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10 mins

A Closer Look at the Church-Planting Trend

Editor’s Note: The church-planting movement in America is growing exponentially, fueled and driven by an army of former youth pastors. Attend any church-planting conference and you’ll ram into a sea of youth workers who’ve migrated out of their niche and into the Wild, Wild West of broader church leadership.…

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8 mins

Offer Support, Belonging When Counseling LGBT Teens

I’ve worked with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) youth as a youth pastor and counselor for the last 15 years. Because I’ve listened to their stories for years, I know the world looks alienating at best and hostile at worst to them.…

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3 mins

Why It’s Time To Kill Student Leadership (IMHO)

Somehow, it’s working… For the past 10 months we’ve been trying to nurture a “community within a community” inside our youth ministry. We call it Squad, and it’s changing how we do everything. It began a year ago, when a few adult leaders and I talked about getting more of our teenagers serving in leadership roles.…

depressed youth worker
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3 mins

Confessions of a Depressed Youth Worker

On a Friday night in 1998, after watching a comedy with friends at a movie theatre, my brother came home, kissed my mom goodnight, went into his room, and hung himself. We don’t know the exact reasons why Brandon took his life, but we know he wrestled with depression on a daily basis.…

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2 mins

Part 2 – Rural Youth Ministry

(Here’s the 2nd installment from Brent Lacy from his new book, Rural Youth Ministry. Enjoy! – Stephanie) Article 2) The Value of your Community in Rural Youth Ministry You won’t be very long in your new place of Rural Youth Ministry before you hear some form of the following statement – “you’re just a transplant; what do you know?”…

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1 min

(Podcast) Foundations: Building a Song from a Mess

Ever feel like a mess? Sometimes it seems like we’re a mess of parts thrown on a table that’s certainly not beautiful. What would it look like to start thinking of our lives like a “messy song” and Jesus as a creative artist who finds our mess exciting?…

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1 min

(Podcast) CoronaChurch: The Crowd Is No Longer Cool

The American church faces an upset like never before. The insidious coronavirus has slammed shut church doors–locking out the faithful from gathered worship. The effects may be long-lasting. For smaller churches already dealing with offering plate malnutrition, existing week to week to make payroll, this crisis may be their economic tipping point.…

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4 mins

Readying for Relaunch

Chances are, your online ministry strategy is now the lifeblood of your ministry. But a time is coming (sooner than you think) when we’ll be allowed to gather in person for face-to-face ministry. What will you do? Instead of waiting until we have permission to reopen, our youth ministry team is actively planning for it.…

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3 mins

The Loneliness Epidemic

At Springtide™ Research Institute we’ve spent the past year researching the consequences of epidemic loneliness among young people. Loneliness The findings are astonishing, heartbreaking, and hopeful… Our newest report, Belonging: Reconnecting America’s Loneliest Generation, documents these findings and offers a research-based pathway forward.…

relevance
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3 mins

Youth Ministry Malpractice #3: Treating Relevance As If It Outranks Intimacy

It’s important, of course, to pay attention to the “best practices” of youth ministry. It’s equally important to discover and uproot the ministry habits that masquerade as effective but are more like malpractice. Here’s the third installment of my malpractice starter list—I’ll post the final installment next week… Malpractice #3—Treating Relevance As If It Outranks Intimacy Another buzzword in youth ministry that sounds slam-dunk crucial to our effectiveness is relevance.…

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