Gen Z and Mental Health: An In-depth Interview with Josh Packard
How can church leaders better reach Gen Z? Doug Powe, Director of the Lewis Center, speaks with Josh Packard about Springtide Research Institute’s research including…
Browsing: Youth
Articles
Every Church is a Work in Progress
Is your church imperfect? Youth ministry expert Deech Kirk says “welcome to the club.” Successful church leaders need to accept that every church is a…
Youth Ministry by Any Other Name
Kenda Creasy Dean writes that today ministry with young people often means finding young people where they live and work and embedding the church beside…
Thanking God It’s Good Friday: Intergenerational Children’s Ministry
Jessica L. Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff reports on an intergenerational ministry that teaches children about the significance of Holy Week and Easter. She…
How Parents Pass Religious Faith to their Children
What determines whether children will carry on the faith of their parents? Past research established that parents play the critical role. Ann Michel of the…
“How Parents Pass Religious Faith to their Children” featuring Christian Smith
What determines whether children will carry on the faith of their parents? Past research established that parents play the critical role. In this episode noted sociologist Christian Smith shares new research examining how parents shape their children’s faith and the critical factor of talking about religion in the context of day-to-day life.
4 Ways to Nurture a Church Culture More Open to Change
Ministry innovations are more likely to take root in a congregational culture that is receptive to change. Meghan Hatcher who works with the Innovation Lab…
How Parents Help Children Grow in Faith
New research on how parents pass faith to their children provides strong evidence that talking with children about faith in the context of daily life…
6 Suggestions to Promote Healthy Intergenerational Worship
David Manner says the goal of healthy intergenerational worship is unobtainable unless the different generations within your church are first interacting together outside of worship.…
Understanding Generation Z and Connecting with Their Passions
What are the unique characteristics of young people coming of age today? Rock Jones, president of Ohio Wesleyan University, describes a generation of digital natives…
Episode 75: “Understanding Generation Z and Connecting with Their Passions” featuring Rock Jones
What are the unique characteristics of young people coming of age today? Rock Jones, president of Ohio Wesleyan University, describes a generation of digital natives who are highly connected but also lonely and anxious. Dr. Jones describes Gen Zers’ life questions, the perspectives they bring to spiritual engagement, and ways church leaders can meet them where they are.
Episode 72: “Faith and the Video Gaming Community” featuring David Petty and Russ Dornisch
Is there space for faith in the world of online video gaming? David Petty and Russ Dornisch discuss CROSSFIRE: faith + gaming, the innovative online Christian community they have created for gamers.
Episode 65: “The End of Youth Ministry” featuring Andy Root
How can youth ministry be more than fun and games? In this episode we speak with Andy Root about how youth can find identity and deep joy in shared narratives and intergenerational connections.
Ministering with Families in the Ongoing Pandemic
Emily Peck McClain describes the very real challenges children, youth, and families face during this time of upheaval and distance from physical church. She offers…
Episode 49: “What is Messy Church?” featuring Johannah Myers
Looking for a creative, new way to bring people of all ages into a space where they can meet Jesus? In this episode we speak with Johannah Myers about Messy Church, a global movement born of the desire to reach individuals and families not attracted to traditional Sunday morning services.
Episode 43: “Resurrecting Youth Ministry” featuring Jen Bradbury
Are you longing to connect with youth in relevant and faithful ways? In this episode we speak with Jen Bradbury about fresh approaches to youth ministry and how to conduct youth mission trips with integrity and purpose.
Stop Telling People to Turn Off Their Smartphones in Church
Olu Brown says telling people to turn off their cellphones in worship sounds crazy to technologically progressive people who rely on their devices for just…
50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Youth
How can your church help youth claim a vital faith? No question is more critical to the future of the church. Here are 50 Ways…
8 Things Your Christian Educator Wants You to Know
The work of faith formation leaders in a congregation is expansive and vital, yet often undervalued and misunderstood. Virginia Callegary lifts up the need to…
Online Course: “Maintaining Boundaries in a Digital Age”
Maintaining Boundaries in a Digital Age, an online course in the Keeping Our Sacred Trust series, explores issues of clergy ethics in an era of instantaneous electronic…
No Easy Button for Fruitful Youth Ministry
One of the most common and most debilitating myths about youth ministry might just be the all-too-common belief in the Easy Button. In our work…
Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry
Congregations that succeed in nurturing the faith of young people tend to demonstrate certain key characteristics. What are the top characteristics of a healthy youth…
Helping Youth Have a Faith of Their Own
The fact that youth participate in church less as they get older and often are not present in church as young adults can lead church…
Cultivating a Consequential Faith
Congregations have been doing a lot with teenagers, but it isn’t always leading to consequential faith, maintains Kenda Creasy Dean in Almost Christian: What the…
Choosing Church … or Soccer, or Work, or Family Time, or …
Sunday morning has become a popular time for youth sports. Weekends are for some families the only opportunity to share quality, sustained time together. And…
Helping Youth Discern God’s Call
Two months ago, a group from my church attended the Leadership Institute held at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Pastor…
What I Learned from a Group of Unruly Youth
Will Rowan, a youth minister in Alberta, Canada, learns from an unexpected outcome in a prayer workshop for high school students. During the spring of 2003,…
Making Church Matter for Youth
Ann Michel recommends three books as guideposts to navigate the sociological and theological terrain of youth ministry. What is the religious life of American youth…
Predictors of Youth Returning to Church as Adults
Lovett Weems reviews a study of participation in church by adults who had dropped out of church as youth. Of all the variables studied, only…