I was talking to a friend this week who wondered if all the hype about Exemplary Youth Ministry wasn’t just that. He was not discounting all the good stuff we’ve been blogging about but he did wonder if we were just moving on to the next new thing, the latest fad, the buzz in youth…
Moving into a youth ministry marked by mature faith markers is slow work sometimes. But living in Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28 to be with us always to the end of the age strengthens us for the upward call of discipleship and evangelism that comes with the promise. For me the picture below is one…
I thought I was just going to dinner with my wife and kids at the Chili’s by my house one night. As the hostess seated us, we walked past a table, and there sat an adult and a student from our church — one of our Life Teams. There they were, just having dinner, catching…
EYM levels the playing field: We used to think that great youth ministry was built pretty much exclusively around a dynamic youth minister, so the church who found that person won! Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work, and they didn’t win. Here’s some of what that faulty thinking produced: A revolving door of youth ministers. A…
For years I have struggled to move beyond the “if we build it they will come” programmatic formula for youth ministry. In my quest for fidelity to the great commission I’ve asked if counting heads in our programs is not bearing fruit (as both my experience and studies like Christian Smith’s Soul Searching tell us)…then…
Recently, I was asked, “If you were to go back and do youth ministry again, how would what you know now change what you would do?” I had quite a few things on my list, (hindsight is amazing!) and here are two of them that are directly related to the Exemplary Youth Ministry study results. So,…
We started our Life Teams by recruiting current & former confirmation, mission trip, and Sunday School teachers to agree to join the Life Team that already exists (i.e., parents, godparents, grandparents, confirmation mentors, etc.) in a youth’s life as intentional cheerleader in the faith on behalf of the congregation. We centered our ministry around these…
Dori Baker reflects on the benefits of an “ethnography of hope” at the Alban blog. She quotes Thomas E. Frank, a seasoned observer of church life, noting that he “writes about turning to ethnographic practices of listening as a way to escape what he perceived to be market-driven perspectives prevalent in church-improvement literature. He found…
In September 2010, Luther Seminary’s Center for First Third Ministry, hosted a First Third Dialogue on the topic of Children of Divorce. This conference was for those on the front-lines of ministry with children and youth who know the realities of divorce. Participants shared their own powerful experiences of divorce and heard from experts in…
I can’t resist this quote from John Howard Yoder, which is cited in David Fitch’s blog on mission and ecclesiology: The political novelty that God brings into the world is a community of those who serve instead of ruling, who suffer instead of inflicting suffering, whose fellowship crosses social lines instead of reinforcing them. The…
The Children of Divorce is Root’s fourth and most recent publication. It is a book with great personal significance to Root and draws on his own experience of becoming a child of divorce in his early twenties. The book argues, in Root’s own words, “that divorce leaves an indelible mark on children, and such a…
Elizabeth Marquardt invites us into the strange and complicated experience of traveling between two homes, two parents and two families as a result of divorce. Marquardt asserts that couples are responsible for navigating the differences of their worlds and the conflict that comes when the rough edges of those worlds begin to come up against…
At EntertheBible.org, you’ll find a wealth of resources to help you grow in faith, add depth to your Bible studies and truly discover the people, places and events of the Bible. This free Bible resource includes commentary, study guides, videos and blog entries by Luther Seminary’s expert faculty. You’ll find summaries, outlines, backgrounds and theological…
The Lutheran University Press has just published the lectures from last year’s Hein-Fry series, and that series included one from Mary Hess entitled Learning the Bible in the 21st Century: Lessons from Harry Potter and Vampires. Here’s an excerpt: “To argue that the Bible creates community, is to make a claim which sharply contradicts some learners’ reality. There is…
Every so often I run across interesting reflections from people outside of the “church world,” reflections that I think all of us who are seeking to serve in missional leadership could learn from. Here’s a great post about inter-cultural learning, written by Susan Campion, who is a consultant and businesswoman based in the Twin Cities….
