By Kara Powell and Chap Clark | December 18, 2007
What’s the difference between service and justice, and what’s the big deal, anyway? Following their highly-acclaimed book Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, authors Chap Clark and Kara Powell invite a host of key justice-minded leaders to help craft Deep Justice in a Broken World, including Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Jeremy del Rio, Larry Acosta, John Perkins, and more. This article offers a snapshot from the book itself—a challenge to dig deeper into what it means to truly seek God’s justice through our youth ministries.
By Brad M. Griffin | November 7, 2007
Are we more comfortable with singing about God’s love or God’s justice; with raising our hands in church or reaching our hands out to the poor and oppressed? Whether we’re uncomfortable or not, the Old Testament prophets and the example of Christ point us to a radical both/and type of worship justice. This article challenges us to think carefully about how we teach and model worship to students.
By David Russell | November 7, 2007
Can students in your youth ministry really make an impact on the world? Using an international Transformational Development model, David Russell shares what can happen when we re-cast youth ministry and kids catch on.
By David Russell | August 24, 2007
Whether you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about poverty or only barely entertained its implications for you and your students, this article offers deep insights for rethinking both the ways we view and teach about poverty.
By Kara Powell | June 25, 2007
What is social justice, and how do I know if I’m doing it—or doing it well—in youth ministry? To help you evaluate your own ministry, we’re reporting here on a collaborative effort by FYI, World Vision, Community Solutions, Inc., and the Urban Youth Workers Institute to get at the difference between average justice work and deeper justice ministry. FREE DOWNLOADABLE ASSESSMENT TOOL.
By Brad M. Griffin | May 2, 2007
Are kids getting more or less violent? Given the amount of media attention attracted by episodes of youth violence, it’s hard to get a handle on what research might be saying or what ministry interventions might be working to lower violence. With the help of the Fuller Youth Initiative research team, this article takes an in-depth look at the key questions youth workers and parents have about youth violence, and a few encouraging responses from youth workers who are making a difference.
By Kara Powell | October 8, 2006
Kara Powell asks Dr. Tony Campolo for his honest reflections on social justice and youth ministry, and receives some provocative input from the widely-acclaimed spokesperson for recasting youth ministry in light of concern for the poor and oppressed around the world.
By Brad M. Griffin | August 14, 2006
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.
By Kara Powell | February 15, 2006
What value do our typical short term missions trips add to the communities we serve? What real transformation happens in our students? Does our short-term work help or hinder the work of long-term missionaries? These are the tough questions being asked by researchers and youth workers across the country, and questions worth asking of our own ministries!
By Brad M. Griffin | June 23, 2005
Whether we notice it or not (and most of us don’t), what we sing, pray, read from Scripture, and enact together in corporate worship will, over time, contribute to the formation of the identity of individuals and a community of worshipers. So when it comes to the worship in our youth groups, are we cheating our kids?
