“There are no Lone Rangers in Youth Ministry”, the old saying goes. And while most of us know that successful ministry to teenagers can’t be a solo gig, many still struggle with the whole process of building a healthy youth ministry team.…
Today, we wrap up our little series on what I like to call Ministerial Intelligence. To recap: Ministerial Intelligence involves three key ministry arenas: 1) THE PLACE: The ability to understand and navigate the nuances of your particular organization. 2) THE PRACTICES: Proficiency at the various “practices” of youth ministry; the stuff we do.…
Today as we continue our series on ministerial intelligence, I’d like to focus on the “practices” of youth ministry; the things you do. In short, the practices, or things you do, include the daily nuts and bolts of youth ministry, the stuff youth ministry is made of.…
In this little series we’re taking a look at what I call ministerial intelligence; the level of mastery one has over the three key components of ministry work. The higher one’s ministerial intelligence, the more likely he/she will find success and enjoyment in a ministry setting over a long period of time.…
I’ve been thinking a lot (maybe too much) lately about longevity in youth ministry; especially longevity in the same church/organization. And while my conclusions aren’t scientific and can certainly be argued against (in fact, please do!), I’ve identified what I’d like to call “ministerial intelligence” as the common denominator. …
To wrap up this little series on teaching, I thought I’d share a few random and mostly unconnected tips and tricks that can help just about any teaching environment you find yourself in go a bit more smoothly. The First Minute Is The Most Important Minute!…
Last week, I shared some ideas to help create S.T.I.C.K.Y. lessons and learning environments for students. This week, I’d like to unpack a question I ask myself after virtually every lesson I create: “Does this lesson T.E.A.C.H.?” To answer that question, I ask five more: Is This Lesson True?…
If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times: Teenagers won’t remember the lessons we teach. Youth ministry is all about relationships.” And while that’s largely true, it doesn’t have to be completely true; I think we can (and should at least try to) create memorable learning experiences for the students in our ministries; lessons that are sticky!…
If you are like most youth workers, you probably find yourself in some sort of teaching environment once or twice a week! Let that settle in for a second; a couple of times a week you are responsible for creating learning environments in which the members of your youth group are exposed to, and wrestle through, some of life’s most crucial topics.…
Many teenagers are wandering away from faith and/or church upon graduating from high school and moving out of our youth groups. What, exactly, can we do about it? We can do nothing, and we can do a lot. We can do nothing in that the reality has always been that some people who are close to Jesus wander, deny, struggle, deny, and abandon him.…
