Friday Review (9/29/23)
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
Jean Twenge’s ‘Generations’: Four Takeaways for Youth Ministers, by Chelsea Kingston Erickson (Rooted)
If your middle school ministry begins in sixth grade, Generation Alpha students have just entered your youth group this year. Meanwhile, Gen Z still makes up the majority of our youth ministries, and their unique bent on the world has become clearer in the last couple of years. Here are four takeaways about Gen Z and “Polars” for youth ministers, along with some encouragement for responding from a gospel framework.
Pursuing Theological Depth in Youth Ministry, by Mike McGarry (Rooted)
theological depth in youth ministry isn’t always about what we preach and teach. It’s about our overall approach to evangelism and discipleship.… Theological depth is the biblical foundation for our entire ministry.
On Using Your 20s Well, by Chris Hutchinson (Emmanuel Baptist Church)
How often we forget and in how many ways have we strayed from this primary task as we engage in youth ministry... There are numerous reasons why the preaching of the Word has diminished in our youth ministry world, but preach the Word we must!
Biblical & Theological Studies
Five Blessings of Marking Up Your Bible, by Kevin Halloran (Open the Bible)
Early on in my Christian life, I would avoid marking up my Bible for the reason mentioned above, but now, I can’t read it without a pencil and highlighter in hand. I’m convinced there is just so much to gain by faithfully marking up a Bible during daily Bible study, that not doing it would be like mourning the loss of a close friend.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
ChatGPT, Will You Forgive Me?, by Aaron M. Shamp (The Gospel Coalition)
What if I’m impatient with Alexa? What if I’m irritable and say something demeaning to ChatGPT? Did I sin against the chatbot? Do I need to ask it for forgiveness?
Creators, Consumers, and Christ: 10 Social Media Resolutions, by Aaron Lee (Sola Network)
Whether creating or consuming, Christians can use social media as a tool to steward and leverage well for the glory of God and the good of others. To encourage Christians and especially youth on social media, here are some very practical tips and strategies that I shared in a retreat workshop called “Creators, Consumers, and Christ—A Theology of Social Media.”
Sounding an Alarm on Social Media Evangelism, by Emmy Lopez (A Life Overseas)
The question of ethical practice here is not about the message being offered to vulnerable social media users. It is about the medium by which that message is being conveyed and its incendiary methods of creating markets of hungry consumers. Yes, Christian ministries are offering a message of truth and hope to these markets. But is paying the drug lords who run the market an ethical practice?
Pastoral Ministry
Until You Get to Pastor, by Marshall Segal (Desiring God)
As much as your desire to pastor may please God, it has not yet pleased him to open a door for you to actually pastor. The waiting can be as disorienting as longing to be married but struggling to find a date, or aching to have children while amassing pregnancy tests. If God loves this work, and if churches need this work, and if you want this work, why would God withhold it from you, sometimes for years?
5 Things at the Heart of a Pastoral Visit, by Andrew Roycroft (Thinking Pastorally)
Pastoral visitation is a powerful means of spiritual encouragement and a tangible demonstration of the love of Christ to his people. It is a ministry which can reap slow but rich dividends in the lives of individuals and the life of the church and provides an opportunity for genuine fellowship between Christians. While I have written before about the benefits of visitation to the life and work of a Pastor, this post will seek to lay bare some of the basic principles of visitation which could be of help to those on the receiving end of it.
Family & Parents
You and Your Toddler Teach One Another Theology, by Kristen Wetherell (Crossway)
In this thing called parenting, we will be helped to remember that there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular; everything belongs to the Lord and is under his reign (Ps. 24:1). So whether we are sitting, walking, lying down, or rising for another day with our kids, we seek to love the Lord and his gospel (Deut. 6:5–7) through both our words and our lives. We teach our children who God is and learn from them too.
Sabbath for Moms, by Monica Geyen (Desiring God)
The fourth commandment — “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) — came not only to working men, but to mothering women. Moms wonder, “How do I rest with so much at stake? How do I rest with so much on my plate?” Rest, we know, is not ultimately found in a place, season, or circumstance, but in a person.
From YPT this week
YPT Podcast Episode 43: What is a Christian Worldview? with Rhyne Putnam
Youth workers want to disciple students into a Christian worldview, but what does that mean and what makes a worldview “Christian” anyways?
How to Develop an Expository-Topical Series in Youth Group, by Jason Engle
How can youth pastors teach topical series that are also expository and faithful to Scripture?