Friday Review (4/12/24)

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

Keeping the “Para” in Parachurch Ministries, by Eric Davis (The Cripplegate)

Parachurch ministries never need forsake a biblical approach to the New Testament church to be effective. In fact, doing so will only expedite the process in a biblical manner. As parachurch ministries strive towards these principles, they will keep the “para” in parachurch so as to honor God’s doings in and through the church.

When the Personality of Your Youth Group Changes: Living Out the Fruit of the Spirit, by Skyler Flowers (Rooted)

Aside from the various practical concerns, this growth also raises important questions about how to best integrate these new students into a group with a definite culture. One of the most powerful ways youth ministers can ensure the gospel is made clear to students is to help students embody the gospel in the group’s personality.

Biblical & Theological Studies

4 Reasons Why the Bible Does Not Support Transgenderism, by Kevin DeYoung (Clearly Reformed)

The purpose of this article is to explore what the Bible says about this constellation of beliefs. We will see that the Bible does not support transgenderism. Instead, God has created each of us as either male or female, and he desires that we live our lives—in appearance, in attitude, and in behavior—according to our biological sex.

Both Worm and Worthy, by Trevin Wax (The Gospel Coalition)

The portrait we see in the Scriptures is more compelling. There we find both the utter sinfulness of humanity before a holy God and the truth that we’re made in his image and likeness. To be faithful to the text, we must uphold both truths: the inestimable worth and value of humans made in God’s image and the pervasiveness of human sin that renders us totally unworthy of salvation.

Cultural Reflection & Contextualization

There are No Free Bets, by Samuel D. James (Digital Liturgies)

People who gamble will assume that others gamble too. People who consume oceans of explicitness will assume that everybody does it. And because human nature always has a good reason for why I indulge in a vice, but suspects ill of anyone else who indulges in it too, the widespread belief that everyone is up to the same things I do secretly leads to a lack of trust.

Let’s Talk About Sex: Can America’s Hyper-Sexualized Culture Grow a Godly Conscience?, by Jonathan Darville (Center for Faith & Culture)

For the church to play her part in reforming the sexual morals of our nation, she must know and live the Christian sex ethic; she must display the beauty of godly living and the greater joy that is derived from it than from the fleeting pleasures of sin. In brief, Christians have to make a case that the godly sex life is the good sex life.

Pastoral Ministry

Would Jesus Overturn Your Board Table?, by Stacy Kassulke (Christianity Today)

The hard lessons I learned will be applicable to almost any kind of group leadership arrangement, especially in ministry contexts but also more broadly. That said, specific needs and circumstances will vary, so I’m sharing my lessons as questions that Christians in board leadership should seriously ask themselves and their colleagues.

Dear Pastor... Don’t Settle for the Status Quo in Your Preaching, by John Currie (Crossway)

While not every case of preacher apathy might present itself as starkly as these, preachers can give up on aspiring to see much transformation from their preaching and settle for mere transfer of information. A sound theological conviction of the already-not-yet nature of Christ’s kingdom can be distorted into an already-not-much expectation in the pulpit.

Family & Parents

Reflecting Christ in the Crucible of Your Marriage, by Rebekah Matt (Great and Noble Tasks)

Marriage is the crucible—the unique vessel—where those sinful natures are on full display, where they’re put to the test, where we bear our crosses and endure our trials over and over, together, till death do us part.

Leadership In Your Home and Beyond, by Angel Beeson (The Beehive)

Some are captivated by the possibility of leading “out there.” That can be a holy aspiration. But if we try to lead “out there” before we lead ourselves and our families first, then we have mixed up God’s order of what leadership was designed to be.

From YPT This Week

YPT Podcast ep.66: Christian Universalism and GenZ with Andrew Slay

In today's conversation, we discuss what Christian Universalism is and how youth workers can help students build their faith on the biblical message.

Rites of Passage at Home and in the Church, by Ana Maciel

What are Rites of Passage and how can they become moments for families and church communities to help young people form their identity around Christ?