Friday Review (12/8/23)
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
Old School Lesson for New Sunday School Teachers, by Joe Carter (The Gospel Coalition)
Consistently applying these four principles will help us avoid the temptation to employ biblical characters as paragons of virtue to be imitated uncritically. They’ll serve as guardrails to help us acknowledge that these lives, as recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, provide a framework for understanding the complexities of walking in faith and obedience to God.
Loneliness and Gen Z: Hungering for True Community, by Rebecca Heck (Rooted)
If you have ever experienced something of the deep loneliness our students are expressing, then you know how real their hurt is. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Through building relationships with emotional stewardship, empathy, and patience, the Church can show up for Gen Z with hope, love, and purpose.
Biblical & Theological Studies
Is Predestination Unfair?, by Andrew David Naselli (Crossway)
A common objection to unconditional election is that it’s unfair. Isn’t God unfair to choose to save only some humans not based on any human condition but solely on his sovereign good pleasure? Isn’t there injustice on God’s part that some people are not elect?
Hearing the Heart in Bad Theology, by Kim Kira (Biblical Counseling Foundation)
As biblical counselors, we can tend to have our heresy radar turned on pretty high. Since our ministries depend in part on the soundness of our theology, we try to know Scripture well and are aware when something deviates from orthodoxy. Couple that with an understanding that our counselees’ bad theology also endangers them, and we can be hyper-aware of unbiblical beliefs.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
Behind the Tragic, Instagram-Perfect Life of an Ex-Disney Executive, by Erich Shwartzel (Wall Street Journal)
The rise and fall of Dave Hollis offers an unusual glimpse into the pressures of the weirdly intimate world of social-media influencers, where you are personally the product and everything you do in your life can be produced into a commercial event.
Tribes, Trolls, and the Power of Technology, by Jason Thacker
Over the course of the past several decades, however, with the rise of cable news and social media feeds, we have seen radical shifts in how people think, interact with one another, and discuss important topics within the public square. As technology has ushered in monumental social change, the rush toward digitization has produced unintended consequences.
Pastoral Ministry
Two Key Insights to Help You Create Space for Intergenerational Ministry, from Barna
Making Space from Generation to Generation, a Barna briefing created in partnership with Aspen Group (available exclusively on Barna Access Plus), offers seven key findings on how the generations vary in their experience of and engagement with church. This article specifically highlights two of these findings, exploring how a church’s physical building impacts spiritual growth and discipleship.
Pain Needs Interpreting, from All Nations Church Ilford
Rather than just react to pain, the Bible calls us to act towards it. We’re not to just be subject to our pain, blown about in every direction by it. Rather we’re to respond to it, and subject it to the light of God’s word.
Family & Parents
Five Ways to Care for Your Child’s Small Group Leader This Christmas, by Mary Madeline Schumpert (Rooted)
It’s a rewarding job for sure, but it’s also a very difficult, sometimes discouraging one. Therefore, in the hope of “stirring one another up to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24) and encouraging your child’s small group leader to “not grow weary in doing good” (Gal. 6:9), here are five ways you can show some extra care to your child’s small group leader this Christmas.
Six Things Our Kids Need To Know About Marriage, by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
For those of us who have attended a wedding recently or tracked with a wedding ceremony on social media, it might be accurate to assume that when it comes to how we do marriage in today’s world, more time, effort, and money is put into the wedding ceremony and reception themselves, rather than in a couple’s healthy preparation for marriage.
From YPT this week
YPT Podcast Episode 53: Video Games and Youth Ministry with Patrick Miller
Patrick Miller joins the podcast to discuss how youth workers can think theologically about the allure and world-building of video games. We also discuss gaming addiction and make suggestions about how to engage gamers more effectively.
Are Short Term Missions Trips Worth It?, by Alex Tufano
Youth missions trips are a lot of work, and they’re expensive. When are they worth it, when are they not worth it, and how can we be more intentional?
Should Christians Celebrate Hanukkah?, by Mike McGarry
How should we respond when students ask about Hanukkah? Here’s a short primer on what Hanukkah is about and how Christians can interact with it.