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Neo-Youth Ministry

• 05.25.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Part 5: The Youth Minister as Pastor
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (1)

  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 of the most beautiful times in the lives of congregations are when a member gets seriously ill or dies. It is at these times, when the rug is pulled out from under families, that the church shuts up and starts putting up ...
  
  
• 02.26.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Part 4: The Youth Minister as Theologian
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (4)

  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 had plans of med school, and I didn’t want to be living off of student loans, so I defaulted back to the original plan of being a youth minister. I still have dreams of one day doing to seminary and possibly completing ...
  
  
• 02.22.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Part 3: The Youth Minister
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (1)

  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 the nature of the office itself. I am of the opinion that when the church finds a robust, biblical, missional ecclesiology the need for a dedicated youth minister may very well disappear. Teens and their parents will be fully integrated into the life of ...
  
  
• 02.17.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Part 2: “Ministry”
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (0)

  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 institution. You hear the term used all the time like this. At church you probably hear something along the lines of “there is an exciting new ministry being started in order to serve the poor in our community” (or anything else, ...
  
  
• 02.11.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Part 1: “Youth”
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (0)

  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 middle school (sometimes known as junior high) and high school. Depending on where you are in the country, this includes sixth or seventh grade students through twelfth grade students. An initial observation of this term brings to light that this kind of ministry is extremely ...
  
  
• 02.01.07
  Neo-Youth Ministry Series Introduction
  Christianity, Ecclesiology, Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry (0)

  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 same time, the “new” understanding must resemble enough the old term in such a way to warrant affixing the neo to the old term, rather than creating a completely new term or reclassifying altogether. To give a really poor example: For centuries Christians were concerned with ...
  
  

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