When you take a look at a typical youth group gathering, what is the general age range of those present? The obvious might be that the participants’ are in their teens because they are youth. At the risk of insulting your intelligence, let me ask you: When you consider the activities, studies and topics...

In Stephen Harper's, The Way to Heaven, we see the emergence of a new type of Christ follower. Harper paints the picture of this new believer as following a movement of God. This move of God is a new wine like that which was poured out in the power of God's Spirit on the disciples of Jesus. It also requires...

Have you ever had a moment when a conversation transported you back in time? That happened to me yesterday. As I was coming home from picking up my 12-year-old daughter, she and her best friend were talking about their day and the attitudes of some of their friends. Suddenly I was transported back to...

In John 20:28, Jesus says He came to serve, not be served. We should have them same attitude. We have been called to serve the communities in which we have been planted. Where does this motivation to serve come from?

Youth Worker Journal continually asks youth workers, “What is on your heart?” Like every youth worker, my heart is on students. My heart is thinking about how students will be able to put their faith into practice and express it through the way they live and talk. I am noticing a common trend when I...

The church has portrayed Jesus a type of spiritual super hero who came to rescue us from our sins. I believe this is a distorted view of what Christ came to do. The history of the incarnation and the struggle the early Church Fathers had regarding this issue seemed to divide them on how to describe the...

Despite all the challenges that come with being a youth ministry rookie, the results and rewards are ultimately worth every single headache. "I have the best job in the world," said Christopher Dinnell, who just completed his first year as youth minister at Urbana United Methodist Church in Urbana, Ohio.

This paper investigates the key areas of spiritual mentoring using the definition formed in Dr. Dave Sanders Mentoring class at Judson University. The definition says that spiritual mentoring is an intentional relationship, spiritually focused, in which one individual is empowered toward the purposes...

Adults set the standard. Adults are who teenagers look to and who they want to emulate when they get older. We may not realize it, but teenagers are looking to us for examples of how faith is supposed to be represented. So why are we not setting the examples very well?

The rising influence of media is having an ever-evolving impact on the way we live. As technology has grown our world has shrunk at break-neck speed. In January 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded children between the ages of 8-18 spend an average of seven hours and 38 minutes per day using...