Word Teasers
By: Michelle Thomas-Bush Year after year, young people entered Confirmation without a vocabulary to talk about faith. It is not unusual. At the first meeting, I would empower the parents to have deeper faith conversations. Like most good educators, I would give them...
The Transformative Power of Youth Mission Trips
By: Jann Treadwell All of us want to make a difference in the lives of others. This can occur as we follow Christ’s mandate to serve those in need. That said, youth leaders hope service projects also will make a difference in the faith and lives of our own youth, not...
What is the “Mission” of our Youth Mission Trips?
By: Bill Buchanan After 9 years, we at Youth Mission Co have come to a conclusion. We no longer lead youth mission trips. There have been many critiques about short term mission trips with teenagers. There are stories of young people who travel far away, excited to...
Inside Out: Life in the Teenage Brain
By: Rodger Nishioka In the Disney Pixar film Inside Out released last year, adolescent Riley is sad, angry, and lonely after her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. She embarks on a plan to run away and buys a cross country ticket and boards a bus to go...
An Imperfect Lineage: A Youth Reflection on the Genealogy of Jesus
By: Kaylee Osteen “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew 1:1 (NRSV) Over the past few years, the summer Montreat Youth Conferences have inspired me in a multitude of ways. Escaping to the mountains of North...
The Milestone of the First Cell Phone
By: Beth Thaxton If you see sixth graders jumping up and down, it’s because they just got their first cell phone. Or more appropriately, they’re not jumping… because you really can’t jump and Snapchat at the same time. Too dangerous. The youth in my congregation often...
Parenting in a Digital World
By: Liv Looney Cappelmann Facebook was originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission—to make the world more open and connected. – Mark Zuckerberg Friends, it is no secret we are living in the digital media era. There are hundreds of...
Giving Bibles to Children…Which One, When and How We Give…It All Matters!
Many churches have a practice of giving a Bible to a child or to a family. The most common occasion is the beginning of the school year when a child is entering second or third grade. This recognizes their growing ability to read and comprehend stories. Then often a second Bible is given to a teenager at either the beginning or completion of confirmation. Less common is the giving of a Bible storybook appropriate for very young children, which some congregations give at birth/adoption or at baptism or dedication. Sometimes these important practices need some reconsideration and updating. Here are some suggestions to consider as you review the tradition of your congregation.
The Rite of Way in Faith: Rites of Passage and Youth Ministry
Adolescence, at least US/North American adolescence, can be seen as a seven-year span of age (12–18 years) or grades (6th–12th grades). Over these seven years, numerous adolescent status changes occur: puberty, educational structure, licensing, sexual attraction, dating, working, future forecasting (post high school plans, such as college, vo-tech, travel), and voting.
As youth ministry has taken the great step to shrink the distance between the young person and their faith formation (meaning faith isn’t just about a Sunday schedule), there is significant meaning and impact in connecting youth ministry to to the rites of adolescence or the Rites of Passage.