All NexGen Pro articles – Page 115
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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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Issues
CHURCH OF ENGLAND LAUNCHES SCHEME FOR WOULD-BE VICARS
The ministry division of the Church of England is offering young people a taste of life in the clergy by launching the Church of England Ministry Experience Scheme (CEMES). After being run as a pilot programme in four dioceses, CEMES is launching in 2014 with up to 20 dioceses.
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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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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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Issues
Christy Wimber
In a rare and privileged interview, Youthwork met Christy Wimber – daughter-inlaw of John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard movement. Continuing his ministry today, Christy speaks all over the world on the gifts of the Spirit, and popped in to share a few pearls of wisdom with us.
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Issues
Christmas Games
Christmas is often perceived as simply being a time of fun, frivolity and food. As youth workers who are interested in the holistic development of the young people we work with, why not battle this inadequate view of what the season is all about by playing these games, which neatly encapsulate fun, frivolity and food. I have included a handy ‘reason-for-the-season’ link for each game too incase you wish to take your group ‘deeper’ into the Christmas story.
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Issues
Ready-To-Use Craft Ideas: Christmas Crafts
It’s that time of year again when we will inevitably find ourselves trying to cram lots more activities into lives that are already very full. The children we work with will be doing loads of Christmas stuff at school and may well be ‘Christmassed out’, especially when it comes to craft. Is there a way we can help youngsters (and ourselves) to focus a bit differently on Christmas – perhaps more on what the Christmas gift of Jesus asks of them this Christmas? Here are three activities, none of which require much preparation.
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IssuesChristmas at Ho-Ho Home
Church services, nativities, Christmas cards…It’s easy to get carried away IN the whirlwind of festive activities on offer. Despite this, most of our early memories of Christmas revolve around family traditions. Jane Butcher gives us her top tips for a creative Christmas at ho-ho-home (sorry, it had to be done).
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Christmas (and Easter) presentations
Christmas and Easter are fabulous times of celebration, and mark major points in the story of God and his people. Most RE syllabuses require schools to explore major religious festivals and it’s hardly rocket science to see that Christians are well placed to link these two facts together! Across the country, that’s exactly what churches have been doing.
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Ready-to-use Schools Work: The Christmas Truces
An assembly for use in a secondary school based on the December 1914 Christmas truces, to teach that being a Christian is more important than belonging to a nation.
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Issues
Christmas Songs
As Christian knowledge in the UK slowly dwindles, it’s less and less likely that people will know the words to Christmas carols. This makes it hard to use them as illustrations when communicating with people who don’t regularly go to church. There is good news, though. Lots of contemporary Christmas songs are really Christian allegory waiting to be unlocked and used as handy illustrations for your all-age, evangelistic carol service. Here are four secretly Christian Christmas songs, ready to use for your next Christmas assembly.
