Friday Review (6/24/22)
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
How to Create a Teaching Plan for Youth Ministry by Will Standridge (The Gospel Coalition)
How can we recover stronger teaching in student ministry? We can begin by thinking through a plan. While a one-off lesson may be appropriate occasionally, it won’t help your students grow their knowledge of Scripture as a targeted, well-thought-out teaching schedule will.
Where Did Youth Ministry Go Wrong? Identifying a Way Forward by Jared Kennedy (Crossway)
The church’s goal in discipling the next generation is not to train kids so they can sit quietly through church services. Our goal is for them to hear about the Savior and, by God’s grace, be changed by him.
Don’t Banish Your Students to the Kids’ Table by Dan Montgomery (Rooted)
Teenagers will find discipleship and mentoring in places besides the youth room. That’s okay. Intergenerational integration is not easy, but it is worth it.
Youth Ministry Needs Long-Term Investment by Pete White (Church Times)
Growing younger will start to happen when the Church ensures that all ministers, ordained and lay, are equipped for the task. I believe we will see the biggest impact, however, if we take the long-term view: make significant investment in the training of specialist children and youth ministers, recognise their ministry as equal in status to other lay ministries, and identify ways to secure longer-term posts in which their calling is honoured and their ministry can truly develop.
Biblical & Theological Studies
5 Reasons Why We Should Not Stop Using Male Pronouns for God by Sharon James (Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)
It is right to believe that God is transcendent: God is not a man. Even little children learn in the catechism that ‘God is a Spirit and has not a body like men.’ And certainly, in Scripture God’s character and actions are sometimes described using feminine imagery (cf. Isa 49:15). But none of that means we should abandon male pronouns for God.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
3 Ways to Live Humbly Online by Chris Martin (Terms of Service)
What is to stop you and me from being the people who start such a movement? How might we demonstrate that humility is valuable through our engagement online? Let’s look at a few ways.
Juneteenth is a Chance to Rethink Our Gun Culture by Edward-Richard Hines (Christianity Today)
The church’s messages of love, hope, salvation, and redemption must win over the world’s messages of hate, bias, discrimination, and alienation. We are the bearers of the message, and we must work to spread it.
Pastoral Ministry
Don’t Title People “Pastor” If They Aren’t An Elder by J.A. Medders (Spiritual Theology)
A healthy ecclesiology, one faithful to the New Testament vision of church leadership, including all the grammar and offices and functions, is a part of our spiritual formation.
Family & Parents
Why I’m Raising My Kid Evangelical by Rachel Joy Welcher (Christianity Today)
I don’t know how rare my experience was. Perhaps those who are currently deconstructing their faith come up empty when asked, “What was the good of your evangelical upbringing?” But I count myself privileged to have watched my parents flesh out the Christian faith in word and deed, and I want to pass that example on to my daughter.
Behind a Counselor’s Door: Why Kids Don’t Talk to Their Parents by Kristen Hatton (Rooted)
Teen clients often tell me they wish their parents weren’t so distracted, so stressed. They wish their parents would listen better without trying to fix... Parents, if you want your teenager to feel safe to talk, you need unstructured time to build a track record of helping them feel heard.
From YPT this week
Helping Doubters Experience Confident Faith by Matt Bellefeuille
Is your ministry a safe place for Christians to express doubt? Taking time at youth group to discuss doubt from a Biblical perspective does a lot to move your answer from “I hope so!” to “I know so!”