Friday Review (2/24/23)
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
Five Steps a Youth Leader Can Take to Help a Teenager With an Eating Disorder, by Grace McCready (Rooted)
With anorexia now several years in my rearview mirror, I can see more clearly than I could when I was in high school. Because I experienced this struggle myself, I know what the teenager with an eating disorder needs and desires. If there is a teenager in your youth group whom you believe has an eating disorder, I recommend that you consider taking these difficult but significant steps to come alongside him or her on the journey to recovery.
Biblical & Theological Studies
4 Overlooked Black Voices From Church History You Should Know (Lifeway)
In honor of Black History Month, we wanted to share the stories of four Black Americans who shared their faith with the world.
Church History Isn’t Boring (You’re Just Doing It Wrong), by Doug Ponder (Sola Ecclesia)
Here, then, is what church history is for: church history is an ongoing account of the church’s failures and successes to believe, understand, and practice what the Scriptures teach. Therefore, it too is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16–17; Rom. 15:4).
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
We're All Apologists Now, by Timothy Paul Jones (The Gospel Coalition)
The scope of our apologetics has extended from miracles and metaphysics to the very morality of Christianity. So we ask, Where can everyday Christians find an approach to apologetics that speaks to a world where the social good of our faith is in doubt?
Gender War, Technology, and De-Centering the Self, by Samuel D. James (Digital Liturgies)
The peculiar de-centering of the self that happens when we really know and love somebody is a powerful immunity against our most cynical instincts. The question is, in the digital age, where can our selves go to be de-centered?
Be Careful How You “Play” on Social Media..., by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
Social media has become the playground kickball game of our childhoods... we don’t want to be picked last nor do we want to be left out of the game. Consequently, even though we have no idea what we’re doing when we’re out on the field, we still need to play. We weigh in, we virtue signal, and we pick fights.
Pastoral Ministry
3 Reasons Not to Mention Greek and Hebrew Words in a Sermon, by Mark Ward (Logos)
I am far from devaluing the original languages of Scripture. I use them practically every day. But I think their use needs to be more subtle—more structural and skeletal, less on the surface—for it to be effective rather than counterproductive in a pastoring context.
Four Marks of Faithful Teaching, by Scott Hubbard (Desiring God)
But not just through any teaching. Thoroughly Christian teaching is a bigger, broader task than many assume, especially in an age of abundant online content. Throughout the New Testament, the teaching of Jesus and the apostles, and then the church, assumes a certain context, flows from a certain character, comes with a certain content, and aims toward a certain completion.
Family & Parents
Hope for Those Tempted to Control Their Children’s Spiritual Lives, by Steve Eatmon (Rooted)
Realizing your helpless condition as a parent in bringing them across that great chasm is step one toward understanding the heart of God for your children. Step two would be becoming an incarnational example of faith, love, and mercy in the home— like the father in Luke 15, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11— and leaving the result up to the Lord. If we realize that it is ultimately God who builds the house and not ourselves, we might be surprised how he works in our children’s lives.
A Prayer That God Would Save Our Children, by Tim Challies
Every Christian prays, then, that they would see the Lord save their precious children. This was on George Swinnock’s mind when he prayed this lovely prayer many centuries ago. May it give you words to pray to the Lord as you consider God’s mercy toward the children the Lord has given you.
From YPT this week
Counsel for Bi-Vocational Youth Pastors and Their Churches by David Bunce
What are the blessings and challenges of bi-vocational youth ministry? Here’s advice from a veteran bi-vocational youth pastor in Europe.
YPT Podcast Episode 28: Discipleship as Catechesis with Dustin Messer
Catechesis isn’t a boring or stuffy class for people to attend but a highly relational journey where the mentor disciples a student through the core doctrines, habits, and disciplines of the Christian life.