Friday Review (2/3/23)
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
Teaching Teenagers Biblical Context, by Kyle Hoffsmith (Rooted)
Teaching students how to properly read, understand, and apply the Bible is a terrifying task considering the Bible has 66 books, hundreds of chapters, and thousands of verses. This task is intensified when our youth ministries are filled with students who have differing cognitive abilities and who come from a variety of family backgrounds.
What Makes a Successful Youth Ministry?, by Andy Jung (Fuller Youth Institute)
If the mission is to help teenagers become lifelong disciples of Jesus, then the real measure of success is in the number of students who remain engaged in their faith into adulthood. Unfortunately, success can’t be measured until 5-10 years after students leave our ministries.
New Study of Teenagers and Pornography: Three Things Youth Ministers Need to Know, by Chelsea Kingston Erickson (Rooted)
While I am using a bit of playful hyperbole in the above illustration, a similar oddity happens when disagreements and conflict within the body of Christ arise—Matthew 18 seems to become the solitary text of scripture able to be discussed. It is as though the whole enterprise hinges upon that single verse!
Biblical & Theological Studies
When Good Doctrine Enables Abuse, by Nate Brooks (Biblical Counseling Coalition)
We are often wise enough to recognize how doctrines outside our own camp create fertile environments for abuse. It’s not hard to see how a stream of Pentecostalism that locates all authority in the pastor, who also is the congregation’s spiritual protector and has the spiritual gift of words of knowledge from God, is a setup for disaster. However, we tend to overlook the way our own cherished doctrines may be exploited.
What To Do Before You Read the Bible, by Brian Key (Sola Ecclesia)
For the last several years, as I have prayed these petitions, God has been faithful to answer all of them. Some days are heavier in one category than others, but I pray them for myself each time I read Scripture and for my congregations each time I preach because they capture our deep needs as we approach God’s Word.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
Tyre Nichols and Prayers for Change, by Rufus Smith (The Gospel Coalition)
Because we know that, and because we have the Holy Spirit, we can pray and work against injustice here with tireless energy and a peaceful heart.
The Church Was Meant to Enjoy Its Diversity, Not Wish It Away, by Helen Lee and Michelle Ami Reyes (Christianity Today)
Whether or not multiethnicity is being addressed in our churches, we parents need to teach our kids about topics like these: Why did God choose to create humankind in different shades and ethnicities? What purpose do these differences serve in addition to giving God pleasure? How do we show people of other ethnicities and cultures that we value them as fellow human beings?
Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ and the Spirit of the Age, by Patrick Miller (The Gospel Coalition)
My prayer is that Christian millennials will come to see chaos is no better than totalitarian order. While others in our generation leave ash in their wake, we must prove the power of the resurrection by building local institutions that are good, true, and beautiful.
Pastoral Ministry
Ministry Is Tough: When Self-Care Becomes Self-Absorption, by Trevin Wax (The Gospel Coalition)
Pastors and church leaders aren’t immune to these developments, and I wonder if in some cases the cultural shift toward self-care has led to a new set of wrong assumptions among those just entering ministry... We’ll assume the need for self-care to the point that others may need to insist on hard and strenuous labor, even when it hurts.
Family & Parents
“Mommy, Do You Like Being a Mom?”, by Katie Faris (Crossway)
When my daughter asked me if I like being a mom, I froze. I wanted to get the answer right, but it was a loaded question. While there are parts of motherhood that I thoroughly enjoy, being a mom has also been one of the hardest and most painful things I’ve ever experienced.
From YPT this week
5 Ways MLK Inspires Me to Be a Better Youth Pastor by Russell Mann
Here are five ways Martin Luther King Jr’s life and ministry can equip youth pastors for ministry.
YPT Podcast Episode 25: Faith, Doubt, and Everything with Matt Bellefeuille
Faith and doubt are struggles many teenagers (and leaders!) endure. How should youth workers respond when students express doubt and question their faith?