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…
[first posted in March 2009] Earlier this week, I was reminded of an article I read about the Facebook generation. In this article Gary Hamel lists 12 ideas that the Facebook generation has toward the world. (For the full article: http://bit.ly/aXXHxG.) It’s an interesting list to think about when we talk about youth ministry. As…
In Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World, Chap and Dee Clark take on a popular cultural myth that, sadly, most of us in youth ministry buy hook, line, and sinker: simply, that teenage youth do not want to spend time with their parents. We often run into the smokescreen when recruitment for small groups…
Exemplary Youth Ministry is really about leadership on multiple levels — your leadership as the youth minister, your adult leaders. One of the key findings of the EYM study is that the pastor is the chief youth minister. A senior pastor who champions and keeps youth ministry central to the congregation’s culture is critical. Now…
When I first started in professional youth ministry, I simply wanted to create an environment of relationship and “church fun” that mirrored my own experience as a teen. While that worked on some levels, I was pretty sure something else was happening that I could not name — I had no language for it. After…
One of the key ingredients to effective youth ministry is that the ministry is supported by the senior pastor. I have found this to be so true. I will never forget the time I was sitting in worship listening to my pastor’s sermon. I don’t remember the text he was preaching on, but I do…
The term “sweet spot” is often used in sports. It is that place on the face of a golf club that creates the best possible shot or on the baseball bat that sends the ball over the center field fence. Have you ever thought of having a “sweet spot” in ministry? I can think of…
While it may sound like the Exemplary Youth Ministry study was just about these 121 congregations who have it all together, that’s far from a complete picture. The EYM study is really all about your church. In the years since the study was completed we’ve discovered that all-important transferability factor. Churches who take on these…
What is maturity anyway? Take a look again at the characteristics of a spiritually mature youth from the EYM study. Demonstrates a Personal Spirituality Believes God is present in the world Acts out of a commitment of faith Is active with God’s people Possesses a Positive, Hopeful Spirit Lives out a life of service Lives…
I’ve been working in children, youth and family ministry for 23 years, and in that time, there is one thing I have learned: The longer I do this, the more clueless I am. Seriously. When I started out, I was quite certain I knew and understood the whole thing. I knew what to do…I had…
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…
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…
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…
