I’ve found life too busy of late with writing a research paper, preparing “Epic”, and getting ready for The Gospel Coalition, not to mention doing taxes and financial aid for my 3 in college, and keeping the marriage alive. All is going well though and the things completed went very well. I’ll post a few things from them soon. Meanwhile, four interesting articles for youth ministers…
1. I ran across this article that I believe youth ministers need to take to heart. It suggests that creativity is somewhat dependent on boredom. I have long felt that we should not over program our events (and I live with the feedback that says “our group needed more free time options”) and sometimes the a key non activity approach can foster the best relationships and create the most fun times. What happens on a retreat for Christian teens when they run out of things to do? They get creative in a very positive way (usually. Take a look at the article here.
Dr Belton, who is an expert in the impact of emotions on behaviour and learning, said boredom could be an “uncomfortable feeling” and that society had “developed an expectation of being constantly occupied and constantly stimulated”. But she warned that being creative “involves being able to develop internal stimulus”.
2. This week the US Supreme Court is looking at the concept of same sex marriage. I don’t think the students in most of our youth groups have considered the implications in this debate. A great article to read on this is Trevin Wax’s “Read the Fine Print Before Supporting “Marriage Equality” on the Gospel Coalition Blog.
3. While preparing a presentation for a workshop at the Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit, I ran across a helpful article by Krish Kandiah who is the current Executive Director of the Evangelical Alliance in Britian. He is a former youth minister and a great Bible teacher as well. He says some great things about ratios of teens to adults among other things. Read “It takes a whole church to raise a child“
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