Passport’s Growing Faith Initiative offers digital resources, engagement opportunities, and accessible spiritual activities to families with youth and children. Passport, Inc., a national student ministry, has received a grant for $1,000,000 from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc to support The Growing Faith Initiative. This grant is the largest independent donation grant in Passport’s 30-year history … Continue reading
It’s been a while since I was a teenager. So I’ll spare you the years and my embarrassment. Nevertheless, things have changed since my day of awkward pubescents. Teenagers face challenges today that I never faced. One thing hasn’t changed, though, the questions we wrestle with about our identity, belonging, and the Divine. “Life is … Continue reading
By Rev. Laura Stephens-Reed Back in the 1990s, when I was a teenager, youth ministry was relatively straightforward. My peers and I met for junior high and high school Sunday school and then attended worship. We came back on Sunday evenings for a less formal worship service and youth group (which often involved outings such … Continue reading
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
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 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
One of my favorite youth ministry blogs is “Rethinking Youth Ministry” by Brian Kirk. Kirk’s blog provides a number of resources and articles that help me think outside my sometimes very familiar practices of youth ministry. To “rethink” our ideas and practices is not simply to change what we do and how we do it … Continue reading
Come to the first-ever BigTent Conference for inspiring speakers, 150+ practical workshops, and celebratory community building to advance the health and well-being of families and children. CBF, along with dozens of other national youth-serving organizations, is partnering with conference host Search Institute. Bringing together thousands of professionals and youth from all youth-serving sectors, this first … Continue reading
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