Friday Review (3/3/23)
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
The Asbury University Movement: Talking About Revival with Teenagers, by Skyler Flowers (Rooted)
For young people who participate in social media, these reactions—both positive and negative—may impact how they think of religious experience as whole. Teenagers have important questions about how God works and how we are to worship him—and the way we answer can help to shape our students as disciples, or can leave them feeling skeptical. Here are four talking points youth ministers should consider in conversations with students about Asbury and similar movements.
Biblical & Theological Studies
Should We Cancel Karl Barth, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards?, by Trevin Wax (The Gospel Coalition)
We’re better off acknowledging the complexity of the human condition, recognizing where even the most respected theologians may have harbored sins or blindness that affected their theological vision, and then recommitting ourselves to seek the holiness without which we cannot see the God we long to study and adore.
Human Beings Are Stewards, Not Slaves to God, by Alexandra O. Hudson (Christianity Today)
Recently, there have been discussions about the core identity of humankind—whether we are first and foremost sinners in need of a Savior, or whether God has created us with a nature that is fundamentally good. This is a deeply theological issue with implications for nearly every aspect of our lives and society at large.
Want to Open the Door to Revival? Open the Word of God, by Sean McGever (Logos)
The work of God arrives in human lives through the Holy Spirit, yet the normal operation of the Holy Spirit comes through humans speaking God’s Word, and thus, the gospel.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
A Darker Consumerism, by Chris Martin (Terms of Service)
Effectively, we rob people of the image of God and replace it with an image we project onto them. When we forget the people with whom we interact online are, in fact, people, made in the image of God created for his glory and not our utility, we begin to walk a dangerous road that only leads to destruction, damaging ourselves and others in the process.
Teens turning to TikTok for mental health advice are self-diagnosing, by Ash-Har Quraishi, Amy Corral, and Ryan Beard (CBS News)
CBS News found that as the mental health crisis among American teens deepens, they seek out alternative forms of support and information. Increasingly young people turn to social media platforms like TikTok and diagnose themselves with serious mental health problems.
Pastoral Ministry
Learning Lessons From Scandals Close to Home, by Tim Challies
In recent months the news around these parts has carried stories of a number of highly-publicized scandals, some of which involve professed Christians and some of which do not. And while none overlap my life or social circles in any significant way, I’ve still found myself pondering the public facts to consider what lessons I can draw from them.
More than Music: How the Congregation Plays a Part in Every Element of Worship, by Zack DiPrima (9Marks)
Such a vision for the church should shatter any desire for one-sided performance in corporate worship. If every member is essential to what a church is and if corporate worship is essential to church life, then every member is essential to corporate worship. Congregations are never audiences; they are eager and active participants. Let’s examine the congregation’s role in different elements of corporate worship.
Family & Parents
5 Reminders As You Make Your College Decisions, by Aimee Joseph (Core Christianity)
Before the acceptance or rejection letters pile up, we would do well to pile up the promises of God. The following are five reminders to keep Christ at the center of this significant decision.
Parent, Meet Your Teen, by Paul Tripp (The Gospel Coalition)
Reject the self-centered survivalism that defines success as making it through our children’s adolescence with our sanity and marriages intact. We must settle for nothing less than being instruments in the hands of God, who’s doing important things in the lives of our children. Don’t get sucked in. Don’t get locked out. Don’t engage in interpersonal war. Faithfully bring sweet words of wisdom and loving words of correction. Hold what’s valuable before your teenager and trust God to produce a love for truth in his or her heart.
From YPT this week
Can Theology and Technology Coexist? by Bryan Barrineau
How can youth workers think with wisdom about the ways we do and don’t use technology in our efforts to disciple students in our ministries?
YPT Podcast Episode 29: The Gospel in Evangelism and Discipleship with Greg Stier
The gospel is not an evangelism tool, it’s the message of life that we declare to saints and sinners. In this conversation, we want to clarify what the gospel is and how to keep it central in both evangelism and discipleship. Greg also highlights the importance of good theology in our evangelism.