Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Four Reasons to Not Give Up on Youth Ministry


We live in a church culture where some quadrants are starting to second guess the value of youth ministry. Books, articles and blogs have been written decrying its effectiveness and calling out for action steps that range from small tweaks to a complete trashing of it.

And, yes, if we’re honest, we all know down deep inside that something is wrong. Teenagers are leaving the church before and after they graduate. As Mike Yaconelli, one of the founders of Youth Specialties, said back in the day, the typical youth group has less seniors than juniors, less juniors than sophomores and less sophomores than freshman. In the eleven years since Mike went to be with Lord teenagers have become even busier and more distracted by technology and less impressed with the fun and flash of typical youth ministry programming.

Something needs to be done for sure. Systemic change needs to happen. But I want to challenge you to take giving up on youth ministry altogether off the table of options. Here are four reasons why I’m not giving up on youth ministry.... Read more

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