Last night at youth group, there were two things I think were really great.
The first one was that they recognized the youth group soccer team for winning a championship, but every single player who spoke talked about the fact that winning or losing wasn’t the goal of the team. The team exists to share a Christian testimony to the other teams they play against. They all are in a discipleship group, and they have had to work on their attitudes and actions on the field in order to maintain a good testimony in front of others.
The second great thing at youth group meeting tonight was a girl named Valerie who wants to study cinematography. She had a school assignment, and her teacher told her to make a short film. She made a great little short, and they screened it at youth group last night. A lot of the students in the group were in her film, which is very evangelistic. She’s showing it in school on Wednesday morning.
Both of these things stand out to me because they are examples of students using talents in ministry. There are so many ways to be useful for the Kingdom. Youth ministries need to provide opportunities for students to minister, using whatever means necessary.
What are you doing to help students use their talents to serve?
(Image by: LeRamz on flickr.)
A while ago, I published a free ebook about how to use online video for ministry, especially youth ministry. I never really announced it much, but I wanted to post it here on the site so it could be useful for others.
It’s got ideas on how to put video on the web and how to use web video in youth ministry. My favorite part, and I think the part that is the most useful, is the part on ways to use online video for youth ministry.
You can download it here: Generation Youtube
Besides writing here and at my own youth ministry site (youthministrytv.com), I read a lot of blogs. Many of them have to do with youth ministry. Since I don’t have a blogroll on this site, I thought I’d post links to the 25 youth ministry blogs I have in my feed reader that I read.
- Life in Student Ministry
- Adam McClane
- Morethandodgeball
- Ninety Seven Three…the Stat
- Tony Sheng
- Amusing Thoughts
- Patti Gibbons
- Sara Eden
- College transition Initiative
- Bumbling Forward
- Kurt Johnston
- Deep Thoughts by Gman
- Following Him
- Greg Stier
- The End is Forever
- Kingsley Klan
- Kupferer family and Reflection Ministry
- Matthew McNutt
- Nailscars.com
- Serial Youth Pastor
- The Adventures of the Timmons
- Tim Davies
- YSMarko
- youthministryideas.net
- 100 or more
If you’re not on the list, no worries, post your link in the comments. I’m always looking new sites to read. Please, go ahead, I’d love to visit your blog.
At the end of my class today, I asked my seminary students what they thought the greatest need was in the lives of Mexican young people. The only rule was that they couldn’t say the typical answer of “Jesus.” After thinking about it a little, they gave me great answers, all of which centered around the same theme.
Oscar said that he thought the greatest need is direction. Young people in Mexico have lots of potential, but they have little direction and guidance. They are wandering and thus get into trouble.
Chaire gave her opinion, and she said that they need love. Young people need someone to demonstrate love to them in a tangible way, because they are not receiving the right kind of love.
Huberto agreed with both Oscar and Chaire, and he said that Mexican young people need good mentors. They need someone who will invest their life in them and share with them the struggles of life. He said that many young people in the area are eager to make a difference, but they have nobody to guide them and help them accomplish their goals.
Abraham walked in for my next class, so we asked him the question. He responded by saying that he thought the biggest need in the lives of young people was someone who would take interest in them and share with them about their own life. He said they need someone who will come alongside them and be open to listen and accept them, sharing with them the struggles of life.
Isn’t this what youth ministry is all about? It’s why we are training these youth pastors at the seminary. I want to see them make an impact where there is a need. I believe they know what to do, and they are on their way to doing it in each of their ministries. They are providing direction, love, and guidance. They are great mentors and role models, and they have an incredible grasp on the needs of their students.
I was in a church in Cuba where the average person makes less than $20 a month, and the sign on the wall says “A church blessed to be a blessing.” I’ve always believed that we receive blessings (finances, opportunities, resources, etc) in order to be in a position to bless others.
The profession of youth ministry has been blessed to be a blessing. Many of us who are in youth ministry have received numerous opportunities. Some of us have been educated in youth ministry. We have experience in ministering to young people. We have learned a lot and been offered a lot. Now it’s our turn to be a blessing to others around the world.
Global youth ministry is important for many reasons. Here are some of them.
Because of the need
When we talk about the need for international youth ministry, I am often reminded of the statistics that I first heard when I was a youth ministry student at Liberty University.
Ninety-seven percent of the world’s trained youth workers live and work in the United States, ministering to less than 3% of the world’s youth population. In the United States, there is one trained youth worker for every 600 young people. In the rest of the world, there is one trained youth worker for every 400,000 young people.
While I’m not denying that the young people of America need youth pastors, the American church, who has focused on missions for quite some time now, has not yet turned its focus towards impacting the next generation with trained professionals in youth ministry.
Because of the blessings we’ve received
Training in youth ministry at either a graduate or undergraduate level is available from more than 140 accredited institutions in the United States (link). There are countless conferences, training sessions, and resources for youth workers. However, there are very few organizations who are focused on training and resourcing those outside of the English speaking world.
Because of invitations
New requests come in every day for training in other parts of the world. Youth Ministry International could use full time youth ministry trainers in all of the countries in which we are working right now, and there are other countries asking for our help.
We have invitations from at least three other countries in Latin America alone who want youth ministry training, but we are unable to respond to these requests for lack of trainers. There’s just not enough time or personnel to keep up with the invitations we are receiving.
Because of the commands.
God has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. Youth workers are doing their best to obey God and bring young people to follow Christ. If you’re a youth worker, I commend you for the work you are doing. I believe youth pastors are some of the most under-appreciated people on the planet. Thank you for doing what you do.
Now I’d like to ask you to consider what you are doing to be a blessing to others in the world who could benefit from your experience and training. We are praying that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into His field. There are multitudes of young people who are in desperate need for people who have the ability to come alongside them and help them.
You have been blessed. Now be a blessing.
