Friday Review (12/29/23)
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
7 Christmas Family Ministry Freebies!, by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
As we jump into Christmas weekend, we know that families will be gathering together for the Holidays... With this in mind, I want to give you – youth workers and parents – seven quick and easy-to-use FREE resources from CPYU to prepare you for living to God’s glory over the course of the week ahead.
Biblical & Theological Studies
Christmas Is for Doubters, by J. D. Greear (The Gospel Coalition)
Don’t let your doubts be the Grinch that steals your joy this Christmas. Doubt, dare I say, is often divinely induced—the doubt, of course, isn’t, but the situation that creates the doubt is. It’s a foot poised to go forward or backward in faith. Doubt can indeed take you backward into despair. But you can’t go forward in faith until you pick up your foot.
5 Tips for Creating Healthy Bible-Reading Habits, by Lewis Allen & Sarah Allen (Crossway)
This means, quite obviously, that if we’re to stand firm, we need to be committed to engaging with God’s word. We need to develop habits that bless us so that we get the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. We can only walk with Jesus if we’re listening to his guiding voice (John 10:3–4). Those listening habits need to be put into place, which impact us weekly, daily, and moment by moment.
Pastoral Ministry
Should Pastors Encourage Secular Therapy?, by Ed Welch (Desiring God)
How did the world of secular therapies grow so quickly? A secular community wanted help, and many churches were not listening carefully to their people or bringing the direction and comfort of Christ in meaningful ways. Instead, church cultures commonly suggested that Christians should feel happier than the rest of the world and have fewer problems. When that becomes the normal Christian life, churches lose their voice and can no longer speak into daily trouble.
Respectability and Hospitality (and Friendship & Fidelity), by Chad Van Dixhoorn (Reformation21)
Nonetheless, there are two packages of pastoral attributes that are not often emphasized by presbyteries or congregations when a man is being examined or called. I am not saying that most ministers do not meet these qualifications, or pastoral attributes. I believe that the vast majority of orthodox ministers do. But I am not sure that churches consistently ask about these qualifications, and I am concerned that presbyteries’ examination of men regarding these qualifications is often insufficient.
How Church Leaders Can Be a Nonanxious Presence, by Joe Carter (The Gospel Coalition)
Applying Friedman’s concept to Christian leaders involves adopting the leadership qualities of Jesus. This is ultimately why we should strive to be a nonanxious presence and why the concept is useful—because it helps us become more like Jesus, who was gentle, lowly, and nonanxious. Here are five ways we can do that as Christian leaders.
Family & Parents
A Prayer for a Christian Husband and Wife To Pray Together, by Tim Challies
It is one of the most important habits that any married couple can form. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most rare. For a husband and wife to live well together before the Lord, they must pray together. For a couple to honor God in their marriage, they must be as intimate spiritually as they are physically.
Leading Your Family Out of the Post Holiday Blues, by Chris Lynch (Growing Fathers)
As dads, we have a golden opportunity amidst these gloomy days to direct our families to reasons for joy and anticipation. Indeed, it’s more than an opportunity; it’s a responsibility. The holidays can be fun, but so can every day. Here are five simple “mind-setters” that can lead our families to say, “Look at what we get to do next!”
From YPT this week
How to Cultivate and Develop Student Leaders, by Andrew Slay
We can develop leaders in our student ministry in these two ways: casting a biblical vision of leadership and cultivating a system for leadership.
Books We’re Grateful For: 2023 Edition, by Mike McGarry
Here are some books that YPT readers are grateful for, and a few sentences about why. Maybe a few of these will bless and encourage you, too.