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. Some give explicit instruction on gospel-centered ministry, while others are included because there is a message of common grace that is helpful to youth workers. (The opinions presented in these articles do not necessarily reflect the position of Rooted.) For more articles to share with the parents in your ministry, make sure to check out our Parent Top Ten, which runs every-other month.
If you find an article that could educate, equip, or encourage the Rooted community, please email the editor at chelsea@rootedministry.com.
Gospel-Centered
Gospel-Centered in Person, Not Just in Paradigm by Jared C. Wilson (Gospel-Centered Discipleship)
In the areas of leadership and shepherding, if we are not rehearsing the message of Christ’s cross and resurrection with our fellow pastors, staff, friends, family, and the rest of our flock, we are in real danger of drifting away from our first love.
YPT Podcast ep.92: Trends in Youth Ministry with Walt Mueller (Youth Pastor Theologian)
What’s happening in the youth ministry world today and how did we get here? This is an important question that we need to ask from time to time, and who’s better to ask than Dr. Walt Mueller?
You’ve (Probably) Never Heard These Black Christians’ Stories by Kelvin J. Washington (TGC)
In one volume, Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States, Walter Strickland—assistant professor of systematic and contextual theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary—narrates a history often left in the margins. Then, in a companion volume, Swing Low: An Anthology of Black Christianity in the United States, he and a team of editors anthologize lesser-read saints from the past telling their stories.
Partnering with Parents
Understanding Emotional Health of Young Men by Sean Lynn (SOLA)
Our children may image us, but they also image God himself (Genesis 1:27). He is the perfect author and parent, and we have the opportunity to show our children a better way in him as we steward our roles as parents. It’s difficult to admit that the answer to some of our teen’s greatest challenges are not from within our minds and hearts, but from God above. Entrusting their lives to him can be a fruitful seed we plant, for ourselves and for our teens who will grow up and remember their parents’ steadfast trust in God for their lives.
The Price of Mass Amusement by Andrew Trousdale (After Babel)
The promise of personalization is seductive, but the cost is steep. By accommodating our preferences and prejudices, algorithms distort reality and distance us from each other. In doing so, they make us fragile and righteous. They drain our interest in the world. And in the end, the personalized amusement is only a means of capturing our attention: the more we consume from algorithms, the more they consume us.
Youth Culture
Teens and Screens 2024 Report (UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers)
Teens and Screens is a nationally-sourced annual research report conducted by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA to understand more about what young people care about and want to see in entertainment media. Check out prior years’ reports here. And view our press release for this project on UCLA’s newsroom here.
Here Be Dragons: What Christians Need to Know About Romantasy by Kathryn Butler (TGC)
This ambiguity means young readers may see an intriguing cover and unwittingly end up reading grievously inappropriate content. The high schoolers I interviewed said the back-cover copy of fantasy books rarely offers clues about spice… “I’ve been warning parents for years about the young adult novel market,” Jacobs noted. “…If a teen is avidly reading secular young adult novels, I guarantee they are reading softcore porn. And their parents may have no idea.”
Ministry Skills
When the Pews Hold Pain by Steve Midgely (Christianity Today)
In his ministry on earth, Jesus moved toward those who suffer. The sick and needy—and those who considered themselves outcasts—flocked to him (see Mark 1:32 and 10:49). In imitation of Jesus, the church is also expected to move toward those who suffer—”if one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). This acceptance of, and love toward, those who suffer is rooted in the salvation work of Jesus. Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Heb. 12:2). We have a message that speaks powerfully to both suffering and shame.
10 Things We Get Wrong About the Love of God by Sam Storms (Crossway Blog)
The love of God, then, is clearly the source or cause of the atoning work of Christ. God does not love people because Christ died for them; Christ died for them because God loved them. The death of the Savior is not to be conceived as restoring in people something on the basis of which we might then win God’s love.
How to Honor Christ as Holy in Apologetics by Derek Rishmawy (The Keller Center, TGC)
Apologetics that honors Christ as holy sees the apologist not as the prime mover in the event but as a servant of the Lord, a tool in the hand of his ever-effective Master.
Rooted’s Two Most-Read of February
‘Wade in the Water’ and Our Great Deliver (Theological Truths for Teenagers from Black Spirituals) by Isaiah Marshall
“Wade in the Water’ reminds us that God moves in the chaos of life to bring healing, freedom, and redemption through Christ.
‘There is a Balm in Gilead’ (Theological Truths for Teenagers from Black Spirituals) by Alexis Andre
The reason for the spiritual’s refrain is none other than Christ himself. Our healing, hope, and “balm” lies within him.
In Case You Missed It (Rooted’s February Honorable Mention)
Giving Teenagers Theological Depth—Without Going Over Their Heads by Stephen Yates
It is not on you to save the students God has gathered. Your job is to faithfully love and point them to Jesus. Taking multiple levels of theological depth into account when you teach is a great way to love.
