Youth Ministry Reflection

One organization that is becoming increasingly popular, is the new youth church. These churches are made up primarily of young adults; those that attend gain a sense of belonging by their family-like structures and “cell groups”. They also dabble with the postmodern and nontraditional ways of worship, to attract outsiders, and they have a strong emphasis on missionary work.

In chapter one, Cannister claims that when teenagers matter, student ministries will thrive. Cannister begins by showing what most churches are doing by outlining the “good enough” principle, a mentality and form of organization that states that 80% of youth/parents will be satisfied with only 20% of the effort, much like a consumer. Cannister, however, advocates for a comprehensive youth ministry or a ministry that does not just focus on safety, what the parents want, or only

Several years ago God moved upon the heart and mind of Bishop T.T. Scott, prelate of the Northern Mississippi Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, to make choice of Pastor Larry Lee Lewis Sr., to serve as the Jurisdictional Youth Department President. For 16 years, President Lewis led our department with dignity, class, vigor and great distinction. Not only has President

Ryan Moline and I sat down before the service and I got to ask him some questions about the youth group and himself. He graduated from Spring Arbor University and while going there he volunteered at Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church working with the youth group. He has now been a fulltime pastor of the young teens for 3 years making his total amount of time there 6 and a half years. Being the pastor of the young teens he mostly spends time preparing for the Sunday night youth group and the Wednesday night youth group: making up lessons, planning games, making sure he has all the leaders he needs, and setting up the outline for the night. He also plans the youth groups retreat or mission trip they are having that year. Finally, he also is looking ahead for the year, this means coming up with general ideas for the months, figuring out what they will talk about and when they will talk about it.

3- While the idea of finding God is to direct the youth on the right path, it seems like it’s mostly done for the congregation and not really for the youth’s life. This text shows how the

How can we minister more effectively to young Latino Catholics and help them increase their participation in the Church? These are key questions that are frequently raised and that must be acknowledged and studied carefully as we consider the future of the Catholic Church as well as her numerical growth. If we bear in mind that 44% of all Catholics under the age of thirty in the U.S. are Hispanics (according to the 2013 Pew Research Center survey of Hispanic adults) it would certainly seem that increasing Hispanic teenagers ' participation in the Church would be beneficial not just for Hispanic families and communities, but also for the future Church in general. To effectively minister to Hispanic teenagers, an understanding of what is happening in their lives is crucial. Indeed, family plays a big part, but what we often neglect is how significantly culture impacts the life of an adolescent.

Every morning, before we start the school day, our entire school gathers in the gym for a small prayer service. We start our day in the best way possible, by listening to God’s word and allowing him to empower us in our studies throughout the day. We also say grace before lunch together, even though we are in different classrooms. Another important aspect of our religious life is our celebration of first friday masses and holy days of obligation as a school community. Every month one of the classes gets to say the readings and assist Father in the celebration of the first friday mass; and if we are in school, everyone goes up to the church to celebrate a holy day of

The Boston Baptist Church youth group has been one that has thrived in the past years as it reached out to the community at large and attracted youth to it’s programs. In the past year, other churches in the community have decided to reschedule their youth group meeting times to the same time as the Boston youth group. As a result, the population of the youth group has dwindled to an average of five to six youth in attendance. It is interesting to note that the most consistent attendees are ones from the community instead of the church, which is because the church does not have an abundance of youth in the congregation. While this group is very small, every third month there is an opportunity for youth groups in the area to combine and come together for a program called Hive. This program allows for the youth to meet others in the area, have a great time and to support each other in Christ. There are also special events within the Boston youth group once every month where they will go ice skating, go on a hike or something else similar. The goal of this proposal is to; present a plan where we are able to focus on the spiritual growth of the youth and to focus on how we can reach out to the youth in the community.

Even though I heard whispers of my call in my early twenties, I had disregarded any thoughts of seminary as passing notions or fleeting whims. I worked various positions prior to my medical career for the simple purpose of funding my education. However, one thing remained constant. Children. Even as a child myself, I was always volunteering for children’s activities within the church, from nursery attendant to VBS crafts, Sunday school teacher to Education Committee member. Jobs which did not consist of interaction with youth, left me craving a connection. Even as my medical career began, I found myself volunteering at the local YMCA as a soccer coach. Looking back at my gifts and passions, it finally became clear to me that God was calling me to youth

In OMG: A Youth Ministry Handbook, Kendra Creasy Dean goes over several different ways on how to do youth ministry in today’s world. Through reading this book and evaluating Grace United Methodist Church, I have noticed several things that need to be fixed. One of the main things is the youth group lesson focus and the way the youth relate to one another.

Secondly, a quality minister/mentor has a reflective mindset. As a minister, one will tread uncharted waters and he or she must not fear failure or overexploit success. It is imperative for a minister/mentor to approach both failure and success with a reflective spirit to ensure growth. I have seen this exemplified in my long time mentor, Bill Black, Executive Director of Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There is a constant air of unprecedented change within Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries. He braces change with creativity and tranquility and reflection. Not every ministry opportunity goes according to plan, however, he has effectively taught me to take every moment as a learning experience and diligently reflect

Nashville-based group LifeWay Research gathered 2,000 Protestant and non-denominational church attendees for a research sponsored by LifeWay Kids for the book “Nothing Less: Engaging Kids in a Lifetime of Faith.” All of the respondents go to church at least once a month and have children ages 18 to 30.

God calls us to serve and to do everything with love (1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 16:14). As a Student Affairs (SA) professional, my main goal is to help students discover their calling and equip them to better serve the world while integrating their faith. Smith (2004), states why it is important to serve as a mentor during a critical adult faith development stage. In The Council for the Advancement of Standards and Higher Education (CAS), CAS has incorporated faith, spirituality and religion into the standards and competencies that they advocate for individuals working as educators in the student affairs field ( Smith, 2004). In the CAS masters-level graduate program for student affairs standards (2004) the authors spoke to the essential need to incorporate spirituality.

Probably the biggest thing I was challenged about is giving. It is something that is almost totally neglected by the modern church, and I think very few teens would have a good grasp on the 'why' of giving. And there is one part of giving that I think gets even less attention than any other aspect. It’s something Randy Alcorn likes to call the

The stories and interviews of young adults help to strengthen the argument for essential church. The stories were not overwhelming; however, they are impactful, practical and portable. There was a story in virtually every chapter of the book. Two of