Friday Review (10/21/22)
Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.)
Youth Ministry
Discipling Student Leaders to Welcome Fellow Students by Meredith Dixon (Rooted)
While the world operates on a performance and status-based way of relating to others, the gospel sings a different tune. Regardless of their race, sex, class, socioeconomic status, athletic ability, grades, or looks, our students’ worth is found in Jesus’ blood alone. So how do we mobilize our students to live into this gospel-centered way of relating to each other?
Biblical & Theological Studies
5 Myths about How We Got the Bible by Peter J. Gurry & John D. Meade (Crossway)
If the Bible’s history has sometimes been misunderstood, the good news is that the truth is better than the fiction. The Bible has such a rich history because so many have given their energy, their ingenuity, and even their lives so that we have it today.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
American Idol: How Politics Replaced Spiritual Practice by Michael Wear (Christianity Today)
But politics needs people with joyful confidence who seek security not in politics but in Jesus. We can break the vicious cycle. There’s a better story to tell. And we should tell it as we live it.
"Algorithmic Money Faucet" by Chris Martin (Terms of Service)
When we are imprisoned by the persona we create online we lose ourselves. In pursuing the approval of the masses we lose the approval of ourselves. When we let our humanity be constantly molded by the winds of the social internet, we may find that after a while we no longer recognize ourselves.
Jeffrey Dahmer and Killing Our True Crime Obsession by Meredith Sell (Christianity Today)
I’m not saying we should turn our faces away from the difficult realities of life, to ignore a world plagued with theft, kidnappings, abuse, and murder. After all, the Christian walk is one that steps into suffering for the good of others. But relishing another morbid account of another person possessed by the worst of urges is not how we love God and our neighbors well.
Pastoral Ministry
The Relational Pain of Ministry by John Piper (Desiring God)
There is a love for the world that makes ministry impossible. There is a love for the world that produces either the abandonment of ministry or the making of ministry so worldly it’s useless. That happens often. So if a minister starts to become worldly, he has two choices: leave the ministry or make the ministry worldly.
How to Get Gen Z to Church by Kyla Hardee (The Gospel Coalition)
It’s helpful to consider how to engage Gen Z, but ultimately, the church will only be appealing to Gen Z when we embrace the things that God embraces. We will love the local church when we love what God loves and value what he values.
Family & Parents
10 Important Personal Lessons I Learned From Adopting a Child with Special Needs by Vera Christian (Sola Network)
I can also say that the past 10 years with Anah have put me on the fast track to learning some important lessons that I missed earlier on. These lessons are key to what I do today, and I am so thankful that the Lord chose this kind and gentle way to teach me. I hope you’ll learn these too—without going about it the hard way as I did.
What You Do Is Not Who You Are by Dawson Cooper (Rooted)
The Gospel gives rest to parents in search of that “thing” because in Christ our children’s identity is not in what they do, but in whose they are. Jesus came that we may have life abundantly. The abundant life is one that is anchored in Christ alone.
Dear Parents... Are You Putting Faith First? by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
We’re almost two months into the school year and if your family is like most, your kids are involved in all kinds of extra-curricular activities that keep you running from here, to there, to everywhere. If we’re not careful, the school year will come and go so fast that we might get to June and realize we’ve pushed aside or even forgotten that our primary calling as Christian parents is not to serve our kids, but to serve our Lord by making the spiritual nurture of our kids our first priority.
From YPT this week
Something Better Than Change by Kyle Fox
What do our students think Jesus expects of them, and how can we help them think more biblically about that question?