Friday Review (10/9/26)
Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.)
Youth Ministry
How to Integrate Apologetics into your Youth Ministry, Bradley Blaylock (New Growth Press)
Apologetics in youth ministry is an interesting concept. I think a lot of youth ministers love apologetics and desperately want their students to understand it too. But there’s a tension. When is there possibly time to incorporate apologetics into your youth ministry?
The Question Box, Theresa Mazza (ChurchLeaders)
Sometimes teenagers don’t feel vulnerable enough in a group setting to ask what’s really important to them. (If God is loving, why did he ever allow evil in the world?) They need a safe, consistent space for these types of honest questions.
Recruiting Youth Ministry Volunteers, Ronald Long (Download Youth Ministry)
Most youth ministries are craving people to help out. But how do you get volunteers to show up and be vital members of the Youth Ministry?
Biblical & Theological Studies
4 Truths to Preach to Your Sorrows, Tim Challies (Challies)
I recently pondered Romans 8:28 (“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”) and drew from it four truths you can preach to yourself in times of sorrow—truths that will equip you to have that kind of victorious faith
What Hath Hermeneutics to Do with Bible Study?, Mark Ward (Word by Word)
Proper biblical hermeneutics is an endless pursuit. Every Bible reader who pursues it will do so until he knows even as also he is known.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
Recovering Christian Humanism, Carl R. Trueman (First Things)
Building on his earlier work on humanism, Bonhoeffer, and technology, Zimmermann distills his thinking on key issues. He rescues the term “humanism” from its popular use as a secular alternative to nihilism, and details how Christian humanism should shape approaches to education, technology, and politics.
What Is Wrong with the World?, Paul David Tripp (Bible Study Fellowship)
Sin is no longer a clearly defined category in people’s minds or our culture.
Pastoral Ministry
Pastor, How Will You Last?, Jeremy Rose (For The Church)
All too often, we put so much stress on the role of the pastor—and that’s fine to a degree—but it's important we do all we can to help pastors remain qualified and in the game. It seems that every week another pastor taps out, gives up, or disqualifies himself
What Makes Preaching Good?, Christian Tirtha (TGC Australia)
At its heart, preaching is an act of submission—to God’s word, not the preacher’s ideas. Scripture is not raw material for religious creativity, to be twisted and turned according to our own fancy; it is God-breathed revelation (2 Tim 3:16–17).
Family & Parents
The Marriage Miracle That Takes Time, John Piper (Desiring God)
Marriage is a home of ecstasy and agony: peaceful and embattled; growing in understanding and often utterly baffled; a place of fulfilled dreams and heart-wrenching disappointments, sweetest satisfactions and exasperating frustrations; a bond where you can weep at being apart and dread being together.
The Sabbath Commandment for Parents, Connie Leung Nelson (Rooted)
The ancient truth of a God who saves and provides for his people has not changed. And neither has the truth that people are needy and dependent for something outside themselves.
From YPT this week
ep.147: Talking About the Nature of Sin With Youth, YPT Podcast
In this episode, Mike and John continue the new series discussing different subjects of systematic theology in youth ministry. Today, we talk about sin... what is it, why is it such a big deal, and how do we talk about it with youth while saying more than "Just don't do it!"
Welcome to Youth Ministry: Understanding Teenagers, Graham Stanton (YPT)
As adults who get to walk alongside these not-yet adults, youth leaders are in a wonderful position to help young people take up the opportunities and overcome the challenges that adolescence brings. The technical word for this is the ‘adult guarantor’.
