Paul Boice

Thanks for the heads up on this George.  I changed the text to reflect this.

Thanks John.  We too believe the Holy Spirit has led us to this relationship with a youth leader and the community. I can't wait to watch the Spirit continue to work in this relationship.

To answer your questions, the relationship between the youth leader and church planter is still being developed. I suspect that the accountability for the plant will fall on the church planter, so in many respects the youth leader will report to the planter. Though again, I think that will depend a lot on their relationship and their cooperative efforts to use God's gifts in this planting process.

Both positions are fully funded by our church. It was a sell to the consistory, but they understood the opportunity and embraced it.

I'm not sure if the goal is to be a young life model or not. I suspect it will. At this point, youth around the neighborhood know there is a place they can hang out and be accepted...and parents know it's a place where their children can be in a healthy and safe environment. There's a lot more to do to expand the relationship with students and their parents, but the momentum is there.

What a cool story Rick. Thanks for sharing it. 

I think the challenge is always going to be in finding the funding for a youth leader at a church plant and then finding a youth leader who is willing to step out in the uncertainties of planting. Sharing stories like yours can help on both fronts.

Great post Albert!  I absolutely love your suggestion that youth development be part of the church's mission statement.  I wonder how many churches have done that?  Thanks for sharing.

Wow, you completely misread my blog.  The critical point is that the individuals who are most open to the Gospel and the population that most urgently needs to hear it are between the ages of 4-18.  That includes children within and OUTSIDE the church.  It has absolutely nothing to do with telling 15 year-olds that they are more important than their parents or grandparents.  That's absurd. You can make honoring  age and tradition the focal point in your church, and I suspect you'll be doing so in a shrinking congregation with fewer and fewer youth and very little significance to those outside your walls.

Thanks for your input.  I certainly agree that fund raising often works best when various options are tried and each church then identifies what works best for their group and congregation. I am hopeful, though that this Faith Alive fund raiser will have a number of positive results.  It will be great if it helps raise funds for the youth group.  I believe that there are far too few Reformed resources or resources with a Reformed perspective being used in our congregations, and if this program can get some high quality Reformed resources into our churches, that will be a win.  I also have a heart for Faith Alive and want to offer assistance to this incredibly important ministry partner.  So, all that to say that I figure this fund raiser might work for some groups, and the additoinal benefits look pretty good too.

I think that your comments would make for a great future blog for this network.  I hope you don't mind if I use some of your ideas/suggestions for a post later this spring! Thanks again for your thoughtful post.

I love this idea John.  The question you raise at the end of your post should drive our process far more than the secular school year.

(And thanks for the well-written, graceful response on the previous post regarding the importance of youth ministry.)

Great response Jason.  I like it!

Thanks.  I have a church planter friend who has brought fasting into his congregation and they have been blessed in so many ways.  I've never led a fasting exercise, but I've participated in some and always find a very defined focus on/with God as I experience the fasting.

Thanks Jory.  Well stated.

Within the Reformed Church, the discussion of the Belhar took place over the past few years.  I can tell you that passion around the Belhar came from many areas of the church, but found tremendous energy in the church planting, multiracial, AND youth ministries. 

If there was one area that, looking back, was pretty much ignored in my catechism classes (a long time ago), it was social justice.  Maybe that was just my experience in my church. 

Just thought I would share my experience...

Hey Ty, nice to hear from you.  It's been a long while since we've talked.

I'm wondering if you find traction in your youth ministry around our creeds and confessions and the Lords Prayer. Does this "preach" to youth?  You relate as well as anyone I know to youth groups, so I wondered if you've found ways to pull this material into youth meetings and education.

Thanks for sharing.

Praise God!

So you've found that the HC is not only relevant but an essential tool in your ministry to youth. How cool is that.