No Parents/No Ministry
By Neil Christianson Remember the last baptism you saw? It is a beautiful miracle to see! Through the water and the word, God claims one as his own and we ... Read more.
Developing a Youth-Friendly and Youth-Involving Congregation
Dr. Nancy Going writes about The Faith of Adolescents and how young people must be integrated and central to the life of the congregation. But how do you D... Read more.
The Faith of Adolescents
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary You can’t be in youth ministry very long, and not have both... Read more.
Integration and Imagination
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary What will future leadership in the church entail? That’s ... Read more.
Resource: Strategies for Family Faith Formation
For the good of families and the whole Christian community, congregations can provide opportunities to equip homes as centers of faith formation at every stage ... Read more.
Where have all the mentors gone?
By Derek Tronsgard Luke Skywalker had Yoda. Harry Potter had Dumbledore. Batman had Alfred and Morgan Freeman. Mentors are important. And I... Read more.
Time – Do you spend or invest?
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary This past weekend was homecoming at the high school. Daughter #... Read more.
MakinÂ’ a list, checking it twice
By Andy Sahl Sunday mornings can sometimes be a scramble in our youth ministry. Our (Episcopal) Parish has a large youth center that gets used for a numbe... Read more.
Review of The Spirit and Culture of Youth Ministry in the Journal of Youth Ministry
Review by Tagg Wolverton, Greater Europe Mission, Netherlands Excerpt: In recent years some tough criticisms have been leveled at modern youth ministry. While e... Read more.
What are you counting?
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary Here at First Third we’re taking time once again to celebra... Read more.
Scripture, Tradition and Human Experience
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary According to Missiologist Stephen Bevans, Christians’ und... Read more.
Celebrating Exemplary Youth Ministry
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary Every now and then, one comes across an idea or a piece of work t... Read more.
Creating Space to Share Ideas
By Julie Hagen I’m so excited about the kind of space FirstThird.org can be. In my first blog here, I thought I’d play everyone’s favorite ice... Read more.
A Letter to the Church
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Dear Church, It’s here. The first day of school, a day th... Read more.
Experiencing Grace
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary “Grace is Experienced, Not Explained”—- Bp.Todd... Read more.
Capitalizing on the Ordinary
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Is this the right time? Are these the right people? Can we agre... Read more.
What Could Change Look Like for Us?
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary If you’ve tracked Fuller’s Sticky Faith Initiati... Read more.
Lessons on Adaptive Change
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Yesterday I spent the day talking about adaptive change with le... Read more.
Listening for the Spirit
Cheryl Goodman-Morris reminds us that the Spirit blows as she wills, and we must needs keep that in mind as live into Christian community: What if the process o... Read more.
What is hospitality in a multicultural church?
Recent doctoral graduate, Harvey Kwiyani, talks about his dissertation research which involved working with three multicultural congregations in the Twin... Read more.
Resource for Adaptive Changes in Confirmation
As we explore confirmation, here is a resource to move the dialogue into action. Your ministry is a game worth playing in this life, and we want to help you set... Read more.