Year-long lesson planning calendar for ministry. Continue reading
Category Archives: Youth Ministry
Poetry Creates the World Anew
“A poem is words turned upside down and suddenly! the world is new.” From This Is a Poem that Heals Fish At our youth gathering on Palm Sunday, I was wondering how to talk with youth about the resurrection as something multi-layered. I often think we are able to say the words, “Christ is Risen!” … Continue reading
When your teen isn’t interested in faith…
Before I begin, I need to be honest with you. I’m still figuring out how to raise faithful teenagers. This is a somewhat scary thing to admit, since I am both a youth minister and a mom. When I returned to church sixteen years ago, first baby in her carrier, I was still figuring out … Continue reading
But wait, there’s more!
There’s an op-ed piece and several responses going around this week about how religion isn’t necessary for raising “good kids” that has had me thinking. Is raising good kids what faith is about? I think most youth ministry people I know would say faith is a whole lot more. In a recent blog post for … Continue reading
Confirmation Tips for Parents I: Understanding Confirmation
As my second daughter approaches confirmation, I am reminded just how different two children in the same family can be! With my oldest daughter, the confirmation conversation centered around faith as a journey. She needed to know that no one has all the answers and that almost everyone has doubts. With my second, conversation focused … Continue reading
Confirmation Tips for Parents Part II: Statements of Faith
This is the second of a two posts with suggestions for helping your child write their statement of faith at the end of confirmation. I’ve seen several examples of instructions for writing statements of faith. In general, I find them to be either too wordy (with dozens of suggested statements using complex words) or too … Continue reading
15 Minute No Prep Youth Scavenger Hunt
I was looking for an activity that involved movement, fun, and the Bible to begin our evening youth group. I’ve used photo scavenger hunts for a variety of purposes, but this time I used it to introduce the next few weeks of worship readings. I am hoping that reading the scriptures ahead of time will help … Continue reading
