Our youth ministry has a set of ground rules that we reiterate every time we gather. They’re basic things that establish how we relate to and interact with one another. Our ground rules include:
1. When one person talks, everyone else listens. To...
I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.
Over the next...
Yesterday, one of my female student leaders taught a class at my church. Her teaching felt especially appropriate since it was international women’s day, a day in which we celebrate women and the movement for women’s rights.
My student leader and...
I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.
Over the next...
Three years ago, our associate pastor left to take another call. Our church immediately scheduled a farewell dinner. I assumed the students who she’d worked closely with during her tenure at our congregation would attend. While some did, most didn...
The night my high school youth ministry discussed refugees, one of our final questions was, “How else can we show mercy to refugees?”
After wrestling with this question for a while, one student quietly and courageously asked, “Everything...
As part of our youth ministry's recent conversation about refugees, students worked in small groups to write a modern-day version of the Good Samaritan. Here's one group's version:
An empty-handed Syrian refugee was traveling from...
After 15 years in our congregation, my senior pastor is leaving to take a new call.
Since my senior pastor announced his departure, I’ve become acutely aware of the role that I, as a staff member, have to play in this transition. Just as there are...
“I can’t do the Famine,” one of my active, never-miss-an-activity students informed me.
“How come?” I asked.
“My mom doesn’t want me to starve myself,” she said.
It’s something I’ve heard a lot over the years. For many students, fasting – the...
After 15 years in our congregation, my senior pastor is leaving to take a new call.
As far as transitions go, this is a healthy one. No underlying conflict is forcing anyone to go. And yet, transitions are always hard. I’m grieving and so are many...