Conflict Happens
If I were a hermit, the only conflict I would ever have would be with, well, no one. If you saw the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks, he created a friend out of a volleyball. Tom was all alone and needed a friend.…
Tag: Protestant
Who Wins?
The influence of parents versus the influence of youth ministry: the “other” dualistic battle in youth ministry. A few years back a book was written about youth ministry that focused mainly on family. The book brought up a very good argument that was closely accurate when applied statistically.…
Top 10 Things Parents Should know about Youth Ministry – for Parent Meetings
There are a lot of things you want parents to know about your youth ministry—this narrows it down to 10 keys things they need to know about what matters most in youth ministry… 10—When/Where/How Much? For anything that might be going on with the youth group, it’s best to ask your students to make sure they know.…
Effective Family Ministry
In all my years as a youth minister I’ve never come across a book that has reflected an appropriate methodology for family ministry in our youth ministry. This has been a great challenge to myself and my volunteers. The more years we put in and the more hurt we saw, the louder the call became to work on the illness and not the symptom.…
“Parent Ministry….is it really that Simple?”
Have you ever been sitting with a bunch of youth ministers and heard them discussing “ministry to parent’s in the youth group?” Have you ever felt a burden to minister to parents, but also felt like parent ministry is a huge “beast” to take on?…
Nana Tried to Warn You
I think youth work is fantastic training for parenting small children and vice-versa. Those compliant teenagers kind of remind me of compliant toddlers. You know the type of children who wobble into the kitchen in the morning and are just pleasant.…
The Stay At Home Parent
For years, I have heard it repeated (usually in Christian circles) the importance of having a stay at home parent (usually mom) for kids to grow up healthy. While I still believe that a stay at home parent can have a huge impact on kids, as I got into ministry, I made some surprising discoveries that confronted my assumptions about families with a stay at home parents.…
Working my way out of a job
In a perfect world, there would be no need for a “youth minister.” Can you imagine the power of an effective godly family? Picture mom and dad sharing the Word of God with the kids after the dinner meal around the dinner table everyday.…
Teens and Credit: Handle with Care
For better or for worse, credit is a part of the American landscape. The average American carries about $6,000 in credit card debt. Today, it is not unusual to for teenagers to have access to credit cards – either using their parents’ cards – or possibly having their own.…
Extending Your Youth Ministry to Families
You cannot get second things by putting them first. You can only get second things by putting first things first. C.S. Lewis When I moved to Nashville almost 10 years ago, my new position came with a curious title, “Associate Minister to Youth and Their Families.”…