Youth Ministry

The struggle to “just be yourself” raises all kinds of questions for this twelfth grader. And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Like every teenager, Lilly is a walking bundle of questions.

Nobody feels cool in middle school - not even the self-proclaimed orassumedcool kid crowd. It's one of the times in our lives when everything changes at once. The time we need to be reminded of what doesn't change.

There are at least five great reasons that churches should prioritize youth ministry: teaching God’s Word, providing fellowship, connecting generations, teaching service, and implementing spiritual disciplines.

What we fail to realize is that daydreaming has real benefits to our children (and even for adults!). Here are eight reasons to encourage your child’s daydreaming.

Is prayer something that feels too hard in the mothering days you’re in? Whether you’re exhausted from midnight feedings, shuffling kids to practices, juggling too many schedules, or scrubbing baby food off the high chair, God wants to meet you in that exhaustion with His power and peace. If you’ve been putting prayer off until the kids are older, when the days get smoother, or when you’re less frazzled, stop. Here are five simple ways beyond mealtime prayers to stack prayer onto things you are already doing, so you can begin to incorporate prayer into your daily routine with your kids now and make prayer a habit that will last their whole life through.

...to ignore the rich provisions and helpmates He’s given us forfeits the full life He calls us to live.

I see this profound group created differently, readied by God to embrace the storms of life with courage and wisdom. So, how can we effectively reach this generation for the sake of the Kingdom?

While there are no fool-proof ways to get your teen to talk to you, there are ways to make it easier for communication to happen. Here are a dozen ideas to get your teen to open up with you.

It’s nearly graduation season for high schoolers, and what better time than now to think about what advice to give these young men and women on the cusp of adulthood.

Being a Youth Pastor or a Youth Volunteer is a tough, but incredibly rewarding gig. Just like everyone else — in fact probably more so — they need our support, encouragement and to be treated like a valuable part of the church.

Along with praying for a spirit of forgiveness, you may be called to lean in and listen to your child more closely and intentionally than you ever have before. Pray about when to stand your ground and when to compromise so you can do the right thing at the right time. Pray for strength and a positive attitude to do all you can. Whatever happens, pray to trust God with the outcome.

Gone are the days when families drove to church in their Sunday best and went to Wednesday night Bible study. While this might have been a priority at one time in our history, it is no more. In an age when Millennials and Gen Z kids are leaving the church in droves, it is more important than ever to engage them in your local ministry.

Nearly every teenager at one point feels like they’re stuck in their tension, questions, and doubts. All of God’s people have felt the same way at times throughout their journey on earth. Even those recorded in the Bible whom God used to fulfill his purposes.

In Abba, we see one of the crux truths in all of parenting: our job is not the outcome; our job is the input. Hard though it may be when we feel shut out by our older kids, when we choose to love them as a leading action we initiate with no condition of reciprocity, we follow the example of love's Author and Perfecter.

The often hokey attempts at entertaining the kids they were trying to keep around was not what kept me in the church. It was truth, community, and more than anything, a purpose and call to God’s Kingdom.

My son’s little legs raced across the field as his kite bounced along on the ground behind him. A gust of wind caught the kite’s corner and lifted it above the grass. “Let out the string!” I called. As he released a few feet of twine, the kite caught the breeze and soared into the air. “Keep letting it out!” I urged him. As the string extended, the kite rose higher and higher. We both exulted at the sight of the colorful kite dancing in the summer sky.As a mom, it’s even more exhilarating to see my children soaring into the future God has planned for each of them. Yet for them to rise up and claim their independence, I have to let out the “string” so they can fly. It takes faith to relax my grip and allow them to go where God takes them.Parenting five kids has required a lot of letting go. Our son grew from pedaling his bike down the driveway to driving off in a moving van with his bride by his side. Our little curly-headed daughter learned to cross the street, and now she’s crossed oceans to serve Jesus. Every milestone presents a choice as we raise our five kids: will we hold on more tightly or trust and let go?How do we exercise faith while allowing our kids to become more independent year by year? We remember these six truths along the way.Photo Credit:©Getty Images/PIKSEL

It only takes a few minutes engaging with modern culture to see its obsession with sex and sexuality. Billboards show lingerie-clad women, pop songs sing about sex, social media and television are full of it. Sex is also used to sell virtually everything from food, to cars, to clothing.The proliferation of pornography, the glorification of the “hook-up culture,” and the lack of any sort of abstinence education suggests that sex is something to have any time with any other consenting person.In fact, the thought of waiting to have sex until one is married proves an overall foreign concept in American culture. According to one statistic, only 3% of the U.S. population chooses to save sexual intimacy for marriage.With all of this in mind, it may seem like an impossible task to convince youth that sex is a gift worth waiting for—a gift that God designed for marriage. However, this article aims to provide practical steps to help teens realize the safety and beauty that awaits if students choose to follow God’s design. Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Tim Mossholder

What our kids need most right now isn’t another Wednesday night filled with games and a quick lesson about why God says this or that is bad. Our kids need their parents willing to talk about their personal relationship with God and how God still loves this world—no matter how messy it seems.

Engage with young adults about this issue, ask questions, be humble in your response, and offer hope that our gracious God will one day make all things new and right all wrongs.

As a parent raising actual teenagers, I’m familiar with the temptation to drift into a hands-off, watch-and-see, hope-they-grow form of parenting stewardship because raising and discipling teenagers is hard work. But just as planting fragile young trees and leaving them to wither in dry dirt isn’t productive or advisable, neither is overlooking the responsibility of discipleship in the life of my teenager.