We went straight to the source(s) on this one, talking with parents who have worked with the youth ministry in their local churches even as their child participates. To a person, these parents want to encourage you to…
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” – Francis Chan Every February, parents email me about an article I once wrote about a disappointment I had…
Intergenerational Integration is one of Rooted’s five pillars of youth ministry. We believe strongly that students are part of the Church—but sometimes including them in the life of our local churches is easier said than done. Here are…
Dorena Williamson has a ministry of reconciliation and bridge-building among diverse communities in the church and around the country.
I had coffee with a student not long ago, during which he expressed to me his anxiety over getting everything just right, and the difficulty of putting an assignment to rest. These prayers came out of that conversation.
I pulled into a parking space outside the high school gym and grabbed my purse. I didn’t want to be late for the first varsity football parents meeting. My son had sweated through years of football to get…
Dear Lonely Teenager, Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m kind of sad, how about you? Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to display and receive love through gifts, cards, candy, flowers, and fluffy animals. But sometimes this day…
When I was a teenager, I was aware that the good news of the gospel meant Jesus had saved me from sin. Still, I didn’t realize until later that the gospel also meant Jesus had saved me into…
I love youth ministry because our culture has so little hope for our students. Pundits talk about “losing a generation” to their cell phones. The sociologist Jean Twenge reports that teens “are on the verge of the largest…
