“For many youthworkers, a desire to avoid conflict can lead us to avoid being direct in order to keep people happy with us.”

Gain strategies for helping hurting kids from the Center for Parent Youth Understanding.

When it comes to embracing new technologies, we youth workers (Christians? humans?) come in about five basic flavors...That, my techno-youth ministry friends, is simply this—digital video production in youth ministry.

The problem had started so simply, but Maya's teacher couldn't understand why she was being so obstinate. Maya had talked out of turn and been asked to apologize. Maya respectfully apologized with her head down. She was asked to look up and do it again "respectfully." Confused, she apologized again,...

Sunday School stinks. Case in point: I used to be able to evangelize with ease, only later to feel I'd been wrong about how I was sharing my faith through church classes that taught me "the contagious way" to witness. I feel pressure from curricula that have taught me the "right way" to read the Scripture....

"Hey, howzit goin'?" "How are ya doing?" "What's goin' on, man?" Am I the only one who gets annoyed by these generic, un-heartfelt inquiries? It's tried and true; superficial questions get superficial answers. Somehow I can't hear Jesus casually asking the disciples or Pharisees, "How's everybody doin'...

Technology always has changed the world. A little more than two years ago, I wrote about the question of whether youth pastors should join Facebook as a means of reaching out to students. Now, it's everywhere. And as much as I hated doing it (because I loved my old phone), I got a new one so I could...

It does not matter if you are a full-time youth worker, part-time youth worker, a volunteer, a bus driver or an "extra" adult. If you have a relationship with a student, then he or she will talk and share with you willingly. Most students do not talk to an adult based on the titles or job descriptions;...

Passion, desire and a good work ethic weren’t lacking; rather, my problem was blindness to The Big Picture. I really didn’t know what we wanted to accomplish other than to teach God’s Word and have a good time. I needed a mission statement, a clear and concise assertion that spelled out our purpose as...

As part of YouthWorker Journal’s 25th anniversary, we are pleased to revisit this classic article from 1991 by Marlene LeFever, who has kindly added an update at the end