Top 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Youth Ministry
My friend Mike asked me, “What are the top ten characteristics of a healthy youth ministry?” There are a million lists like that floating around, but it did make me stop and commit to a “top 10″ list for myself. So here’s my list, subject to revision. 10. Safe space. We live in what sociologist [...]
Addressing Sinful Behavior in the Youth Group
How do you address sinful behavior within the youth group without driving people away? Especially when it’s something a lot of people are doing and the parents and even youth ministers are ignoring it. Can you even do this? So first things first, I don’t know if you can do this. When there’s sin, it [...]
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
So what’s wrong with moralistic therapeutic deism? No doubt: the church has been guilty of worse crimes than instilling MTD in teenagers. In fact, MTD probably evolved partly from well-meaning Christians who don’t want to repeat the atrocities done in the name of religion throughout history. I know this is true for me. When I [...]