Christianity in itself is controversial. The history of the church is filled with outbreaks of violence as the message of Christ was spread. One reason was due to fact that this radical new message was based on the free grace of a God who chose to save His creation by the sacrificial death of His Son....

What does "open-source" mean to you? To a developer, it means a chance to contribute to the world. To the technology companies, it means their competition isn't another company but the entire world. To technology users, it means free technology such as Firefox and Skype.

Thousands of churches have been singing the popular worship chorus "Healer" since Australian youth pastor Michael Guglielmucci wrote it in 2008. The Aussie worship band Hillsong United has made it a global anthem, and it’s especially popular among people battling illness. But the song took on a darker...

Excerpt: How a Denver church named itself "Scum of the Earth"

An Oct. 8, 2007, study conducted by the Barna Group (Barna.org) suggests that teenagers are some of the most religiously active people around. The study suggested nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of teenagers say they pray in a typical week, which Barna identified as the most common spiritual activity...

That same tension seems to exist between youth workers and parents. After all, if you put God first in your ministry and try to bring a child closer to God, parents will complain. I feel blessed that it's only happened once to me, though, because of the way my congregation views the church. Rather than...

If someone knows a simple definition of family-based youth ministry, please send it right away. I've read (and enjoyed) most of the books written on the subject. In fact, I can still remember reading Mark DeVries' book Family-Based Youth Ministry the very week it was published. I said then and maintain...

He wants to explore his own questions, but he feels he has nowhere to go. Can I blame him? Can I really expect him to make the jump from teen classes to adult classes? Can young adults really play "smell-my-feet" one week then discuss the role free will plays in predestination the next—all because they...

During a rather lively discussion on the merits of family-friendly methods of youth ministry, one influential speaker and author emphatically proclaimed, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it...and youth ministry ain't broke!"

Gwen had graduated two days before, but without even thinking she showed up at church and went through her normal routine: standing outside the high school Sunday School room, talking and laughing with a few of her friends from the youth group. When the leader called the meeting to order, she walked...