Is ministering to youth like being a cross-cultural missionary? You'd better believe it. The parallels between ministry within youth culture and global missions have long been touted by youth ministry experts, yet few resources exist to help youth workers benefit practically from the insights of missiologists. In Youth Ministry as Mission, Brian Hull and Patrick Mays fill this gap with an introduction to missiology, missions practice, and missionary witness tailored especially for a youth ministry context. Youth ministers will discover missiological language that describes realities they face regularly and activities of cross-cultural missionaries that translate well into leaders within youth ministries. Hull and Mays address issues such as: • Understanding the relationship of the incarnation to ministering in youth culture • Translating stories and practicing storytelling as preparation for witnessing • Teaching for witness in a multi-religious context Youth Ministry as Mission will be a valuable guide for college and seminary students as well as a breath of fresh air to those already working in youth ministry. "Hull and Mays show us how missiology can help us see a way forward in youth ministry, humbly discovering the mission of God right where we are--where we, too, have been sent to become living translations of the gospel for young people." --Brad M. Griffin, senior director, Fuller Youth Institute; author of 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager "With deferential scholarly humility, Hull and Mays have written a book that insists on integration over invention." --Dr. Dave Rahn, coauthor of Disrupting Teens with Joy

Join the conversation as experts propose, defend, and explore Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church.In a dialog that often gets downright feisty, four youth ministry academicians delineate their distinct philosophical and ecclesiological views regarding how youth ministry relates to the church at large--and leave a taste of what’s profound and what’s not in these four typologies:Inclusive congregational (Malan Nel). What happens when a church thoroughly integrates its adolescents, making them full partners in every aspect of congregational life?Preparatory (Wesley Black). Why and how should a church consider its teenagers as disciples-in-training and its youth ministry a school of preparation for future participation in church life?Missional (Chap Clark). What does a church look like, whose youth ministry does not necessarily nurture "church kids" but is essentially evangelistic? Whose youths and youth workers are considered missionaries?Strategic (Mark Senter). How feasible is it for a youth ministry to become a new church on its own--the youth pastor becoming the pastor, and the new church planted with the blessing of the mother church?In Four View of Your Ministry and the Church, solid academic writing and an inviting tone and design create a compelling text for both in-the-field, practicing youth workers and undergraduates and graduate students.

The mainline church in the past few decades has witnessed a ghettoization of youth within the church, segregating them off to a particular room, perhaps in the basement, where they engage in ministry in isolation from the rest of the congregation. They are assigned a “youth minister” or “youth director,” often the staff person with the least experience, freeing up the “real” ministers to serve the adults in the church. They seldom serve on church boards or governing bodies in anything other than a cursory manner. Their leadership in worship is limited to one special Sunday a year; their activities seen more as programming than ministry, and their place often described as “the church of the future” rather than the body of Christ in the here-and-now. For decades, youth ministry in mainline churches has been program-driven, assuming that the primary function of youth ministry was to use activities and events to attract young people to church and keep them occupied until they were ready to be adult members in the faith. In recent years, it has become increasingly obvious that this paradigm has failed to develop youth as life-long participants in the Christian church and in the Christian faith. The result of such a model of ministry is that youth come to see church only as those segregated activities reserved for teenagers, most of which bear little resemblance to the practices of the rest of church life. Consequently, when youth graduate from high school and youth group, they perceive that their most meaningful church experiences are ended. Mainline congregations are now seeing the evidence of the real lack of impact of their youth ministries as the population of young adults in churches continues to shrink – even those young adults who were once regular participants in church youth group programs. In short, the program-driven model of youth ministry has failed to help youth find their place within the mission of the Church. Rethinking Youth Ministry critiques this older paradigm and invites the reader into a dialogue to help rethink many of the deepest assumptions of youth ministry in the mainline church. We challenge the consumerist goal of judging a youth ministry’s success by the number of its participants. We push back against the notion that a youth ministry is the sum total of the events on the calendar. We rethink the place of volunteers and parents, calling for a greater role of adults as spiritual mentors in the lives of church youth. We send out a call for greater understanding of modern methods of teaching and the impact of brain research on the intellectual and spiritual development of youth and we re-imagine a new role for mission within youth ministry which calls youth to see mission not as isolated activities but as the very heart of their faith journey. Rethinking Youth Ministry serves as a theological companion and practical guide for all those “working in the trenches” of youth ministry who are seeking to offer students a deeper, more consequential, and active life-long relationship with God through the ministry of Jesus Christ.

A New Kind of Youth Ministrychallenges you to take a fresh look at your ministry through the concept of “reculturing”—the act of changing theway things are done or simply creating a culture of change. No fly-bynight, change-for-the-sake-of-change concept, it’s about altering our paradigms for the sake of life change.

The questions our youth have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians. Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean invite you to envision youth ministries full of practical theologians. Follow them into reflection on your own practice of theology, and learn how to share that theology through rich conversation and purposeful experience.

We need to get organized around here! That is the common cry of youth workers who feel burdened by so much to do in so little time, so many responsibilities and so few results, so much criticism--it seems--so little support. Paul Borthwick agrees that getting organized is essential for effective your ministry, and he has written an essential book to help those of you in youth ministry organize three different areas of your lives: Personal: How do your personal goals and your need for personal growth fit with your youth ministry? If you're married, are your spouse and children helped or hurt by your involvement with kids? Are your other responsibilities suffering? As Borthwick says, Good ministry is the result of a balanced personal life.Ó Professional: Do you see yourself as a youth professional? Is your interaction with pastor and church board characterized by mutual respect? It's the youth worker who will help other people see youth ministry as a profession and not just a fun-and-games operation.Ó Practical: Is your budget balanced? Do you frequently begin activities feeling only half-prepared? Do your volunteers and coworkers know what is expected of them? Better planning and time management can create programs, lessons, and activities that help people grow, learn, and love each other.Ó Part I of 'Organizing Your Youth Ministry' examines the need to the youth minister to organize his or her personal life as well as ministry, setting priorities, and the special challenges of church youth ministry. Part II addresses the philosophical foundations of youth ministry organization: Why do we do what we do? What is it young people really need? How do you work with a team? Where do parents fit in? Part III discusses how to organize the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly administrative demands of the youth ministry, from budgets to retreats, from activities to Sunday school lessons, from choir to missions projects, from discipleship programs to the special needs of junior-high students. Part IV helps us to evaluate our goals and to measure the effectiveness of our youth ministry -- always keeping in mind that, as Borthwick says, the ultimate purpose isn't just to produce better programs or a more efficient discipleship systemÓ but to present each person complete in ChristÓ (Col. 1:28 NASB). So if you, like every other youth worker, have too much to do, too little time to do it in, and sometimes don't know where to begin, 'Organizing Your Youth Ministry' can help. Give it a try -- and you'll find out why Paul Borthwick says that organization can be a ministry in itself.

Youth ministry veteran and bestselling author, Duffy Robbins, offers an updated and revised edition of his book about the important, behind-the-scenes mechaincs of youth ministry. The tasks of budgeting, decision-making, time management, team ministry, staff relationships, conflict resolution, working with parents, and a range of other issues, are the things that keep a ministry together and functioning well. Nobody gets into youth ministry because they want to think about these things; but a lot of people get out of youth ministry because they didn’t think about them. All youth workers—whether paid or volunteer, full-time or part-time—will find Youth Ministry Nuts and Bolts to be a thoughtful, fun, practical guide to youth ministry administration.

A FIELD GUIDE TO THE WILD LIFE OF YOUTH MINISTRY Youth Ministry. It’s quite an idea so much bigger than two words. One part odyssey, one part call, one part mission, and one part quest, youth ministry calls us into places of breathless exhilaration, stunning beauty, genuine peril, and unknown discovery. This is not terrain for the faint of heart. But it is a landscape of grace and wonder. This Way to Youth Ministry is the most complete academic text for those who might be called to such a journey. Thirty-year youth ministry veteran Duffy Robbins explores the theology, theory, and practice of youth ministry and helps you discover how to: Identify your calling to ministry Cultivate the traits and training that make a good youth pastor Set boundaries and maintain priorities Understand the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical development on adolescents Navigate youth culture and postmodernism Understand youth ministry in relation to the rest of the Church Develop a team of volunteers who will walk the journey with you Develop and apply a personalized ministry philosophy With just the right mix of theory and application, this extensive academic text shows you both the big picture and the close-up details of making ministry work. Whether your journey is just beginning or well under way, This Way to Youth Ministry is the book that will help with everything that lies ahead.

You have the passion it takes to serve in youth ministry, but where do you start? All youth ministers have asked this question to themselves at least once in their career: "What do I do now?" Practical Wisdom for Youth Ministry is a practical, concise starting point to help answer that question and many others. This resource is packed with expert advice and personal testimony to support and encourage ministers and volunteers working with youth. Practical Wisdom for Youth Ministry addresses many pressing issues for youth ministers with straightforward steps that are both biblically grounded and easy to apply. It discusses large-scale concerns such as organization, budgeting, and outreach, as well as personal concerns such as marriage, self care, and conflict. For new and veteran youth ministers, David Fraze offers the necessary tools to help build a strong foundation for effective, powerful ministry.

It’s more common in youth ministry than we want to admit—burnout and failure. Exhaustion, frustration, disappointment, and conflict bring many youth workers to a point where they either choose a new church, a new career, or someone makes that choice for them. After thirty years of youth ministry experience, Len Kageler wants to help youth workers avoid the pitfalls that are common to their calling, and give them the tools to not only survive, but also to thrive in youth ministry. Along with his own wisdom, Len offers insights gained from his 2006 survey of more than 300 burned out or fired youth workers who come from a variety of ministry contexts and denominations. If you’re new to youth ministry, or you’ve been at it for a while and feel like you may be on the verge of burnout, The Youth Ministry Survival Guide will help you: • deal with conflict and compromise • determine the causes of burnout (and how to avoid them!) • discover how your personality, and the personality of those you work with, affects the dynamics of your ministry experience • develop the best plan for working with senior pastors, church leadership, parents, and students, so you can… • do youth ministry in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond! Don’t let burnout force you out! Inside this book you’ll find steps you can take to help build fences against failure, and you’ll learn what it takes to survive and thrive in youth ministry.