Join the conversation! Whether you're a youth pastor, church staff or volunteer here's the place to share ideas, hopes, dreams and resources for youth ministry.
Faith Formation
Larry
Michele
Albert
Paul
There’s no doubt about it. Many youth in this generation are leaving the church. But what if we looked at this as an opportunity instead of an outrage? What if it’s not the person of Jesus Christ that these students are running away from, but rather the claustrophobic nature of our churches’ four-walled worship?
I’m not going to pretend like I can relate to you as a youth pastor. I don’t have kids yet, and I don’t have the level of commitments you do as parents. But how about this? I’m a pastor, and sometimes us pastors get so caught up in “doing God stuff” that we forget to “participate in God stuff.”
When and where does the teaching of the catechism take place in your church? Do you have a separate class for it or teach it through your youth group program? At what age(s) do you teach the catechism? If your church does not have a formal catechism class, how and where is the catechism learned?
Can I first just say, I totally feel you. You may not realize this, but us youth pastors and your teachers LOVE summer. We too like lighter schedules and laying at the beach. But how about this? This year could be a new beginning for you!
Besides numbers of youth in attendance, how does your church evaluate whether or not your youth group ministry is successful?
We have a small youth group and have thought about joining with another church to have a joint youth ministry program. Has your church done this? How did it work with finances, leadership, etc.?
The new (school) year always brings a bit of anxiety for me personally, so I totally resonate with you if you’re having some freakouts. If you’re a youth pastor and reading this, plan your full year.
When I tell people in the CRC what I do for a living, I tend to get the same question in response: Why? And I get it. I recently took a position developing a new project for the denomination: LEAP. Does the CRC need another program to solve problems that are certainly not programmatic?
Do you have something to contribute to the Youth Ministry section of the Network? Contact the guide and your contributions will always be considered.
I was 17, I was invincible. And much like my friends, we thought nothing could go wrong ... Tragedy is never something we're allowed to predict, but it is something we should always be prepared for.
Does anyone have a "church night" with ministries for various ages (including adults) meeting at the same time?
One of the trickiest things we’ve been going through as a group of leaders in our church has been visioning for our youth program.
Is that what you believe you actually do? Do you think of yourself as a "Saver of people." The simple and selfish Christian answer is probably yes to that question. But I believe the real answer is "no." An absolute "No!"
A socially missional church not only aims to protect the broken, it stands to prevent the issues. And it’s my belief that we haven’t done an overwhelmingly good job of preventing issues because we’ve been afraid to openly or honestly talk about them.
The other woman spoke, “I love Jesus, but I hate Christians.” “Yea, they’re terrible,” the first woman agreed. They both chuckled a bit and continued on with their browsing, soon moving to another section of the store.
Much has been written about going on short-term mission trips. What makes a mission trip good or bad?
One of the things I thought when God first charged me with this challenge was that somehow it was going to be so easy. It was as if I was going to walk into my Youth Support Team meeting and tell them how I thought things were sucking, and we were all going to hold hands, pray, smile, cry, and walk out changed and ready for a fresh start.
One of my most beloved passages comes from Ephesians 4 where Paul is instructing this group of Christians (who of course know their religion very well) of they way they ought to be acting. And in the middle of condemning them, he cautions them to watch their tongue, among a plethora of other cautions.
Pope Francis I has a desire to see faith communities bridge gaps that have long separated us by painful memories of the history between evangelicals and Catholics; he has a desire to see the two refocus.
It is my belief that the church finds itself at a very interesting and pivotal moment in history. Moral questions have taken the most fascinating turn because secular culture is pointing the Church back to her own Gospel message: grace; forgiveness; inclusion; and most of all a love for God and each other.
One of our pastoral roles is to help bring our students into greater maturity both in their schools/homes, and in their lives. And with Facebook developing unwarranted drama among our students, we must stop and ask, “Are we guiding students through the land mines of Facebook feed?”