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The world is changing. 

Stay up to date on the latest research, resources, and reflections exploring how to cultivate Christian faith in the 21st century. 

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Jul. 26, 2011

The Sweet Spot by Tom Schwolert

The term “sweet spot” is often used in sports. It is that place on the face of a golf club that creates the best possible shot or on the baseball bat that sends the ball over the center field fence. Have you ever thought of having a “sweet spot” in ministry? I can think of a few times when a
Jul. 26, 2011

About Your Pastor by Kristen Baltrum

One of the key ingredients to effective youth ministry is that the ministry is supported by the senior pastor. I have found this to be so true. I will never forget the time I was sitting in worship listening to my pastor’s sermon. I don’t remember the text he was preaching on, but I do remember that he was preaching
Jul. 26, 2011

Name It by Kristen Baltrum

When I first started in professional youth ministry, I simply wanted to create an environment of relationship and “church fun” that mirrored my own experience as a teen. While that worked on some levels, I was pretty sure something else was happening that I could not name — I had no language for it. After a number of years in
Jul. 26, 2011

Coaching Your Pastor by Nancy Going

Exemplary Youth Ministry is really about leadership on multiple levels — your leadership as the youth minister, your adult leaders. One of the key findings of the EYM study is that the pastor is the chief youth minister. A senior pastor who champions and keeps youth ministry central to the congregation’s culture is critical. Now in case you are nodding
Jul. 26, 2011

Life Teams Part II by Jerry Watts

We started our Life Teams by recruiting current & former confirmation, mission trip, and Sunday School teachers to agree to join the Life Team that already exists (i.e., parents,  godparents, grandparents, confirmation mentors, etc.) in a youth’s life as intentional cheerleader in the faith on behalf of the congregation. We centered our ministry around these informal relationships that would begin
Jul. 26, 2011

Dispelling Cultural Myths by Tim Coltvet

In Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World, Chap and Dee Clark take on a popular cultural myth that, sadly, most of us in youth ministry buy hook, line, and sinker: simply, that teenage youth do not want to spend time with their parents. We often run into the smokescreen when recruitment for small groups comes around. We think, “I
Jul. 26, 2011

Participatory Faith by Anita Smallin

[first posted in March 2009] Earlier this week, I was reminded of an article I read about the Facebook generation.  In this article Gary Hamel lists 12 ideas that the Facebook generation has toward the world.  (For the full article: http://bit.ly/aXXHxG.) It’s an interesting list to think about when we talk about youth ministry.  As I have been thinking this
Jul. 26, 2011

The Dangers of the EYM: Fad, Fiction, or Future? by Jerry Watts

I was talking to a friend this week who wondered if all the hype about Exemplary Youth Ministry wasn’t just that. He was not discounting all the good stuff we’ve been blogging about but he did wonder if we were just moving on to the next new thing, the latest fad, the buzz in youth ministry these days. He wondered
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Jul. 26, 2011

Life Teams Part IV by Jerry Watts

Moving into a youth ministry marked by mature faith markers is slow work sometimes.  But living in Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28 to be with us always to the end of the age strengthens us for the upward call of discipleship and evangelism that comes with the promise. For me the picture below is one of those God sightings. Sitting
Jul. 18, 2011

First Third Dialogues: Ministering to Children of Divorce

In September 2010, Luther Seminary’s Center for First Third Ministry, hosted a First Third Dialogue on the topic of Children of Divorce. This conference was for those on the front-lines of ministry with children and youth who know the realities of divorce. Participants shared their own powerful experiences of divorce and heard from experts in the field about the impact