Youth ministry
By Daniel Potter As I left the beautiful village of Montreat, NC, I passed through their familiar stone gateway. This year, specifically, it occurred to me that each time I have passed through that portal, I’ve done so as a different person. Life, certainly, has dictated that change. The first time I crossed as a … Continue reading
If I had access to a time machine, I’d travel back to my 14-year-old self and punch him in the face. But let’s be clear, I’d still do that to my nearly 38-year-old self too. I guess what I am trying to say is that I was not a successful teenager. Despite having remarkable parents … Continue reading
By Jana Atkinson The idea that I am a part of God’s story is something I never thought or believed until Jesus came in and radically changed my perspective. We live in a world that is full of broken people. I spent a great deal of my life as one of these broken people. I … Continue reading
BSK’s Flourish Center for Congregational Imagination is offering a special workshop series for youth leaders. These online, non-credit workshops, entitled, Introduction to Youth Ministry and Essential Topics for Youth Ministry, include 6 sessions each. These workshops are geared not toward youth ministers who already have a Masters of Divinity degree, but toward those who may be working in … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
“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
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
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