As a youth leader, you are probably excited (and maybe anxious) for your soon-to-be high school graduates, especially if they’re moving away from home to go to school in September. The Renegotiating Faith report reminds us that a grad is 4x more likely to connect with a new faith community if the sending church helps make that connection. This resource is a quick-glance review of how you can be
August is usually a time when many youth ministries start to look at what the coming year could look like with prayer and planning. Megan Lane recently posted a blog entry on "Ministry Planning" with some great tips and templates you can use to work through what 2014-2015 might look like. Click here to read her post. BTW, if you want some help planning your youth ministry's 2014-2015, feel free
Lately on Facebook, people have faced the Gratitude Challenge (the Huffington Post had a feature article on this). The premise of the challenge is to list 3 items of you're grateful for over a 10 day period. It's been shown that having a thankful attitude has positive effects on ourselves (there have been numerous studies looking at the correlation between gratitude and happiness). This shouldn't be any surprise for the
Most of our church ministries operate with volunteers. Without them, many of our ministries would shut down. Many youth leaders have a problem recruiting volunteers. However, that's only one part of the puzzle. It's not just how to bring volunteers in service, it's also how you care for them. I've heard from some volunteers who feel they are essentially cheap (i.e. free) labour. Some don't feel appreciated or cared for.
Last week, our Canadian Baptist Youth and Family team met together. This semi-annual gathering allows us to pray and discuss what opportunities might be available for us nationally. CB Youth & Family team exists to advocate for and make possible national and global synergies in the areas of youth, family and young adult ministry. In order to achieve this, there are four objectives: Make possible both national and global youth and
The team arrived safely at the Lighthouse. They currently don't have WiFi, so Peter Schultz (team leader) texted this update: No problems in transit other than a 3-hour delay in the Miami-DR flight... but we got free sandwiches ... sooooo. Then we took the new bus to the compound where we ate food and got organized for tomorrow. Youth loved the food and pool. Peace.
Back in 2011, the Hemorrhaging Faith study found that, for Christian youth adults, major life transitions were often transitions out of the church and faith. A major new study is being conducted looking at the transition of Christian young adults from high school to the next phase in life and how churches and ministries can help young adults maintain their connections to church and faith. The last data collection phase
Blizzard 1 for 2018 was the 49th winter retreat CBOQ Youth has hosted. Our speaker, Matt Adams, brought illusions that blew the mind. (He even performed illusions and hung out with students through the weekend.) More importantly, he drew people to Jesus, sharing how Christ is the greatest hope. Life Support amped up students and leaders in worship, including their rendition (with a lot of crowd participation) of the
Each year, there are probably one (or a few) big events everyone looks forward to, whether it’s a retreat, a compassion experience, or that annual big-bash Christmas dinner. Those big events can be monumental and life-changing…if they’re used well. One person suggested to me that big events in youth ministry are giant “sledgehammer” moments where there is potential for huge impact in students’ lives. There are a variety of reasons
Last week, a group of CBOQ pastors (including some children, family and youth pastors) gathered at the Nottawasaga Inn and Resort for the Reignite Conference. This year featured Dwight Friesen, author of The New Parish, sharing his insights on the local church. We engaged in three days of discussions around the purpose of the local parish and how well we interact with our neighbourhood. There were three questions/ideas that stood
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