Friday Review (2/18/22)
Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.)
Youth Ministry
High Schoolers Can Be Church Members, Too by Taylor Cain (For the Church)
We should not view the students within our care in their junior high and high school years like a paper sailboat that we push out into a stream hoping that the rushing waters and wind will navigate them to the right destination. We should not leave it up to chance that our students will somehow stay committed to the local church.
Lessons Learned During My First Year of Youth Ministry: Leadership Takes Time by Taylor Sutton (Rooted)
Although a number of factors contributed to this surprising (to me!) timeline, one lesson stands out in particular now: effective leadership in youth ministry requires earning trust and building credibility. And that takes time.
Why is "Re-Converting" Easier than Repenting? by Samuel D. James (Insights)
I’m not saying that these friends were definitely Christians or were definitely not. I don’t know that and I’m glad I don’t know. But as I’ve encountered more evangelical culture as an adult, I’ve seen and heard enough to convince me that many church-going evangelicals have a far more vibrant theology of “getting saved” than they have of ongoing repentance in the life of a believer.
Biblical/Theological Studies
Reading the Bible Through Racial Lenses by Chad Brennan (Barna)
It’s easy for us to point fingers at Christians who lived a few hundred years ago and wonder how they could have been so wrong in their interpretation of scripture. Yet we are not immune to falling into a similar trap. Examples like “biblical support” for slavery during the antebellum period should motivate us to reflect on whether our economic, political, religious views and racial identity—which are interrelated—are distorting our understanding and application of scripture.
What Would Jesus Deconstruct? by James Walden (The Gospel Coalition)
As Joshua Ryan Butler put it, “Jesus deconstructs bad teaching in order to reconstruct good teaching.” Our Lord certainly did this within his first-century, Middle Eastern Jewish context. He might well deconstruct a good bit within our 21st-century, Western Christian context as well—perhaps including some of our current modes of “deconstruction”!
Cultural Reflection/Contextualization
There’s No Such Thing as a Post-truth World by Trevin Wax (The Gospel Coalition)
Bearing witness to the truth can be exhausting in a world that piles lie upon lie. But Alexandyr Solzenhitsyn was right: One word of truth outweighs the entire world.
Will the Super Bowl Teach Kids On-Field Arrogance? by Walt Mueller (CPYU)
But are there ever times when players cross the line from performing with excellence and humility, to a kind of arrogance that not only reveals over-the-top pride, but also teaches our vulnerable kids to do the same? Sure, we can write it all off as “part of the game.” But is that justification for unbounded vanity?
Pastoral Ministry
Why Is It So Hard to Have Constructive Conversations About Abuse? by Brad Hambrick (ERLC)
One obstacle to receiving care for current victims and survivors of past abuse is the tensions that emerge in the public discourse about abuse. While this obstacle exists in almost every setting, it is uniquely present within the church and Christian communities.
Pastor, Take a Break Before You Quit by Jared C. Wilson (Lifeway)
I’m convinced that what a lot of pastors on the verge of quitting need is not a new context or a new vocation but a substantive break—a sabbatical. But so many pastors are in churches where that’s a foreign concept or a tough sell or otherwise unfeasible.
Family/Parents
The Paradox of Parenting and How To Trust God More by Cara Ray
As parents, we’re constantly balancing our God-given instincts to protect, with our own dependence on God to help us let them go. How does this practically work itself out?
Parenting Teenagers Through More Than Our Words by Samuel D. James (Rooted)
So yes, let us speak of truth and goodness and beauty with our children. But let’s not focus all our energy there, for this is only part of the way to “train a child in the way he should go” (Prov. 22:6). Let’s also remember to ask a lot of questions, just as Jesus was prone to do, believing the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of our children.
From YPT this week
How I’m Teaching the Stories of Jesus by Mike McGarry
This article brings you behind the scenes for how I’ve structured my own upcoming youth group series on “The Stories of Jesus.”
YPT in Action: Will Standridge by Will Standridge
“YPT in Action” is an ongoing series where we hear from various youth workers about what it means for them to be a youth pastor theologian who builds their ministry to students on a biblical foundation. This edition features Will Standridge.