All About the Heart and Soul of YouthWorkers
If you have heard me speak at a workshop or keynote event or been in the proximity of me while I have been on my soap box there has been a theme you probably heard. A theme that there is some holy mystery from the early Methodist movement that is part of our DNA we…
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OK I know that sounds a little dramatic. Let me start Micro and move towards Meta. I also really want your input, so this is a conversation starter. Here it goes: Well for about two weeks now I have become the acting Children’s Ministry Director at the Church where I am doing Interim Youth Ministry.…
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ME: We would like for us to recognize our seniors in service as graduating youth. PASTOR: That’s great, how would you like to do that? ME: We would want to recognize our two youth in our second service and give them a gift that we set aside budget money for to get. PASTOR: I love…
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Spiritual formation begins in the home. Well, that’s at least according to the way Susannah Wesley raised her children. I believe that many of our U.M. Churches have relinquished this responsibility in equipping, encouraging and preparing parents to intentionally pass on spirituality and the language of the Christian faith to their children. That’s not to…
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The youth gathering is wrapping up, you are standing back and gazing over a crowd of teenagers bouncing around and talking to each other. Parents start to show up to collect their offspring and give obligatory greetings to you as they see you there. Then shows up Bob. Bob has two children in the youth…
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Your phone rings right after the youth event is over. It’s a mom. She reads to you from the same script again, “My son/daughter is making everything so hard. We’ve been arguing non-stop, and today I found out that he/she has been smoking/drinking/sneaking out/insert rebellious action here.” You console; you offer reassurances, but the bottom…
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I’ve been told by well-intentioned youth and parents, “I will be at UMY if there is nothing on my schedule.” Really? Is that supposed to make me feel better? You’ll be at UMY if you have absolutely nothing better to do? Thanks…I think. We all experience it. Every week thousands of members of youth groups…
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As Youthworkers, have we really thought about the implications of Conversion? Have we considered Conversion God’s work? Have we tried to take God’s place to manipulate young people? Do we even have a plan for what comes next the day after Conversion? “To have a conversion experience is nothing much. The real thing is to…
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“You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2 Once upon a time the church’s responsibility was to raise moral beacons in communities throughout the world. In…
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I’m having a hellish month of scheduling, which means I’m not able to process life events in real time. For example, last Monday I got to spend breakfast explaining to my 4 & 6 year old boys how mommy was going to go to the doctor because some stuff was broken inside. They needed to…
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What does “Spiritual Generativity” mean? In the simplest terms, it’s the passing on of our faith tradition from one generation to the next. If youth are always separated from the rest of the life of the church – how will they learn what it means to be the church as adults? How do we in…
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Sociologist of Youth Ministry – Melinda Denton Last month I asked one of the lead researchers from the National Study on Youth and Religion if theology mattered when it came to differentiating between ‘highly-religious’ teens and ‘not-as-religious’ teens. Melinda Lundquist Denton’s response was: “Theological particularity is somewhat lost at least on this generation (we don’t have data…
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Thank you to our special guest contributors, Jake and Melissa Kircher from We Love Our Youth Worker for this article. People who work in youth ministry often struggle with the concept of rest. There’s always kids to Facebook or text, phones buzzing, paperwork to do, trips to plan, parents to calm, meetings to attend, and…
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In African cultures a common greeting between people from a tribe not their own would be “How are the children?” The idea behind that gesture is that if the children are doing well then the village/tribe is reflective of that wellness. We do similar as you meet an old friend or extended family member they,…
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This article was originally published November 15, 2011. It goes without saying that youth ministry is always changing. (Oops. Well, it would have.) I grew up in the land of the forgotten nightmares of Unsafe Sanctuaries. “Chubby Bunny” was the least of our worries. Our adults were encouraged to take kids off alone; we’d go…
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The Life Of A Disciple In The World The Seven Deadly Sins Session 5: … [Read More...]
Sociologist of Youth Ministry - Melinda Denton Last month I asked one … [Read More...]
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