In response to last week's post about how a fear of offending people keeps teens from talking about their faith with others, a reader reminded me how at that age, even if he'd wanted to talk about his faith with others, he wouldn't have known how....
I am a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.
Over the next...
My high school youth ministry is currently in the midst of a series about “war and peace”. Thus far, we've discussed why religion seems to cause so many wars, genocide, and refugees.
As a whole, teens in my youth ministry have a pretty high...
In 2008, my husband and I began mentoring an Iraqi woman and her two sons.
They were refugees who'd been forced to flee for fear of their lives, casualties of a war the United States began.
As the year progressed and we got to know this family...
During my first year in youth ministry, the thing I looked for most in student leaders was spiritual maturity.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time finding teens who you could call spiritually mature.
This makes sense when you realize high school...
Throughout high school, I was actively involved in my congregation's youth ministry. This was, in many ways, the activity that was most important to me during that time period. Even so, I rarely invited friends from my high school to join me for...
I am a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.
Over the next...
It's been a long, COLD, snowy February in the Chicago area, making me extremely thankful I purchased a winter maternity coat.
Reading:
Cold, snowy nights have been perfect for curling up with a book by the fire. This month, here are...
What the book's about: From Moses to Jesus, in The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann highlights the prophetic vision found in Scripture and explores what it means for us today.
Why I read this book: After a friend recommended this...
There are typically three ways to choose your youth ministry's student leaders.
1. Vote. Similar to student council elections at school, peers elect those teens they want to be student leaders.
2. Select. The youth pastor or a team of people...