Friday Review (4/1/22)

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

3 Cultural Stories Shared by Gen Z and Gen Alpha Youth by Kendal Conner (The Gospel Coalition)

As we consider discipleship in the space between generations, it’s important to ask what cultural themes are forming these two groups. There will be many distinctions, but here are three cultural narratives shared by both Gen Z and Alpha youth.

You Produce What You Program by Doug Franklin (Leader Treks)

Programs have their place in youth ministry—they are a tool, not the end goal. When used properly, they are a powerful tool that will lead students to trust adults and believe what they are teaching.

Biblical/Theological Studies

What Lent Teaches Me About the Vices of Time by Jen Pollock Michel (Christianity Today)

Perhaps even more importantly, what’s been exposed is my disordered relationship with time. I want the quick fix of transformation. I do not want the slow burn of 40 days of prayer and persistence and reliance on grace.

Is It ‘Christian’ for Europe to Welcome Refugees from Ukraine but Not Syria? by Jayson Casper (Christianity Today)

Middle Eastern and European evangelicals assess the vastly different continental response and the Bible’s teachings toward the stranger.

Cultural Reflection/Contextualization

All of Our Opinions All of the Time by Chris Martin (Terms of Service)

We make a mistake when we see these people as thought leaders. If you build your platform on hot takes about every current event, you’re not a thought leader—you’re a 21st century carnival barker whose main attraction is himself.

Social Media Is Discipling You by Jen Oshman (Crossway)

To be well—to live according to how we were made—we must “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind” (Rom. 12:2). Social media shapes us from the outside in. But let’s ask the Holy Spirit who lives inside us to shape us from the inside out.

Pastoral Ministry

5 Preaching Pet Peeves by Jared C. Wilson (For the Church)

In the end, those of us who preach want to remove any unnecessary barriers between understanding the word, believing the gospel and the people who are listening. As a preacher who regularly sits under preaching too, I’ve experienced some things that I think have helped me develop as a communicator. 

Your Job is to Make Words Clear by Peter Mead (Biblical Preaching)

When we preach our task includes the need to make a string of words clear.  We don’t have to start with an uncial script, but to all intents and purposes, we practically are.  Listeners hearing a string of verses often grasp very little during their first exposure. 

Family/Parents

Two Years Out: Everything Has Changed, and Nothing Has Changed by Dawson Cooper (Rooted)

By going to Jesus on our smoothest days and our train-wreck days, we point our children beyond the circumstances that come and go. We point them to God, who takes a heart without hope, and does the life-changing and loving work of creating a new heart—a change that only He can accomplish.

4 Ways To Help Your Child Understand Uniqueness and Disability As Part of God’s Plan by Joni & Friends (Core Christianity)

As parents and caregivers, we want to help our children eliminate fear and misconceptions about those who have special needs and emphasize the fact that every person deserves to be treated with kindness and respect. We should encourage children to ask questions and gain an understanding about their new friends with disabilities.

From YPT this week

Why Youth Ministries Avoid Theology by Mike McGarry

Here are six observations about why youth ministries avoid theology. These aren’t shared in order to point fingers, but to prompt our own self-reflection. 

Four Questions to Ask About the Resurrection by Joseph Bradley

How can we be confident that Jesus actually rose from the grave? Here are four questions to ask in your youth ministry.