The Archives

05.21.08

Examining Dare 2 Share’s Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis: Part 3
Youth Ministry (2)
Previous Posts: Introductory Thoughts Part 1 Part 2 2. Deep and Wide Youth Ministry means pushing our teens to grow deeper spiritually (pages 5-8) First of all, I seldom use the word spiritual. I know what D2S means when they say spiritual: they pretty much mean things that are distinctly Christian. But spiritual seems to me to get too easily twisted into a Gnostic, dualistic understanding of Christian maturity that is overly concerned with the metaphysical. I think our ministries need less metaphysics and more concrete action. This is one of the areas that Bonhoeffer has affected me greatly. From Apathy ...
05.15.08

Examining Dare 2 Share’s Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis: Part 2
Youth Ministry (8)
Previous Posts: • Introductory thoughts • Part 1 1. What Deep and Wide Youth Ministry is Not (pages 3-4) It is not just another approach to youth ministry I found it interesting that the thesis tries to convince us that “Deep and Wide Youth Ministry is not a gimmick or a method” (3) and then goes on to use words like “X-factor” (gimmick) and argues the necessity of this particular approach to ministry (method). Okay, it’s not a “method” in the strictest sense of describing exactly what needs to be happening in your ministry, but DWYM is talked ...
05.14.08

Examining Dare 2 Share’s Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis: Part 1
Youth Ministry (8)
Previous Posts: • Introductory thoughts Before I begin, I would like to applaud Dare 2 Share (D2S) for making their Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis available for free rather than turning it into a book or a training tour that you have to pay to get access to (and if they do decide to do either of those things, that’s fine as long as we can still have access to the free stuff). If there is anything in the world that should be open-source, it should be things related to Christian ministry. I hope youth ...
05.13.08

Examining Dare 2 Share’s “Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis”: Introductory Thoughts
Youth Ministry (11)
For some reason I took a keen interest in Tim Schmoyer’s post last week regarding the fairly new document produced by Dare 2 Share (D2S) called the “Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Thesis.” I thought I would post my thoughts on the document, but I was hesitant to make the posts for a few reasons: Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of D2S, for various reasons. So, I was worried that I would be unnecessarily harsh and negative no matter what the document says. I’m afraid that people who read my critique will think I am questioning the intentions of ...