YS Academic

Join the conversation as experts propose, defend, and explore Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church. In a dialog that often gets downright feisty, four youth ministry academicians delineate their distinct philosophical and ecclesiological views regarding how youth ministry relates to the church at large--and leave a taste of what's profound and what's not in these four typologies: • Inclusive congregational (Malan Nel). What happens when a church thoroughly integrates its adolescents, making them full partners in every aspect of congregational life? • Preparatory (Wesley Black). Why and how should a church consider its teenagers as disciples-in-training and its youth ministry a school of preparation for future participation in church life? • Missional (Chap Clark). What does a church look like, whose youth ministry does not necessarily nurture "church kids" but is essentially evangelistic? Whose youths and youth workers are considered missionaries? • Strategic (Mark Senter). How feasible is it for a youth ministry to become a new church on its own--the youth pastor becoming the pastor, and the new church planted with the blessing of the mother church? In Four View of Your Ministry and the Church, solid academic writing and an inviting tone and design create a compelling text for both in-the-field, practicing youth workers and undergraduates and graduate students.

Today's relentless, consumer culture-dominated by popular media's emphasis on bigger, better, and more, and catering to teenagers every want and desire-is leaving our youth adrift in a sea of conflicting messages. Messages that every youth worker must be able to decode and redirect away from the material world towards helping young people become who God created them to be: givers instead of receivers, servers instead of consumers. Consuming Youth is for any adult who recognizes that following Jesus means leading young people through the pitfalls of consumer culture, helping them discover vocation-where their great gladness meets a world's great need, and unleashing the kingdom of God on earth.

A FIELD GUIDE TO THE WILD LIFE OF YOUTH MINISTRY Youth Ministry. It's quite an idea so much bigger than two words. One part odyssey, one part call, one part mission, and one part quest, youth ministry calls us into places of breathless exhilaration, stunning beauty, genuine peril, and unknown discovery. This is not terrain for the faint of heart. But it is a landscape of grace and wonder. This Way to Youth Ministry is the most complete academic text for those who might be called to such a journey. Thirty-year youth ministry veteran Duffy Robbins explores the theology, theory, and practice of youth ministry and helps you discover how to: Identify your calling to ministry Cultivate the traits and training that make a good youth pastor Set boundaries and maintain priorities Understand the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical development on adolescents Navigate youth culture and postmodernism Understand youth ministry in relation to the rest of the Church Develop a team of volunteers who will walk the journey with you Develop and apply a personalized ministry philosophy With just the right mix of theory and application, this extensive academic text shows you both the big picture and the close-up details of making ministry work. Whether your journey is just beginning or well under way, This Way to Youth Ministry is the book that will help with everything that lies ahead.

A first-of-its-kind study of Protestant youth ministers reveals the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today's youth workers. Of the 7,000 youth workers assembled in 1996 under Atlanta's Georgia Dome, a sample of 2,130 full-time youth ministers from dozens of Protestant denominations and parachurch organizations answered a battery of exhaustive, deliberate questions covering: • What they liked best about youth ministry • What particularly pleased them in their work with youth • What they found most encouraging or discouraging • Their biggest obstacle to an effective youth ministry • Their biggest concern in youth ministry Their answers revealed a dedicated group of professionals, concerned about the students in their ministries, but troubled with a variety of perplexing issues. And their answers form the backbone of Youth Ministry That Transforms, a comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking study (funded by the Lilly Endowment) focusing on the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today's youth workers. Spearheaded by Merton Strommen--one of America's most exemplary and influential thinkers and authors in youth and family ministry--the research-writing team is joined by Karen E. Jones and Dave Rahn of Huntington (Indiana) College's Link Institute for Faithful and Effective Youth Ministry, and acknowledged leader in the task of undergirding youth ministry with a research base. These three deliver thorough analysis and sound interpretation regarding the state of youth ministry at the dawn of the 21st century. Youth Ministry That Transforms belongs on the desks and in the classrooms of all who are concerned with this developing profession, including denominational and parachurch leadership, professors, youth ministry students, and thoughtful youth workers themselves. It is also an insightful resource for any who want to understand youth ministers and their profession: senior pastors, executive pastors, and other individuals and committees charged with hiring and supervising youth workers.

This comprehensive, research-informed textbook reviews all aspects of traditional and contemporary theories and experience in youth ministry, but also points to the future by analyzing youth culture and charting innovative paradigms in the art and craft of teaching. The book is fueled by the urgent need in youth ministry to better reach students, to inform them about God's will for their lives, and to encourage change in their lives beyond the youth group setting.Features include:• Website dedicated to the book, including chats hosted by the author• Scriptural instruction on reaching the minds, hearts, and souls of students• Cultural analysis of adolescents in ministry contexts and in the larger community• Explanation of learning styles: auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic• Explanation of multiple intelligences: imaginative, analytic, common sense, dynamic• Tips on creativity: where to find ideas, list of teaching methods