Often, our lives in youth ministry seem like a never-ending whirlwind of activity. With deadlines on the one hand, and student athletic events/school activities on the other, most youth workers are caught in a perpetual motion machine of doing, going, and giving too much. Studies continue to show an unequal division of conjugal labour, a situation [...]
Posts Tagged ‘God’
Balance (youth pastor life skills series pt. 5)
Posted: February 17, 2011 in Mental HealthTags: Christianity, God, Religion and Spirituality, Teens, United States, Youth, Youth Ministry, Youth worker
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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 [...]
The Anatomy Of Honesty
Posted: October 25, 2010 in Drug Abuse, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Teen Dating Violence, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Dishonesty, God, Health, Honesty, Philosophy, Substance Abuse, Youth
We encourage students to explore the role of honesty and confession as a discipline in the Way of Jesus. Issues relevant to this topic include: What is the cost of dishonesty? When is it safe to confess? What if the other person doesn’t accept honesty? “I haven’t told my parents that I use pot. I [...]
Personal Inventory (youth pastor life skills series pt.3)
Posted: September 20, 2010 in Depression, Grief, Mental Health, Youth MinistryTags: depression, Emotion, Fear, God, Happiness, Health, Jesus, Motivation
It’s important that we stop from time to time and take a sober look at the that of our life and ministry. Scripture says to be ”sober minded” and that requires a regular honest evaluation of or current state of affairs. The following is not an exhaustive list but will give you a good idea, if [...]
Unconditional worth means that each person has infinite, unchanging worth as a person. This worth comes with a person’s creation, and cannot be earned nor lost by poor behavior. This is not the same as market or social worth, which clearly are earned and lost. This core worth is not comparable. So you might be [...]
Coping With Burnout
Posted: July 1, 2010 in Mental Health, Misc., Spirituality, Teens, Uncategorized, Youth MinistryTags: Abba, Burn-Out, burnout, God, Health, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, Suicide, Youth Ministry, Youth worker
For youth workers (paid or volunteer), there can be nothing more frightening than the belief that something terrible might happen to a student that you have invested so much time and energy in. As a substance abuse counselor, I struggle with the reality that one day someone could overdose and die regardless of how much I try [...]
