While we often call kids with abundant financial resources “privileged”, there can be a dark underside to growing up with affluence. Recent research on adolescents from wealthy homes uncovers some disturbing trends among these kids. If you work with students and families who have significant means, this article offers several ways to engage affluent culture and help families guard against its dangers.
Training in cross-cultural communication used to be reserved for elite business leaders or career missionaries, but now it’s essential for all of us—even for your youth ministry! Check out this overview of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and interview with Dave Livermore, CQ guru. No matter what your ministry context, this paradigm shift is guaranteed to stir changes in the way you approach cross cultural interaction.
Chap Clark calls the Church to reconsider what we’re doing to kids and families by perpetuating “youth ministry as usual.” In his inaugural professorial lecture at Fuller Seminary in March 2007, Chap argues for a new model of ministering to youth by assimilating them into the life of the congregation.
Have you ever stopped to think about whether using a cell phone, instant message service, email, or even a sound system impacts the message you communicate using those media? In this interview with author Shane Hipps, we are challenged to stop and think about the implications of every day technology that we may never have considered before.
Wondering about crossover between “Emerging Church” issues and “Emerging Urban Church” issues? FYI (formerly CYFM) hosted a panel discussion on the interface of recent movements within both circles of conversation.
Few issues push our buttons as a culture more than race relations. While the Church may often pretend the conflict does not exist, in reality we have a responsibility to engage and respond to the difficult dynamics of race in the U.S. The movie Crash takes a unique look into these dynamics, and Dan and Jude help us navigate the movie and its implications for ministry in this article.
You’ve probably commented before that adolescence isn’t the same it used to be. Chap Clark helps identify the cultural changes, and reframes youth ministry in terms of thinking through a three-tiered adolescent journey.
What are clusters and what can I do about them? What is “middle adolescence”? Chap Clark sits down with a group of youth workers to discuss his book Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers.
Girls aren’t the only ones who face body image pressures. Recent research shows that guys face similar pressures – from different sources – to have perfect bodies.
While McDonald’s has brought many positive elements to our culture, it is also eroding much of our life and vitality. It’s a process sociologist George Ritzer calls “The McDonaldization of society”. Is it also creeping into our youth ministries?
