All About the Heart and Soul of YouthWorkers
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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I stole an expensive breakfast two weeks ago while on vacation. I’ve become pretty accustomed to finding my opportunities to worship in unusual times & venues. It’s extremely rare in ministry that I find myself in an attitude of real worship within the confines of a sanctuary, so I’ve learned to seek communion with God…
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As I made my way through Lent this year I was increasingly reluctant to post even on my own blog (even more so over here where there’s actually an audience). It was a deeply moving experience for me and difficult to wrap words around–you’d really have to do it to understand. To sum up, if…
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I don’t remember where I first saw the KONY2012 video posted, but within a few minutes it had popped up a dozen places in my social media feeds so it doesn’t really matter which was first. I’ve been ignoring Invisible Children for years. Not intentionally; my only point of contact with them was the stack…
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Over the last few weeks, we have been examining the 7 promises of the We Love Our Youth Worker Covenant, an agreement between covenant churches and their employee-youth workers. This week we are going to delve into Promise 7 – a promise about celebrating the youth ministry of your church. From the church’s point of…
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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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Excellence. This might be the most important and most difficult to define promise of the We Love Our Youth Worker (WLOYW) covenant. Here’s what the employer promises to the youth worker: We will strive to be an excellent employer. We believe that it’s important to have clear structures and procedures for recruiting and employing a…
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Starting in August 2012 Disciple Bible Study for Youth will be available on-line for Youthworkers to use with a group of High School Youth in their Church, District, Conference, Region, Community as well as there being groups that any individual Youth from anywhere in the world can sign up for. We need facilitators for every…
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Understand this from the beginning: I don’t mean to equate what I’m about to do for Lent with real poorness, nor do I think that being poor is something touristy to do. At a recent youth event I sat in a workshop on ministry with the poor as the youth were engaged in a discussion…
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Want to know something crazy? Normal people get two days off of work every week. Youthworkers usually get none. Don’t think I’m right? Check your calendar. You might be saying, “I get Mondays off” (except for those two hours of staff meeting…) Or you get Fridays off (except any weekends with a retreat or a…
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The Bishop was calling me in the middle of the Conference Sr. High Youth Event and I was shocked. She said, “Amy, I received a phone call from a pastor attending the event and he was concerned about the message the young people were hearing.” WHAT!??!! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, especially since…
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This is part 3 of 7 exploring the We Love Our Youth Worker national covenant between churches and youth workers. We Love Our Youth Worker (WLOYW), one of our partner organizations, and YouthWorker Movement both agree that healthier youth workers mean healthier youth ministries. Healthier youth ministries mean more youth can know Christ. The proposed WLOYW covenant…
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Ask in the right circles away from the hubbub of the youth room and you’ll quickly learn a simple truth about the confirmation process in Methodist youth ministry: no single effort carries more weight in the spiritual life of a UM youth. It’s where they’re outfitted for life, carefully and painstakingly trained for the journey…
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TV screens are ready to go…check. The pizza has been ordered…check. The boys know to bring soda, chips and dips, the girls know to bring desserts, cups and paper plates…check. Now let’s plan the entertainment for the big youth group party this weekend. Here are five tried-and-true games to have on hand this Sunday…
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It’s the age old argument. Science vs. Faith. Like most things in life, Star Wars might offer some insight. In A New Hope, even Obi-Wan has trouble convincing Han Solo of the realities of the Force, a mysterious energy that is said to ‘bind all things together’. Han-Solo inadvertently articulates a scientific worldview by saying,…
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Registration is now open for Southern Methodist University's Perkins … [Read More...]
This is part 3 of 7 exploring the We Love Our Youth Worker national … [Read More...]
We started a few weeks ago putting out daily "papers" of all kinds of … [Read More...]
YouthWorker Movement
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