Imagining The Future Of Youth Ministry

Think about sin and the cross—the way that salvation changes who we are and how God sees us. It’s a central part of our faith, and yet it’s one of the most confusing and difficult things to teach. Especially to a room full of teenagers. In Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root invites you along on a journey with Nadia—a fictional youth worker who is wrestling with how to present the cross to her own students in a meaningful way. Using Nadia’s narrative, along with his own insights, Root helps you reimagine how the cross, sin, and salvation can be taught to students in a way that leads them to embrace a lifestyle that chases after Jesus, rather than creating teenagers who just try to “be good.”

There are many philosophies and strategies that drive today's youth ministry. To most people, they are variations on a single goal: to make faithful disciples of young people. However, digging deeper into various programs, books, and concepts reveals substantive differences among approaches. Bestselling author Chap Clark is one of the leading voices in youth ministry today. In this multiview work, he brings together a diverse group of leaders to present major views on youth ministry. Chapters are written in essay/response fashion by Fernando Arzola, Greg Stier, Ron Hunter, Brian Cosby, and Chap Clark. As the contributors present their views and respond to each of the other views, they discuss their task and calling, giving readers the resources they need to develop their own approach to youth ministry. Offering a model of critical thinking and respectful dialogue, this volume provides a balanced, irenic approach to a topic with which every church wrestles.

What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century. Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents' perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today's culture, youth ministry can't compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

Faith Forward: Re-Imagining Children’s and Youth Ministry is the second volume in the groundbreaking “Faith Forward” series. Compiled from presentations given at the Faith Forward 2014 conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee, May 2014, this volume features the work of Brian McLaren, Sandy Sasso, Andrew Root, Phyllis Tickle, Anne Wimberly, Ivy Beckwith with David M. Csinos, Paul-André Durocher, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Melvin Bray, and more. If you are seeking ways of doing children’s and youth ministry that are grassroots, forward thinking, ecumenical, innovative and collaborative, this book will provide inspiration and wisdom for the journey. It is essential reading for leaders working with children and youth, as well as for pastors, professors, and parents – anyone and everyone seeking to engage children and youth in respectful conversation, exploration, and learning in today’s complex world.

Something is happening in the church. Fresh expressions of Christianity are taking root and growing across the globe. Forward-thinking approaches to ministry, worship, and community are emerging. Questions are being asked. And change is happening. But what does the spiritual formation of children and youth look like in the midst of these changes? Faith Forward: Re-Imagining Children's and Youth Ministryis the second volume in the groundbreaking "Faith Forward" series. Compiled from presentations given at the Faith Forward 2014 conference, held in Nashville, Tenessee, May 19-22, this volume features the work of Brian McLaren, Sandy Sasso, Andrew Root, Phyllis Tickle,Anne Streaty Wimberly, Ivy Beckwith with David M. Csinos, Paul-Andr� Durocher, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Melvin Bray, and more. If you are seeking ways of doing children's and youth ministry that are grassroots, forward-thinking, ecumenical, innovative and collaborative, this book will provide inspiration and wisdom for the journey. It is essential reading for leaders working with children and youth, as well as for pastors, professors, and parents - anyone and everyone seeking to engage children and youth in respectful conversation, exploration, and learning in today's complex world.

Is youth ministry thriving? Stagnant? Evolving? Dying? What does any of that mean for us as youth workers, or, more critically, for the young people we care about? In this edition of our "multi-views" series, the chapters are authored by a group of youth ministry thought leaders. We asked them two key questions: What are the problems youth ministry currently faces? And what is the pathway forward? Each chapter represents a thoughtful, practical, and challenging viewpoint. At the end of each chapter, there is a sidebar from an in-the-trenches youth worker whose ministry is currently living out the future the chapter's writer foresees. We expect that the words of this book will cause you to rethink, to dream, and to question. There are no easy answers and one-size-fits-all solutions here. But we also believe that along with the challenges they bring to the forefront, these chapters will leave you with a sense of hope-filled possibility the future of youth ministry and the teenagers God calls us to love and care for.

Bestselling Christian educator Ginny Holderness refocuses the attention on leadership in the youth ministry to young people themselves. Holderness and coauthor Robert Hay expand on her original team approach to include young people in the leadership team. Successfully implemented in many church programs already, this expanded approach to team-building ensures that young people take ownership of their youth ministries.

Since 1993, forty-nine theological seminaries have created opportunities for high school students to participate in on-campus High School Theology Programs (HSTPs) that invite them to engage in serious biblical and theological study. Many of the young people who take part in these programs go on to become pastoral or lay leaders in their churches. What has made these programs so successful — especially given the well-documented “crisis of faith” among young people today? In this book thirteen contributors — many of whom have created or led one of these innovative theology programs — investigate answers to this question. They examine the pedagogical practices the HSTPs have in common and explore how they are contributing to the leadership of the church. They then show how the lessons gleaned from these successful programs can help churches, denominations, and seminaries reimagine both theological education and youth ministry.

Too often these days, youth hear about global issues such as poverty, human trafficking, and HIV/AIDS, but they don’t get practical suggestions on how they can make a positive impact on these problems. The reality is, today’s students will be leading the way in the workforce, ministries, and education in a few short years. If they begin to understand their connection to the global community today, just imagine the way they could contribute to improving these issues in future years. What Can We Do? offers youth workers an overview of pressing global issues, along with realistic, practical ways their youth ministries can respond. By helping teens understand how their faith intersects with the struggles around the world, these youth groups can have a lasting, worldwide influence. Respected educators and youth ministry veterans Dave Livermore and Terry Linhart give youth workers a thoughtful, deep perspective on the pressing issues facing the world today, while also offering creative solutions for youth groups to get involved and impact the lives of people all around the world.