Friday Review (6/9/23)
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
Building Bridges: How God Invites Youth Pastors Into the Work of Relational Reconciliation, by Brian Ryu (Rooted)
The stubbornness and sinfulness of humanity spills into our horizontal relationships with one another. Sin creates a chasm between both God and our neighbor. Because of sin and brokenness, the dividing walls of fear, resentment, distrust, gossip, malice, hatred, and self-conceit have fractured every possible inch of human relationships, including those within the walls of the church. Youth groups are no exception.
5 Ways to Engage College Students This Summer, by Lizzy Haseltine (Lifeway Research)
According to a Lifeway Research study, most teens (66%) stop going to church when they become young adults. But this summer is an opportunity for you to help them want to be a part of the church. If college students are coming home to your church for the summer, many of them are either looking for connection or struggling in their faith as they navigate adulthood. Consider the following five ways your church can make a difference in their lives.
Concerned for Doubting College Students? Invite Them Over, by Dylan Musser (The Gospel Coalition)
Now I want the same to be a normative experience for college students in the local church. Brothers and sisters, joyfully practice hospitality. Welcome students as Christ welcomed you. When you do, many students will begin to see the local church as a place to experience the solid reality of God amid their shifting culture.
Biblical & Theological Studies
Is Your View of Women Aligned with Your Theology? by Paul David Tripp (Crossway)
The theology of the image of God in all people should radically influence the way we view and respond to women, co-image bearers by God’s design. This theology calls us away from denigrating and objectifying women and calls us to honor them as those who bear the very likeness of God himself. It calls us to honor their gifts, to give their unique experience a voice, and to train them for work as God’s agents in the world and as essential members of his church.
7 Reasons Why Mormonism and Christianity Are Not the Same, by Kevin DeYoung (Clearly Reformed)
Christians can be thankful for Mormon friends and family members who are good neighbors and share many of the same ethical standards and moral commitments. But Mormonism and Christianity are not the same. Far from it. Though the language sounds similar at times, the beliefs are quite distinct.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
Thoughts on Pride Month for Youth Workers and Parents..., by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
Parents and youth workers... study and teach God’s truth on sexuality and gender. You will have countless opportunities this month to lovingly and obediently lead kids into knowing and experiencing the kind of freedom and flourishing that comes with following God’s will and way. Don’t miss it!
We’re Commanded to Love Our Neighbors, Not to Make Them Feel Loved, by Doug Ponder (Sola Ecclesia)
All who think this way have fallen for the poisonous lie that hurt feelings, per se, are sufficient proof that you have failed to love your neighbor. Yet if that is so, we make Christ himself out to be a sinner! For there were not a few times when his words were poorly received by some of those who heard him. Indeed, Jesus was not murdered because he was too nice but because he did and said things that caused some to despise him—yet in all this he was “without sin”
Pastoral Ministry
The Inefficient Church, by Darryl Dash (Dash House)
I’m all for certain kinds of efficiency. I just placed an online order to save a trip to the store. But I’m for the right kind of inefficiency: the inefficiency of caring enough to slow down and treat people like people, to know their names, and to actually care.
Family & Parents
Quarantine Is Not a Good Option, by Robby Lashua (Stand to Reason)
So, what do we do? As tempting as it might be, don’t move your family to a plot of land without internet, electricity, and running water. I’m suggesting that instead of being overwhelmed, we intentionally inoculate our children. Let me explain.
The Worthy Work of the Stay-at-Home Mom, by Lara d’Entremont (Modern Reformation)
What if the title stay-at-home mom didn’t need to be covered in so much shame? What if we could not only do our work with pride and joy, but say it to others with our heads held high? I believe we can, if we develop a better theology of work from Dorothy Sayers.
From YPT this week
What Would Jesus Say About Pride Month? by Mike McGarry
How can parents and youth workers help Christian teenagers respond to Pride month in a way that ministers to their LGBTQIA+ peers? Let’s learn from the way Jesus cared for people, and do likewise.
YPT Podcast Episode 40: Mike on the Hot Seat with Hartman & Bradley
To close out this season of the podcast, Mike is on the hot seat and answers questions from two of YPT's regular contributors, Nick Hartman and Joseph Bradley.