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Neo-Youth Ministry Series Introduction

Last Updated February 1, 2007 by Matt Leave a Comment

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

As most of you very well know, the prefix neo simply means new. In order to affix this label to a word, the “new” understanding of the word must be so different than the previous understanding to warrant the neo prefix, rather than just slightly adjusting the meaning of the old word. However, at the […]

Filed Under: Featured, Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 1: “Youth”

Last Updated February 11, 2007 by Matt Leave a Comment

This entry is part 2 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

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 […]

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 2: “Ministry”

Last Updated February 17, 2007 by Matt Leave a Comment

This entry is part 3 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth 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 […]

Filed Under: Youth Ministry, Neo-Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 3: The Youth Minister

Last Updated February 22, 2007 by Matt 1 Comment

This entry is part 4 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

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 […]

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 4: The Youth Minister as Theologian

Last Updated February 26, 2007 by Matt 4 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

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 […]

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 5: The Youth Minister as Pastor

Last Updated May 25, 2007 by Matt 1 Comment

This entry is part 6 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

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 […]

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 6: Youth Minister as Spiritual Director

Last Updated September 7, 2007 by Matt 2 Comments

This entry is part 7 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

Continuing with my series on Neo-Youth Ministry that began months ago, we now turn to yet another facet of a Neo-Youth Minister: spiritual director. Above all else, a spiritual director is one who listens. In traditional spiritual direction roles, a directee comes and shares with his or her director in a formal, one-on-one setting, similar […]

Filed Under: Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 7: The Youth Minister as Prophet

Last Updated September 12, 2007 by Matt 5 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

The role of prophet is perhaps the most important of all the roles of the Neo-Youth Minister. Though it is significantly related to his or her role as theologian, it describes the type of theologian the youth minister will be. A prophet is a theologian with feet to the pavement. A prophet is the change-agent […]

Filed Under: Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 8: The Youth Minister as Youth Advocate

Last Updated September 17, 2007 by Matt 2 Comments

This entry is part 9 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

A Neo-Youth Minister must be an advocate for adolescents to the adults with which he or she interacts. Perhaps one of the reasons why youth ministry (not to mention youth ministers) has such a hard time dealing with the expectations of congregations, parents, and other church leadership is that they do not understand the nature […]

Filed Under: Youth Ministry

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 9: The Youth Minister as Interpreter and Synthesizer

Last Updated September 21, 2007 by Matt 1 Comment

This entry is part 10 of 13 in the series Neo-Youth Ministry

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 […]

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

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Best Youth Ministry Books

These are the books that will completely change the way you think about youth ministry, for the better. Links are to my reviews of each book.

Teen 2.0 by Robert Epstein

A psychologist makes you question every assumption you have about adolescence.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andrew Root

Why build relationships? Root’s answer will surprise you.

Best Youth Ministry Books: Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher

Yesterday I finally read Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher, and since I’m one of the latecomers to the conversation I won’t summarize the book too much. Marko has linked to tons of reviews on his blog if you are interested in more in-depth summaries. If you are fairly in-tune with a lot of the […]

Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry

Postmodern Youth Ministry by Tony Jones is the book I would recommend to youth ministers if they could just read one youth ministry book. I first read the book in my Foundations and Practices of Youth Ministry class at John Brown University. After the preface to the book there is a page titled, “The Day […]

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