All Church articles – Page 2
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BlogThe Church needs to learn from young people
In the first of our blog series, Martin Saunders called for a revolution in youth ministry (you can read the original article here). But what does this revolution look like? Becca Dean wonders if the Church might have more to learn from young people, than to teach them
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BlogStop going to church
What if the youth ministry revolution we need is not a revitalising of the old, but a completely fresh start? This week, Joel Toombs holds nothing back
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IssuesMessy Church: the story so far
There aren’t many things that have caught the attention and imagination of children’s workers quite like Messy Church. Most churches across the UK will have come across Messy Church in one form or another, and you may even be running a Messy Church yourself. Ten years on from its launch, Martyn Payne of the national BRF Messy Church team asks: is it a passing fad or a glimpse into the future for children’s ministry?
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IssuesReimagining Church with young people
Lots of churches are great. Lots of congregations which meet to worship in buildings up and down the land are genuinely forming communities
of equipped disciples who are working, together with the Holy Spirit, for the transformation of the world. Many have a good spread of ages, are growing, and seeing the kingdom come in their communities. -
IssuesYoung People, Youth Group and Church
Young people see youth group as a fun place to be; they see church as a place to experience God.
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IssuesHelp! I love my youth group but not my church
Churches are odd places. They attract a bizarre combination of people, with as many theologies, ideals, beliefs and practices as there are members. Being part of a church can be complicated, and working for one can be downright difficult. But, as we all know, they are also glorious - and through all of the mess and chaos, the Church is still God’s chosen vehicle for blessing the earth. So how do we press on through the politics and red tape? Which challenges are ‘character growth’ opportunities, and which are simply not our battles to fight? Phoebe Thompson spoke anonymously with youth workers who are living with the tension of loving their young people but not their church - to hear their struggles, and share their advice for youth workers in similar situations.
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IssuesHow to Survive the Church Meeting
The church meeting: a place where the best and brightest of your church congregation meet to discuss the big, important matters of the day - such as, ‘what colour should the chairs be?’ and ‘do we need to update the hymn books?’. How do you survive these hours of torture? Surely there must be a way to make them tolerable. As per usual, we have the answers…
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IssuesLGBT Young people and the Church
The story of Lizzie Lowe haunted every youth worker and pastor I know. The account of the Christian 14 year-old’s death and the reports from her friends that she took her life because she feared telling her church and family that she was gay, sent shivers down our spines and briefly turned our eyes to consider whether we could have contributed to this culture, even contributed to this death.
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IssuesDiverse Church
Suicide rates among LGBT young people are higher than any other social group. Within Christian contexts, coming out to loved ones can be a daunting prospect – leading some young people to hide the truth, leave the Church entirely, or even consider taking their own lives. Diverse Church is a collection of Christians seeking to offer a pastoral response to LGBT young people, who are wrestling with issues of sexuality and faith.
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IssuesThe Church of Cool
When I first became a member of a church youth club there were no smoothie bars, games consoles or trendy youth worship bands.
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IssuesThe Church of Minecraft
‘Games like Minecraft give people a project to work on, a consuming passion, and a sense of community and collaboration. When immersion in the game world becomes a more attractive option than real life, the Church needs to take note. Jane McGonigal famously said that in the gaming world, players can become “super-empowered, hopeful individuals.” That should be our vision for the Church.’
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IssuesInterstellar Church
As I write, some amazing scientists have just managed to land a probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. It seems as likely to have succeeded as trying to throw a dart at a mosquito in Mali while standing in Scunthorpe, but they’ve done it! How did they do that? How did they calculate the maths and physics with such precision? Something to do with Newtonian principles, apparently.
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IssuesWhat if the church and the youth worker have opposing visions?
There’s a fault line running directly underneath a lot of church-based youth work, especially when there’s a paid worker involved. It’s often buried deep when the church is recruiting, with the impressive but flimsy architecture of a ‘mission to transform the lives of local young people’ built on top (probably in the job advert). Under the surface however, the truth is still shuddering quietly: most churches aren’t looking for someone to simply reach and connect with local young people; they want someone who’ll keep the teenagers of the existing congregation engaged, and perhaps bring a few more young faces into the pews on a Sunday morning. Even if they talk of some grander vision to see the kingdom come among local teens, most churches actually employ youth workers because they want to improve their congregation’s age demographic… and their shot at having a future.
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IssuesYouth unemployment: How the church is responding
The last decade has seen youth unemployment slip to upsettingly low levels, fuelled by a toxic mixture of tuition fees and the education crisis. But, as Kemi Bamgbose reports, the Church has been on the forefront of the response
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IssuesBe the Church
As part of my employment with the national office of a large progressive denomination in the United States, I do a lot of speaking at conferences and in churches about the faith formation of children and young people. Almost everywhere I go I run into people talking about the ageing of our congregations and the lack of younger people going through our church doors.
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Issues“From megachurch to village church”
I never set out to work in a megachurch. As cliché as it might sound, it just happened. I was teaching at a private Christian school but also volunteered in the youth ministry, so when the youth pastor resigned, I already ‘had my foot in the door’. Lo and behold, this country boy who grew up in rural Oklahoma, attending a youth group of about 20 in a church of just over 100, was now youth pastor in the largest church in my Pentecostal denomination — a church of 9,000 members and a youth group of around 200.
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BlogResponses: the man who pays his young people to come to church
We’ve had a whole heap of responses to the story of Steve Sexton: the man who pays his young people to come to church. Youth worker Mark Walley shared this thoughtful response on his blog thegroveisonfire.com and we liked it so much that we’ve reproduced it here.
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BlogReady-To-Use Discussion: The Persecuted Church
According to Open Doors, 100 million Christians around the world face persecution.
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BlogDay four: young people finding faith, church and discipleship
We’ve already prayed for some of the major issues facing young people in the culture in which they’re growing up - but today we’re going to focus on perhaps our ultimate prayer for young people: that they’ll find faith in - and a transformational relationship with - Jesus Christ. We’re going to pray this for the young people we know, and the young people in our communities, plus for some of the organisations working locally and nationally in the areas of evangelism and discipleship among young people.
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IssuesNew paradigm: Are we training the children's workers the Church needs?
You graduate from a hugely enjoyable children’s work course, head for the dream job and… it’s nothing like you expected it to be. Your remit is swiftly expanded and you feel ill-equipped to respond to the ever-changing and ever-challenging job description. Sound familiar? This begs the question: are we training children’s workers for the roles they will be doing? Further still: are we actually training the children’s workers the Church needs? Cliff College’s Ian White offers some thoughts
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