Welcome to Rooted’s Top Ten, a curated reading list for youth ministers. Each month, we find ten articles, and sometimes videos or podcasts, from various sources that we believe will encourage you in your ministry to teenagers and their families.
That is the mystery and the gift of relational discipleship. We bring ourselves, imperfect and inadequate as we are, and God uses our presence to make himself known.
Whether you’re accompanying teenagers to camp for fun and spiritual growth or taking them to serve and learn from the local church in another part of the world, these weeks away can be equally fruitful and exhausting.
Whether you are a parent discipling your kids at home or a youth minister equipping students and their families, the following resources are historically proven and doctrinally vetted.
Jesus recognized the way activities can feed deeper conversations. Enter the chaos and camaraderie of summer children’s and youth ministry with anticipation and prayer. Jesus served powerfully side-by-side, next to a lake, over meals, and in casual conversation, too!
When churches begin walking with families in the early years of parenting, they no longer see the church as a program provider or babysitter, but as a trusted partner in raising their children to know Christ.
The model minority myth can cause students to subconsciously adhere to standards of church involvement that are far more cultural than biblical. The gospel releases believers from an achievement-forward faith based on works for God, to a faith that abides in and with Christ.
We ought to care about what we are teaching and making accessible—where it’s from, why we’re choosing it, and what it will produce. We cannot control the “eating habits” of our church families, but we can take care with what we serve.
Bearing witness to the dignity of image-bearers is not a political position. It is a theological one. It is what it means to follow a Lord who crossed every boundary and died in the most public, humiliating way possible so that no one would ever be beyond the reach of His love.
