By Andy Hale “When I was a kid, we had to walk to school in the snow, over three mountains, and with grizzly bears on the loose,” we have all had that conversation before with our parents and grandparents. Every generation thinks they had it more challenging than the generation after them. And yet, this … Continue reading
Category Archives: Youth ministry
Youth ministry
ChurchWorks is What You Need
On March 1-4 at Central Baptist Church Fountain City in Knoxville, Tn., ChurchWorks 2020 will center on how clergy can most effectively focus on their own wellbeing. ChurchWorks will be a time to think about caring for yourself in different ways; space for you to come and take a break from the day-to-day work, to … Continue reading
Navigating “The State of Youth Ministry”
By Christian Davis In 2016, the Barna Group published its most recent edition of The State of Youth Ministry. This report contains studies of youth attendance and involvement in church activities, parent expectations, ministry strengths and weaknesses, and many others. Amongst the wealth of statistics gathered from these studies, there are also several interviews with … Continue reading
CBF Youth Ministry Network collaborates for a bright future
The following post comes from John Uldrick, minister to students at First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., and president-elect of the CBF Youth Ministry Network. As I write this, I’m surrounded by 30+ youth ministers from Georgia to Hawaii and everywhere in between, sharing life and learning together. It is a beautiful picture of community. It … Continue reading
Servants among friends: “After all I’ve done for you”
“After all I’ve done for you ….” Many of us have used those words with our children – or heard them from our own parents! But those words came alive for our Latino youth group this summer as teens spent time interviewing their parents, hearing their stories, and sharing stories of their own. LUCHA Ministries’ … Continue reading
Servants among Friends: Reaffirming Dignity
DIGNITY – what do you hear when this word comes to mind? For us, it takes on renewed meaning each summer when LUCHA Ministries refocuses our efforts on Latino youth outreach through PROJECT 3-D. Latino youth, many from immigrant parents and/or who are immigrants themselves, hear repeatedly that they are “different from” (implying “not as … Continue reading
CBFYMN elects first slate of officers
The CBF Youth Ministry Network (CBFYMN) is a group of professional ministers and others who are called to work with youth and who relate to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The network strives to serve God from coast to coast within the United States as they advocate for young people – both those in our communities and … Continue reading
Who Would Miss Your Church’s Youth Ministry?
In my readings for a peer learning group, I stumbled across two quotes from Transformation by author/pastor Bob Roberts that gave me pause. For additional context, I am the interim youth minister at Forest Hills in Raleigh. A part of my responsibility here is to set the stage for a future youth minister. I am … Continue reading
a cup of noodles
I rarely go out for lunch. In fact, most of my lunches are spent quickly eating a microwave meal in the break room and discussing the day’s events with coworkers. It is actually a bright spot in my day. I would imagine that this same scene is played out in workplace after workplace. Since the devastating … Continue reading
Youth experience God at work through Mission Immersion D.C.
The following is a blog from Matthew Hensley, minister of education at Haymarket Baptist Church in Haymarket, VA and Northern Virginia regional representative on the CBFVA coordinating council. +++ “I believe that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that they do not know … Continue reading