Hearing From Our Youth During COVID-19

by Christy Williams A youth worker’s spring and summer are traditionally filled with planning meetings, permission form retrieval, special gatherings, conferences, camps, and mission trips. During this spring and summer, in the midst of a global pandemic when churches...
Connections in the body of Christ

Connections in the body of Christ

By: In our cell-phone, Internet, Facebook world, connections are important. We connect with family and friends, even strangers. The goal is to link, to find out what others are doing and to let others know what we are doing. When we are deprived of our media outlets,...
Real community

Real community

By: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35, NRSV) When my wife and I moved to...
Pray for your friends and change the world

Pray for your friends and change the world

By: Some of my friends are becoming Christians and I am helping! I want to tell you how so that you can choose to practice those ways and teach others to do the same. But first, two stories. I arrived at the Subway restaurant a little nervous about my lunch meeting...
Living outside our silos

Living outside our silos

By: One Sunday during the adult education hour, our church youth group interviewed three elderly couples, asking questions about their lives and their faith. As the couples took turns answering the teens’ questions, the atmosphere in the room was electric. People were...
What relational youth ministry is not

What relational youth ministry is not

By: Youth ministry is the church’s ministry, not just that of specialists who can “relate” to young people. The mandate to be there for young people belongs to the Christian community, not to any individual or group of individuals.”...
Exploring new ways to connect through social media

Exploring new ways to connect through social media

By: In the words of Inception’s Dom Cobb: “Once an idea has taken hold of the brain, it’s almost impossible to eradicate.” And so it took hold in late summer of 2010—a daily devotional video blog. 30God.com launched its first video on the...
Ways we connect

Ways we connect

By: Enduring Connections: Creating a Preschool and Children’s Ministry, Janice Haywood. Chalice Press, 2007. Written for the minister or layperson who leads the childhood ministry in a church, this book gives guidance for developing a ministry that builds...