Sorry to interrupt the regularly-scheduled Neo-Youth Ministry Series programming, but I wanted to address something about the series. You may notice I don’t talk about the Bible much in these posts. There is a reason for that. Quite simply, I’m trying to keep my posts fairly short. I want these to be able to be […]
Kevin Vanhoozer on Youth Ministry
Okay, well, he doesn’t exactly comment on youth ministry. But in an interview at The Exiled Preacher, Vanhoozer is asked about the pastor’s task as theologian. I’ve argued elsewhere that a youth minister has a similar theological responsibility, and think there are obvious parallels. Guy Davies: In the Drama of Doctrine, you suggested that the […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 9: The Youth Minister as Interpreter and Synthesizer
Flowing out of all of the other roles of a Neo-Youth Minister (especially theologian, pastor, prophet, and spiritual director), a Neo-Youth Minister must be an interpreter. By this, I mean that the youth minister must be skilled in interpreting the following realms: Culture. A Neo-Youth Minister must be able to make sense and extract meaning […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 5: The Youth Minister as Pastor
While many full-time youth workers carry the title of “Youth Pastor” I wonder how many take the role of “pastor” seriously. If we are going to forge a new, authentic way of doing youth ministry, then the youth minister must take seriously their role in the pastoral care of the congregation. I believe that some […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 4: The Youth Minister as Theologian
I have to admit, I may be a little biased with this first attribute of a youth minister able to transition towards a Neo-Youth Ministry. During my junior year of college, I gave consideration to going into the world of academics and heading straight for seminary (and a subsequent Ph.D.) after undergrad. But my wife […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 3: The Youth Minister
Having given some attention to the actual term youth ministry, we now turn to the role of the youth minister (or pastor or director, whatever the exact title may be). Before diving into what might be the role of the youth minister within a Neo-Youth Ministry, some things need to be said in regard to […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 2: “Ministry”
Continuing to examine the term youth ministry, we now turn to the word ministry. This will probably be a fairly brief post, since I don’t have any real training in Greek. My interest in the term ministry is that it appears that in popular usage it is taken to mean a specific Christian program or […]
Neo-Youth Ministry Part 1: “Youth”
In order to begin to re-think what it might mean to do youth ministry, to formulate a Neo-Youth Ministry, we should probably start out by coming to grips with the term “youth ministry”. To begin, I’ll be examining the word “youth”. “Youth”, as it is defined in most church ministry contexts refers to students in […]