Do you wonder what kind of impact youth ministry actually has on students by the time they graduate from high school? So do we. More and more denominations and youth workers are wondering what types of students we’re developing, and what happens to them after they graduate. This article is our first report on the data we’ve been collecting in the important and revealing College Transition Project study.
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.
We all scratch our heads wondering how to respond to the loss of students from church after high school. Research on this pattern, as well as the patterns of those who return to their faith later, may inform our response as churches who have the opportunity to nurture them — both to prevent some from leaving and to welcome back others who have left.
Who are the youth you consider developmentally “at risk” in your church or neighborhood? In contrast to the individualism that has guided most work with kids who are labeled this way, Jude Tiersma Watson offers an approach based on ecological development theory and a theological principle of belonging. These insights affect the way we view ministry with ANY kind of student.
In junior high, I had a football coach that was like the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. He was a manager. In high school, I had a very different coach. He was a leader. It’s crucial for our ministries that we understand the difference.
Wouldn’t it be great to have the kind of mentoring that Luke Skywalker had in the “Star Wars” trilogy? First he had Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi was instrumental in beginning Luke’s light saber training and was single-handedly responsible for freeing Luke …
Think about the last student who showed up at one of your youth ministry events for the first time. Did they come back? If not, why not? If so, that’s great, but do you know what your ministry did that kept them coming back to your church?
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?
