Maintaining healthy relationships is a priority in all areas of life, but our ministry world requires special attention. Ultimately, we spend about a third of our lives working, which means we spend a third of our days with co-workers. That’s a significant amount of time, so we want the atmosphere to be positive and productive for everyone.…
As the launch of a new school year approaches, remember to include on your calendar some strategic touchpoints with parents. It’s essential to partner with them and be available as you work together to nurture teenagers and their faith. Being available makes a profound positive statement to parents and boosts their confidence in you as a youth worker.…
What’s wrong with young people today? We’ve all heard about the symptomatic things that may characterize today’s teenagers, such as lower church attendance. But what’s underneath these trends? For many young people, it’s a suffocating sense of loneliness and isolation. A Generation Defined By Loneliness “This is the most lonely generation,” said Josh Packard, sociologist and author of Church Refugees.…
I’d love to say I’ve never judged a parent or a family situation throughout my years in youth ministry. It would be great to claim I’ve always listened, been a strong advocate, and formed opinions based only on facts. Saying those things wouldn’t make them true, however.…
Kendra’s parents are waiting for longtime youth pastor Ralph Paige in his office—when he walks in the door, his church admin gives Ralph that “buckle up” look… It’s not going to be an easy conversation. Ralph welcomes “drop-in” conversations, but when most parents have a concern to bring up, they catch him in the hallway or call for an appointment.…
For youth workers, it’s an itch that won’t go away… We know there’s something different about Generation Z, but a recent Barna report claims that today’s teenagers are mirror images of their Millennial older brothers and sisters… If that’s true, here’s a quick snapshot of what that means: They are success-driven and focused on achieving.…
As a youth worker, you know it’s important to communicate well with parents. You may have learned that lesson via the School of Hard Knocks, maybe from a frustrated parent, or from 14 billion phone calls regarding something you should’ve conveyed with a quick text or email.…
When it comes to purchasing property, location is everything. And when it comes to communicating effectively in youth ministry, method is everything. Ultimately, we want to ensure that each person in our ministry is engaged, including students, parents, volunteers, and fellow staffers.…
I love overly salted, cured meats but that is not the SPAM we are talking about. In 2014, we realized we were spamming the parents in our ministry. The open rate of our student ministry emails were crazy low. We were working hard to be heard outside of email too, and it was a little exhausting.…
One tech question that has come up several times in the last few weeks sounds something like this, “The kids in our ministry are not using Facebook as much as they did a year ago … how are you responding to this shift?”…
