Our training intensive for Apprentices and others last Thursday & Friday was fantastic. Subjects covered were theology, Biblical interpretation, and youth ministry theory. Part of the teaching was from this book and really got my attention! The Interpretive JourneyFrom Grasping God’s Word 1. What did the text mean to the original audience? 2. What are…

The film, The Golden Compass, opened in December andis based on the first book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. In aninterview in the Washington Post, Pullman candidly remarked, “I’m trying toundermine the basis of Christian belief.” Pullman has also been outspokenabout his desire to undercut The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Read…

(More reflections from Andy on this book…) Having established that God has given parents the role as the main discipler’s of their children, the authors now ask the very important question “what if the parents don’t see themselves with this role?” Parents may feel inadequate because they themselves have never been discipled before; they don’t…

First, Anglicanism is biblical. Anglicanism says to the world: “Show us anything in Scripture that should be taught and that we are not teaching, and we will teach it. Show us anything we are teaching that is contrary to Scripture, and we will stop teaching it.” The Bible, straightforwardly interpreted as revelation from God through…

Christmas is the perfect opportunity to review the gospel in a crystal clear way with students. Check out an evangelistic booklet written by Rico Tice & Barry Cooper focussing on who Jesus was, why he came and what our response to him should be. It might provide fuel for your teaching this season. Read it…

More from Andy’s blog (both posted with his permission) Chapter 4 is one of the key parts of this book. Its focus is on how to being the transition to a biblical centered, parent partnership, student development ministry. The authors write, “The goal for many of our ministries has become to get students to attend,…

From Andy Morgan’s blog… Chp 1 – The issue for the authors is that the current method of student ministry is not working. The number of students who remain believers after college is dropping dramatically. The authors suggest 4 gauges which will indicate whether there is a problem or not: 1. Student retention rates2. Student…

One of the things I have been grappling with is exactly what might be the future calling of youth ministers. If we believe all that is being written and the studies that suggest the end of youth ministry as we know it, the question becomes “what is our future?” Mark Yaconelli wants us to get…

Noticing young people’s discomfort with adult forms of faith and desperately seeking to keep youth engaged, some churches develop ministries of distraction. Inspired by parachurch youth ministries from the 1950s, like Youth for Christ and Young Life (whose founder, Jim Rayburn, once wrote a book entitled It’s a Sin to Bore a Kid), ministries of…

I broke one of my cardinal rules yesterday. Namely, that of not reading feedback immediately afterward an event. I am prone to take things personally when they are really fresh on my mind and vulnerable when I have not had enough sleep. However, I broke the rule in order to get something into the next…