All Editorial articles – Page 58
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IssuesFirst Word - August 2017
An old friend of mine recently asked my wife and I to be godparents for her and her husband’s child. “Nothing particularly notable there for a Christian couple in their late 20s, hardly worth the anecdote, Jamie,” I hear you say. Well, not quite. You see one of the other godparents was a woman called Laura, who, as it happens, is an ex-girlfriend of mine. Now, for full disclosure, it wasn’t the longest of relationships, it happened quite a few years ago and while it had been a few years since we’d seen each other, we are both very much ‘over it’; nevertheless it still added a certain frisson to proceedings. The question was how to approach things: avoid each other? Smile and nod? Engage in only the most superficial of banter? I took a different approach, saying at the first possible opportunity (in front of my wife for good measure): “Well, we finally have a (god) child of our own; I dreamt this moment would come.” I think I just about got away with it. She laughed. My wife laughed. I sighed with relief and we could all move on with the day.
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IssuesWhat if evangelical youth ministry has got it all wrong?
Like many other people reading this magazine, I’ve invested well over a decade of my life into youth ministry. And while I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the label, there’s no doubting that I’ve done so as part of a broadly evangelical movement. Some key phrases seem to sum up that approach: we want to “reach and keep” teenagers; to “make disciples”; see them “filled with the Holy Spirit” and ultimately to get them to move from being “unchurched” to “churched”.
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IssuesHomosexuality: are our ministries LGB-friendly?
In many ways, homosexuality isn’t an elephant in the Church’s room; it feels like every time the Church gets any press coverage it focuses on its attitude towards gay people. But what does all of this mean for youth and children’s ministry? Helen Crawford investigates…
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BlogElijah: Session 1
Meeting aim: To understand that God is the only true God, and more powerful than anything.
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IssuesJeremiah: Session 2
Meeting aim: To see how God sends warning to his people to give them the chance to turn back to him – but they don’t always do so.
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IssuesDaniel: Session 3
Meeting aim: To see how some of God’s people were faithful to him in exile.
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IssuesNehemiah: Session 4
Meeting aim: To see how God begins to gather his people back together after the 70 years of exile.
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IssuesElijah: Session 1
Meeting aim: To see how far God’s people had moved from him and to see how the consequences of that began to play out.
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IssuesDaniel: Session 3
Meeting aim: To explore what it means tostay close to God in difficult circumstances.
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IssuesNehemiah: Session 4
Meeting aim: To remind young people thatGod’s promises endure, even in times that feel hopeless.
