Provides those in small church ministry--including volunteer, part-time, and full-time youth workers--with a process and procedure that enables them to address their particular needs as a small church.

A guide to assist the new youth worker on working with teenagers, as well as ideas for the professional youth worker to better reach young people.

Mark DeVries offers an approach that brings teens into one-to-one relationship with older Christians; involves the whole church family from singles to seniors; and frees pastors and leaders from worrying about attendance, budget and competition with other programs.

Video presents 12 performances each between 3 and 10 minutes of sketch-comedy and drama about the biblical characters Peter and Andrew interacting with Jesus. Guide has 12 lessons for the youth leader, based on gospel stories, for use with junior high or high school youth.

Weekly studies to reinforce what junior highers are learning from their Wild Truth JournalThese Bible lessons send students straight to the words of Jesus to discover the truth, then dare them to live that truth today. Includes games, activities, sketches, handouts, and reproducible worksheets.

You have less resources - but you know every student's name. Attendance drops when one family takes a vacation - but you have flexibility. Celebrate the wonderful journey of ministry in the smaller congregation. While making parents your partners in ministry, more ministry with less money, finding/training volunteers, and appreciating the advantages of serving in a smaller youth ministry

A collection of more than 200 of the newest, most creative, youth-group-tested crowd breakers and mixers ever imaginedThe newest volume in the best-selling Ideas Library is Crowd Beakers and Mixers 2. These ideas are designed to grab the attention of youth groups and keep them entertained for months. It’s perfect for youth leaders, camp counselors, Sunday school teachers, and recreation directors.This volume includes a variety of large and small group gags, stunts, mixers, contests, word games, quizzes, and more. Features include:• User friendly—perfect to hand off to volunteer or student leaders• Conveniently organized• Multiple uses• Field-tested ideas contributed by youth workers and pastors• Ideal for all ages

What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century. Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents' perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today's culture, youth ministry can't compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

Features 50 two-page journaling devotionals sends students straight into the words of Jesus to discover the truth--then it dares them to live that truth today.

Since forever altering the course of the youth ministry world with his best-selling, groundbreaking book, Purpose-Driven® Youth Ministry, Doug Fields’ mind—but especially his heart—has been focused on the many unique needs of new youth workers.Doug translated his passion, insight, and vision for his beloved “rookies” into what you’re now reading, Your Fist Two Years in Youth Ministry—hands-down the most comprehensive companion to not only surviving, but also thriving, during the most crucial phase of youth ministry. Employing his renowned wisdom and humor—as if you and Doug were chatting over a long, relaxing meal—the author disarmingly relates stories and principles from his own successes and failures over 20-plus years in youth ministry. In the end, he offers treasure troves of practical advice, all in the hope that new youth workers can travel a smoother path and achieve real longevity in a church culture that all too often chews them and spits them out.Doug covers all-important issues such as:· Dealing with discouragement· Establishing a solid spiritual foundation· Building effective relationships with students· Resolving conflict· Ministering to parents and families· Trailblazing change· Working with volunteers· Defining a realistic job description· And many others!In addition, a chorus of insightful sidebar voices joins your conversation with Doug, among them ministry veterans Jim Burns, Steve Gerali, Mike Yaconelli, Helen Musick, Chap Clark, Marv Penner, Rick Warren, Jana L. Sundene, Bo Boshers, Duffy Robbins, Tony Campolo, and Richard Ross, all who’ve composed extensive, topical essays for each of the dozen chapters.Your First Two Years of Youth Ministry is a must-have tool for new youth workers, volunteers, seminary professors and students, senior pastors, elders, church boards—even veteran youth workers who’ve been ministering in unstructured environments and are now asking, “What did I miss? What can I still learn?”The first two years of youth ministry are never easy. But never fear. Doug fervently assures us: “Hang on. Hope’s coming!”