The Bible in a 20minute Nutshell (audio)
Audio of a talk I gave at i61 church a year or so ago. Their webpage has now been closed, so I’m reposting the audio here.
Why YouthWorkHacks doesn’t use Ads
I was asked a few days ago how to generate revenue from a blog. My answer (which was ‘I don’t’) really surprised them. Back in the days when I freelanced as a ghost-writer and a digital publicist, I had a shopfront blog that marketed my skills as a personal brand and then click-funnelled people into […]
Is our language becoming idiographic again? Communicating with emoticon culture.
I’m currently sat in a little café just outside of Mullsjö in Sweden, trying to send a text message to a local. Try as I might, however, my indoctrinated little British phone just can’t do it! The message icon keeps flashing up with a little “!”. Clearly this means ‘something is wrong, and this hasn’t […]
Theological Reflection in Training for Youth Ministry – by Jon Coombs
This week, youth pastor and blogger Jon Coombs helps us consider how we relfect on what we do from a theological perspective. Theological reflection, the idea of being able to reflect on our experiences in life and ministry through the lens of faith, can often go missing in youth ministry. It takes effort to stop, […]
Can we please rethink fluffy bunnies?
Fluffy bunnies, otherwise known as chubby bunnies or chipmunking, is the upfront game that involves stuffing as many marshmallows into your mouth as possible without gagging or spitting. The objective is to coherently say the phrase ‘fluffy bunnies’ – or something to that effect – with a very, very full mouth. Hilarious right? Now, I […]
You’re Not Wasting Your Degree in Youth Ministry – By Jon Coombs
This week, youth pastor and blogger Job Coombs shares his experience of being a Masters-level, theologically trained youth worker. When working in youth ministry it doesn’t take long to realise that training is simply a must. In recent weeks Tim has been highlighting the need for more training within youth ministry, and I agree wholeheartedly. […]
How to develop a healthy team culture – on the IVP blog
This was first published on the IVP blog One of the most memorable fairy tales from my childhood was ‘the princess and the pea’. The way I remember the story, an overly-entitled bratty millennial princess couldn’t get comfy enough to fall asleep, and so her wealthy, avocado-farming parents called upon every dashing bloke in her […]
Mental Health and Youth Ministry – on the IVP Blog
This was first published here on the IVP blog. When I was 14, one of my best friends was Daniel. I didn’t know Daniel was clinically depressed or that his random outbursts were actually early signs of bipolar disorder. I didn’t understand that it wasn’t normal that Daniel’s room only contained a mattress, a guitar […]
Responding to The Game of Thrones Debate
Game of Thrones. Is it the gloves off, gruesome, grim and gristly opiate for the masses – or the fantastical story that grapples with the true complexities of human experience? Is it right for a Christian to watch it for entertainment, or perhaps missional research – or should they steer clear of it all-together? Could […]
An open letter to church leaders… from a youth pastor. On Premier Christianity.
This post was first published on Premier Christianity. See the original here. Tim Gough urges church leaders to resist the temptation to outsource all the youth work to their youth pastors Dear Pastor, It’s your job to minister to young people. Since the close of the Second World War your duty of care over the […]
Discussing Incarnational Youth Work – Part 5. What dangers can it cause?
A couple of years ago I conducted an informal survey of fifty-seven full-time youth ministers who considered themselves to be ‘incarnational’ in their approach. 66.7% of them gave out their personal phone number to young people, and 52.6% gave their personal address. Of these 59.6% said they did not give any boundaries for when a […]
Discussing Incarnational Youth Work – Part 4. What does the original doctrine have to say?
Here we are at day 4 of Incarnational youth ministry week on YouthWorkHacks. Part 1 checked out the basics, Part 2 dug into the terms, Part 3 looked at the Bible, and today – Part 4 – we’re looking at the wider doctrine. Tomorrow we’ll conclude with some more practical things to think about. Onto […]
Discussing Incarnational Youth Work – Part 3. Doesn’t the Bible back it up?
Welcome back to Incarnational youth ministry week. We looked at the definition in Part 1, and we unpacked the importance of the meaning of the word in Part 2. Tomorrow we’ll dig deeper doctrinally, and on Friday we’ll look some of the practical dangers with some incarnational methods. Today we’re looking at the Bible! Woohoo! […]
Discussing Incarnational Youth Work – Part 2. It’s all semantics, right?
Thanks for tuning in. It’s incarnational youth ministry week here on YouthWorkHacks, and today I’m posting Part 2 of a 5 (yes 5!) part series discussing and critiquing the incarnational theory of youth work. If you’re not sure what I mean by incarnational youth ministry and you missed Part 1, click here and check out […]
Discussing Incarnational Youth Work – Part 1. What is it and what’s my problem?
Incarnational ministry has become something of the prosthetic spine of youth work. It’s spinal, in that it runs right through the structural centre of many of our approaches, but it’s prosthetic because it’s a poor substitute for the real thing. This week I’ll be posting five posts – a whole series – discussing some of […]