Friday Review (5/29/26)
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
10 Practical Tips for Training Adult Volunteers in Youth Ministry, by Doug Franklin (Rooted)
Healthy youth ministries are built on healthy adult leaders. The problem is many youth workers recruit volunteers but never truly train them. We hand adults a curriculum, hope for the best, and then wonder why students are not experiencing deep transformation.
Navigating Long-Term Ministry, by Dan Carson (Shaping Student Ministry)
Whether you are full-time, bi-vocational, or volunteer in student ministry, we all need to understand how powerful it can be to stick around. Our ministry of presence gives us the privilege of speaking truth into all of those moments throughout a lifetime of following Christ. Here are some thoughts I’d like to share with you from my experiences in student ministry…
What Relational Discipleship Actually Looks Like, by Mike McGarry (NNYM Blog)
Relational ministry is a core value in youth work. We show up at games, grab pizza, and spend hours with students because relationships matter. But if we’re honest, many youth leaders quietly wonder: When does relational ministry actually become discipleship?
Biblical & Theological Studies
Should Christians Flip Tables Like Jesus?, by Andrew Noble (The Gospel Coalition Canada)
Does imitating Jesus mean we should make a whip of cords, curse a fig tree, and flip a table in a temple? Should we make it our goal to do the same? And if not, why not?
Work Will Always Matter, by Chris Griswold (Commonplace)
Forestalling a future in which we further lose touch with the concrete realities of our own world—and thus with our own best selves and with one another—requires reclaiming an understanding of work as good in itself, as fundamental to human nature, not just as a bulwark against scarcity.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
The Rise of Techno-feudalism, by Brad Littlejohn
Even our advanced state of techno-feudalism, then, is probably not yet irreversible, however hard it seems hard to imagine another such political renewal today. But as power continues to fracture and the storm clouds gather, we find ourselves waiting for a new, and doubtless very different, Bull Moose.
How Commercial Surrogacy Targets Military Families, by Will Thibeau (First Things)
One informal survey of the largest online surrogacy support forum at the time found that more than 19 percent of respondents identified as military surrogates, and subsequent academic work confirms that the 15 to 20 percent range still describes the population. The disproportion demands explanation, and the explanation indicts the cultural and economic conditions driving it.
Pastoral Ministry
Why Don’t Our Sermons Change People?, by Alistair Chalmers (Chalmers Blog)
But somewhere along the way, many sermons have quietly become lectures with a Bible verse attached. The result? Congregations leave informed but remain unchanged. Minds stimulated, consciences untouched. Notes taken, but sins unmortified. We explain the text carefully, but often fail to press the text home.
6 Ways to Guard Your Church’s Culture, by Barnabas Piper
As a church grows, it is quite simply very difficult to push healthy cultural values and realities all the way to the fringes of the congregation in a meaningful way. In light of all this, what are we to do as church leaders? How do we prevent cultural drift in our churches once we recognize the risk? Here are six steps to take.
Family & Parents
Even Now, God Can Rescue Your Prodigal, by Jill Noble (Desiring God)
Our precious ones may be captured right now. Our beloved may be wandering, willfully resisting Jesus. But unlike those drowned ducklings, hope remains for our ensnared and wayward kids. So how can parents care for prodigals and help guide them back to Christ?
What Solomon Says About Leaving Our Children To Their Own Devices, by Lindsay Funches (Rooted)
This is not a warm and fuzzy word from the wisest man in the world. In this proverb, Solomon calls us to be self-disciplined and active parents, creating the conditions for our children to grow in wisdom and honor.
You May Not Need Nearly as Much House as You Think You Do, by Tim Challies
Our house is emptier than it has ever been, and that makes it feel bigger than it has ever been. It’s funny how the home that often felt just a little too small for the five of us now feels just a little too big for the two of us. Even a little house can feel large when the children have moved on.
From YPT this week
YPT’s Summer Reading List: 2026, by Mike McGarry
As you prepare for Summer, we want to help you build a strategic reading list. Here are some books I’m either currently reading or have read within the last year that I want to put on your radar.
