Friday Review (6/10/22)

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

Small Youth Group? How to Do Ministry With Just a Few Young People by Chris Curtis (Youthscape)

Christian youth ministry is getting smaller, but that’s bringing surprising new opportunities for young people’s faith to grow – if youth workers are prepared to adapt.

Biblical & Theological Studies

What to Do When the Bible Contradicts Itself by Preston Sprinkle (Relevant)

We might just go to the grave without having ironed out all the problems in the Bible. And that’s okay. The Bible has a good enough track record, and mountains of striking agreement, to ease our worries about a few passages here and there that don’t make immediate sense to our limited, and quite fallible, perception.

Cultural Reflection & Contextualization

Social Media Shepherds by Leah Campbell (The Gospel Coalition - Canada)

In a short 20 years, we have gone from having our called pastors as our primary spiritual leaders to being inundated with teaching, opinions, and advice. The spiritual voices available for browsing are as innumerable as the stars, or so it sure seems. There are no steps required to come under their influence except a simple click.

How I Would Explain a Christian View of Transgenderism to a Non-Christian by Samuel D. James (Digital Liturgies)

To miss God’s design is to not live as God intended. It’s to sell ourselves short, to make for us lives and identities and destinies that are far, far poorer than what God intends. That’s why Christians talk about this stuff: because the good life really is possible.

Why We Shouldn’t ‘Move On’ From Horror by Russell Moore (Christianity Today)

So, we just “move on” until the next horror—after which we will move on again. As the people of Jesus, we dare not fall prey to that tendency. Jesus, after all, is the one who never turned away from even the most terrifying realities—leprosy, bleeding, and suffering of all sorts.

Pastoral Ministry

The Benefit of Ancient Creeds for the Contemporary Church by Christopher Poshin David (The Gospel Coalition - India)

Creeds are a beautiful part of church history because they have helped Christians understand, remember, proclaim, defend, and enjoy what we believe. Any church that uses them well will be richer in its faith for it.

Being Constructive About Deconstruction by Chris Talbot (Helwys Society Forum)

I think it is more helpful and truthful to try and label their thought for what it is. Are you rejecting biblical Christianity? Call it what it is. Are you wanting to clarify the heart of biblical Christianity in the midst of its cultural expression? Let us pursue clarity. As Christians, we pursue clarity and charity—not apart from one another but in tandem.

Pastor, What Are Your 30-Year Goals? by Matt Foreman (Reformation21)

But what if real results and fruitfulness are not short-term, immediate results, but long-term? What if the real harvest is tested in generational faithfulness? What about 30-year goals for a church? 

Family & Parents

Let's Raise Better Churchmen by Courtney Reissig (The Gospel Coalition)

This is our moment as parents. We have seen too much sin and suffering to idly stand by. By God’s grace and through his Spirit, we can begin to change the trajectory. May our children be more faithful than we were, more committed to holiness, and more courageous to defend the weak.

Combating Regret in Parenting: Looking Back and Looking Forward by Katie Polski (Rooted)

But after Jesus revealed himself, the rest of Paul’s life was not marked by regret, but instead by faithfulness to the gospel message. He lived and breathed Jesus. May our lives be marked similarly as we look forward with great hope to all the ways in which God will continue to use our parenting to advance His kingdom and to spread His love.

From YPT this week

Theology Without Love is Dead by Mike McGarry

In the same way that faith without works is dead, 1 Corinthians 13:2 implies that theology without love is dead.