth event is over. It's a mom. … [Read More...]
In this portion of our interview with Mark DeVries and Jeff … [Read More...]
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