This happens more often than not in ministry and we can justify it by claiming we are doing “God’s work” or “Kingdom work”. But too often those we love most sit home while we “run the race set before us”. Christian’s a divorcing at a rate comparable to non-Christians and I think neglect is one [...]
Archive for the ‘Youth Ministry’ Category
Warning Signs You May Be Taking Your Spouse For Granted
Posted: July 20, 2011 in Mental Health, Misc., Youth MinistryTags: Christianity, God, Marriage, Organizations, Pastor, Pastoral Resources, Religion and Spirituality, Youth Ministry
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Understanding Family Systems (Exploring Family pt. 1)
Posted: July 13, 2011 in Adolescent Development, Parenting, Youth MinistryTags: Domestic violence, Family, God, Jesus, Parental alienation syndrome
So much has been said about the current state of the family that there’s hardly anything new to add to the conversation. It is regularly reported that the family is under attack and is falling apart due to changes in our culture. However, the future need not be bleak for families that are seeking recovery from [...]
What You Assume Is What You Get
Posted: June 29, 2011 in Adolescent Development, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Harvard University, Robert Rosenthal
“Most of us are aware that our expectations affect our own behavior. If you envision yourself losing this afternoon’s tennis match, you are more likely to lose. If you assume you will win, your chances of winning increase significantly. We call these self-fulfilling prophesies. What many people don’t know is that one person’s beliefs can [...]
What Are We Saying When We Don’t Say Anything?
Posted: June 28, 2011 in Anxiety, Self-Injury, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Daniel J. Siegel, Facial expression, Mental health, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, Youth
“When we block our awareness of feelings, they continue to affect us anyway. Research has shown repeatedly that even without conscious awareness, neural input from the internal world of the body and emotion influences our reasoning and our decision making. Even facial expressions we’re not aware of, even changes in heart rhythm we may not notice, [...]
Angry Urban Youth – Survival Of Fittest
Posted: March 9, 2011 in Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Anger, Christ, Emotion, gangs, Men, Relationships, Urban Ministry, Urban Youth, Youth
Anger and fear are closely related emotions. For instance, they both travel through the amygdala in the brain. They need to be closely connected in our brain because people often have to decide quickly between standing their ground or running away in the face of immediate danger. That’s the classic fight-or-flight choice. However, kids growing [...]
What We’re Reading 02/15/2011
Posted: February 15, 2011 in Adolescent Development, Mental Health, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Poverty
The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager – Thomas Hine This book takes a look at the historical context of the American teenager experience. Hine gives a great overview of the invention and development of the “adolescent” and their unique roles throughout our country’s history. It drags at times but if hang in there you [...]
Would Jesus Sit In The Smoking Section With A Gay Huckleberry Finn?
Posted: November 23, 2010 in Drug Abuse, LGBTQ Youth, Self-Injury, Substance Abuse, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, AIDS, God, Huck, Huck Finn, Jesus, Mark Twain, Samaritan
In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck wrestles through a moral dilemma about demonstrating true friendship to a stigmatized person of his day – a man who bore a dual stigma of being black in a racist society and slavery in an exploitative one. To help his friend Jim escape meant violating not only [...]
Avoiding Volunteer Burnout (youth pastor life skills series pt.4)
Posted: November 2, 2010 in Youth MinistryTags: burnout, Human resources, Volunteering
Volunteer burnout is real and can be prevented by you as the ministry leader. Volunteer burnout can be thought of as a psychological process - a series of attitudinal and emotional reactions – that a volunteer goes through as a result of ministry related and personal experiences. Often the first sign of burnout is a feeling of being emotionally exhausted from one’s work. [...]
When A Student “Falls In Love” With The Youth Worker
Posted: October 29, 2010 in Misc., Uncategorized, Youth MinistryTags: Christianity, Human sexuality, Religion and Spirituality, Student, Youth Ministry, Youth worker
Because of the difficulties students have in early and mid-adolescence to manage strong feelings of intimacy, the new experience of having someone who listens and whom they can trust sometimes lead them to believe that they are in love with their youth worker. Sadly, many at-risk students are so accustomed to negative feelings (shame, fear, [...]
