High School Ministry – Defining Success

2012/02/23 By Leave a Comment
Rich Melheim

Lutheran (ELCA) pastor Rich Melheim is the founder and chief creative officer of Faith Inkubators, which he describes as "a Christian education systems design think tank and resource provider dedicated to incubating faith every night in every home."  In the February 22, 2012 edition of the Christian Century, he answered several questions regarding faith formation as a family matter, including one about high school youth ministry. Q: How do you define a successful church program for high Read More …

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Single Objective of Youth Ministry

2012/01/07 By 2 Comments
Mark Oestreicher

How would you complete the following sentence: The single objective of youth ministry is __________. Youth ministry expert Mark Oestreicher answered the question with Christlikeness.   So What? Youth ministry is typically thought of in terms of what it offers its participants, especially in terms of programs and relationships.  Youth ministry leadership teams would benefit greatly from taking time to explore together why they do what they do.  The simple yet challenging question Read More …

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Attributes of Good Junior High Lessons

2011/12/23 By Leave a Comment
kurt johnston

Kurt Johnston is a junior high ministry expert; he has severed in a variety of junior high youth ministry roles for over twenty years, and currently serves as Junior High Pastor at Saddleback Church.  Earlier this week he shared three attributes of a good junior high lesson: Short (20 minutes or less) Interactive Fun So What? I have spent enough time in youth ministry with junior high/middle school students to understand that teaching this age group is unique.  This is one of Read More …

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Social Media Interaction with Students

2011/11/19 By Leave a Comment
slant33

Earlier this week Slant33, a part of Barefoot Ministries, posted the responses of three youth ministry experts to the question: "Where do you draw the line on social media interaction with students? Why?"  The responses vary widely: D. Scott Miller, director of the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, has a personal policy to never friend anyone under the age of eighteen on Facebook.  Additionally, he believes this is the best policy for all Read More …

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Halloween at the Hell House

2011/10/27 By 2 Comments
hell house

Brian Kirk's recent article, "Christian Haunted Houses: Scaring the 'Hell' Out of Teens?," caught my attention for several reasons, including: fear based evangelism targeting teens remains a tactic used by fundamentalist Christians hell houses or evangelistic productions staged to "convert" teens and "save" them from hell are an extreme form deployed each year at Halloween I have been to the Hell House at Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill, TX (the "original" upon which so Read More …

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Top 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry

2011/08/21 By Leave a Comment
Kenda Creasy Dean

Kenda Creasy Dean, an ordained United Methodist pastor and Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, recently blogged about the characteristics of a healthy youth ministry.  Her Top 10 list: Jesus Lots and lots of parents who are growing in, and living out, their love of God and neighbor (and who are aware that this matters to their kids) A senior pastor who is crazy about young people A supportive congregation where people actively seek God and that Read More …

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Signs You’re Failing

2011/07/20 By Leave a Comment
Steve Ingold

Steve Ingold, High School Director at Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore, CA, wrote a guest post on Josh Griffin's top-ranked youth ministry blog, More than Dodgeball, about signs that indicate a youth minister is missing the mark.  Ingold's list of thirteen items includes: … if I put the ministry ahead of my relationship with God. … if I put the ministry ahead of my relationship with my wife and family. … if don’t invest in meaningful friendships outside of youth ministry Read More …

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Twitter for Middle School Students

2011/06/13 By Leave a Comment
Enrique Legaspi

CNN.com recently featured Dan Simon's report on how one eighth grade history teacher is using Twitter in the classroom on the news site's home page.  Enrique Legaspi reminds his students to BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology), but his classroom also includes computers for any students without a device that connects to the internet.  During class, he asks students to tweet their responses to his questions.  Legaspi finds that using Twitter in this manner helps students find their voice and Read More …

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American Sex Ed is Atypical and Ineffective

2011/04/17 By Leave a Comment
teen-pregnancy-rate

The documentary Let's Talk About Sex is generating considerable discussion.  It aired on TLC last weekend and the DVD was released a few days later.  Directed by James Houston, an Australian fashion photographer currently based in New York, the 62 minute offering shows how very different sexuality is when comparing American teens to teens from other nations.  While American teens and European teens become sexually active at about the same age the results are very different. Houston's Read More …

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Defining Success in Youth Ministry

2011/03/26 By 2 Comments
Danny Ferguson

Danny Ferguson serves as an area director for YFC/Youth Unlimited, which is an expression of Youth for Christ International.  Yesterday he wrote about what success looks like in youth ministry.  Ferguson asked youth ministry leaders to provide "their 140 character definition of success" via Twitter and published several of those responses, including: Enabling young people to come alive in joy and to be everything they were made to be!! - that's an attempt!! – @RCYOUTHWORKER Building Read More …

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