Terry Linhart's Blog, page 25

Can technology usher in a return to real teaching?

People fear the introduction of technology into education and its classrooms. However, perhaps its ability to deliver content will free instructors to teach, challenge, develop, and shape thinking in new ways… the way that used to characterize teaching.  Think about it: Much of traditional teaching has been the ‘banking’ method (Paulo Freire) – where the instructor has this information and by talking nonstop for 50 minutes, supposedly deposits it in the students’ minds.  And whether real learning has happened is anyone’s guess.

So, to challenge our fears a bit, read this blog and then watch this video:

In my observations of youth ministry groups, we leaders have fallen into this trap too, relying solely on the “youth talk” as our exclusive form of teaching.  Making young adolescents have to sit in rows for anything longer than 10 minutes while an adult lectures seems to miss the mark of how they learn.  Rick Lawrence, author of Shrewd (one of my favorite leadership books of 2012), once campaigned for the end of the “youth talk.” 

As I’ve allowed this to affect my own teaching approaches, it’s forced me to open up to my students and ask them about their learning from my teaching.  It has been a helpful process to understand the range of learning approaches within my groups and classes – and it’s forced me to adjust my teaching.

I would recommend this for youth ministry leaders:  Sit with 4-5 kids from your youth group and make them a one-time advisory group and ask them the following three questions:

When do you learn the most in our youth ministry?  (Followup:  what have you learned this year so far?)
What is important for me to know about how youth learn in our youth group?
How can we improve so that you and other youth learn more and in more meaningful ways?
(Bonus question)   If you were in charge of the teaching part of our youth group, what would you change?

For me, I’ve discovered that my teaching needs to be visual, varied (change methods every 7-10 minutes), and immediately meaningful for students’ lives.  The last part has been the biggest challenge of the three. But, if students can, in their minds, discern how it applies to their lives or future lives as they learn, they will work harder to make sure they ‘get it.’  Usually.

I watched a great example of this Wednesday night at a local youth ministry. Instead of doing a ‘talk’ on dating and sex, the youth pastor involved technology and formatted the stage like ESPN’sPardon the Interruption. So, a large amount of content was taught, but in 5-minute segments (with a lot of humor and interaction among the 3 people on stage) and with audience feedback and questions as well.  It was no wonder that the 150+ youth stayed engaged for the entire 40 minutes as they covered the 7 different but related topics.

Here’s the kicker why we don’t often do this:  It takes more work, more preparation, more creativity, and it’s riskier. But it’s worth every effort.

The challenge from the research on young adult faith lays out the issue: Youth ministry teaching hasn’t taught that much so far, at least in a way that students can articulate their faith or live it out beyond their high school days.  What if we taught in ways that a) made them interact and articulate their faith and b) found the teaching meaningful to their everyday lived-out lives?

That’s what I want to do.

The post Can technology usher in a return to real teaching? appeared first on Terry Linhart.

We’re busy – But is it the right busy?

When I was a kid, my family and I would usually watch, as most of America did, The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights.  The variety show featured the latest pop music groups, comedy acts, and entertainers.  I remember a guy who would come on and spin plates, a large number of them.  I always wondered how someone began doing that, what his childhood and teenage years must have been like” “Look mom what I’ve been working on in the garage for the last 7 months.  Oh, and sorry about those two over there.  We still have 2 and a half to use for supper.”

It’s funny though how that image (like this one) has stuck in my head as I think about being a leader.  In fact, I’ve discussed this analogy before.  Look at that guy in the picture.  Don’t some of our weeks look like that?  We’ve taken on so much to manage, to think about, and to keep ‘spinning’ that we’re doing all we can just to reach the next spot, complete the next task, and be productive.

The illusion of the plate spinner is that he or she is accomplishing something due to the busy-ness.  Yet, the plates remain in place, no new plates are created, we aren’t touched deeply, and at the end of the performer’s work the best he or she can say is “I survived without a plate breaking.”

Now, I know that for some us who serve in management positions, we are responsible (and paid!) to get our organization or company through a week without much falling apart (or breaking!).  But, we will stay in place if we don’t find ways to avoid the frantic, moving plate to plate.  We will not be creative if there isn’t time to renew, reflect, and rest (rest is under-discussed as a necessary ingredient to effective leadership).  We won’t touch others deeply if our own lives and souls aren’t irrigated with fresh thinking and spiritual renewal. At the end of each week, I want to say more than just, “Whew!  I made it!”

I am reminded of Steven Covey‘s book First Things First and his reminder to make sure we start by planning around what’s most important as we schedule each week.  He said, “Urgency is a counterfeit to importance.”  I see that confusion often in youth ministry circles. We’re busy, but is it the right busy?  The busy-ness makes us feel important, but isn’t it just plate-spinning?   If we aren’t analyzing our time spent, how do we know we’re doing what matters most in our work?

So, I’ve been thinking about how I make each week count in a way where I can enjoy life and work.  And I’ll tell you that this year has gone fairly well so far. Even though I’ve taken on more responsibilities and projects, some personal guidelines and safeguards that Kelly and I have put in place have kept the frantic living at bay.

And yet I want to be sure that each week counts, that each week has room for foundational elements (i.e. rest, working out, spiritual renewal, disciplined reading, family time, mentoring other leaders)

So, as you think about how we can we sense fulfillment and purpose as we work, what have you done that has worked well for you? What foundational practices do you make sure are present in your life each week?

The post We’re busy – But is it the right busy? appeared first on Terry Linhart.

Does our Teaching “Amaze, Delight and Challenge”?

It’s striking how quickly we fall into a rut, especially in our teaching.  And how soon in life we begin to fashion a small box within which we want to live life.  It’s safer inside and we’re more able to control what we can amidst a changing world.  Seth Godin wrote about one aspect of that world, that people today (thanks to technological changes) are more ready to change than ever before. Now, whether changing technology devices is substantive change or not is up for debate (marketers like to overstate), but he concludes his article with this advice: Amaze, Delight and Challenge.  And that’s worth considering.

As teachers, leaders, youth workers, supervisors, and even parents, how quickly have we gotten into a box, a ‘rut’ of routine that has not amazed or delighted anyone in recent memory?

I’ve recently been thinking of a few principles related to this advice:

Do the hard work of preparation.  Most people fail here first… but they don’t know that they have. They think they’re prepared by giving the work a wave, or they let less important things press in on their time and get busy with work that doesn’t matter.  Diligence pays dividends.  I think this is the most shocking reality for young leaders and youth workers:  How much preparation is necessary for excellence and moving beyond mediocre.  High schools and colleges are full of mediocrity and students working to ‘fit in’ to a middle.  The middle doesn’t amaze, delight, or challenge.  It’s the norm.

I recently spoke at a youth conference and went on stage before the first session to see the hosts of the weekend rehearsing their material over and over. It’s no wonder that they were a hit with the students:  The costumes, humor, and poignant moments were all very effective.  It’s also no wonder that these two are very effective youth workers.  They understand the diligence necessary for excellence.

2. Change people’s perspective.  I watch a LOT of presentations each year.  Most of the time, we just report back material the audience has either read, are familiar with, or know intuitively.  People attend, or want to hear, something new, to see the world differently or be able to act in new ways because of their attendance at these teaching moments.  When we get a chance to teach or lead, think uncoverage.  What is something the audience hasn’t seen, thought of, or knew that needs uncovering so their lives or thinking will be better?  THAT is what to focus on.  As we study, how can we help people to see, think, or act in new ways? 

3. Touch people’s hearts.  Most of us love to watch movies, to read books that elicit an emotional response, and we watch sports to experience the thrills and heartaches of athletic competition.  Why is so much of our teaching inert in comparison and absent of such elements?  This is more than just showing a YouTube video and then talking for 30 minutes.  (Please, can we  Touching hearts means we connect with the imagination of our audience. You have to! There is no other way to amaze, delight, or challenge.

I know that a lot of us have been working to improve in these areas. What have you changed? What’s worked well?  What did you risk, didn’t go so well, but was still worth doing because you learned so much?

The post Does our Teaching “Amaze, Delight and Challenge”? appeared first on Terry Linhart.

Social Media is Huge but it’s Still not a Substitute for Real Life (Guest Post)

 You already know how pervasive social media has become.  It’s become a primary tool for communication, relationships and community.  So if your ministry wants to “meet people where they’re at,” you’re going to have to invest heavily in social media, right?

Not so fast.

Facebook isn’t a substitute for real community and it shouldn’t be treated that way.

You already knew that, but you might be surprised to learn that your students are feeling it, even if they’re not aware the feeling is there. In fact, this danah boyd study[1] reveals that social media usage stems from a desire for real interaction.

Even students who are totally immersed in social media feel a longing for real community. That’s good news for your youth ministry. It means that if you’re doing things right, you’re already meeting a felt need.

Good for you. Here’s how you can maximize on what you’re already doing.

In the face of a burgeoning social media presence, “traditional” communication doesn’t feel lame. It feels more special.

Think about the last birthday you had. You probably received a hundred generic wall posts – so many that they blended together. You didn’t read them all, and probably most of them didn’t feel special.

But the birthday card you received? The phone call from an out-of-touch college buddy? A special lunch with your spouse? Those are the things that meant something. The same idea is true for teenagers.

Teenagers use social media enough to know how quick and easy a hasty message really is, and so they can easily recognize it for what it is. If you throw something together quickly, they’ll smell it out and the impact will be minimal, if it is anything at all.

Here’s the true story of how snail mail helped to build our youth program in less than a year.

In fall 2011, we started encouraging all of our small group leaders to start their own postcard ministry with their students. I printed a few dozen postcards every week, pre-postaged them, and made sure small group leaders had updated address lists.

It began small. We wanted to make sure each student received a hand-written note on his or her birthday.  Then we started sending postcards anytime a student missed two sessions in a row.  Then if the student had a prayer request or life event.

And finally, we made sure to send each student at least one postcard a month, even if we had to make up a reason to do it.

What happened? Attendance exploded. Students were more committed when they felt like we were more committed to them. Growth happened. Putting effort into demonstrating authentic care for other people paid off, just like Jesus said it would.

One day, during the course of leading a small group, a student absentmindedly dropped his Bible. When he did so, five or six postcards came spilling out of its pages.

He was sheepish at first, but admitted quietly that he’d saved every postcard any of our leaders had ever sent him. He was almost embarrassed for anyone to realize how much these gestures had meant to him.

Then another student opened her Bible and showed us that she’d stashed her postcards too. Then another. And another.

Within weeks, the other students in the group had picked up on the habit, keeping our hand-written prayers and carefully selected verses of encouragement nearby and close to their hearts.

Yes, our students spend most of their time on Facebook and Twitter. But we’re learning quickly that those aren’t the places where they derive most of their meaning.

Have you ever gotten caught up trying keep up with social media? What’s the better way that you’ve found to show students you really care?

Aaron Helman is on a mission to help end the epidemic of youth worker burnout. He writes Smarter Youth Ministry  to help youth workers with their biggest frustrations – things like effective communication. He is also the youth minister at Firehouse Youth Ministries in South Bend, Indiana.

[1] Yes, danah boyd insists that her name be spelled in lowercase letters. I initially stumbled onto this study through Dr. Andrew Zirschky.

The post Social Media is Huge but it’s Still not a Substitute for Real Life (Guest Post) appeared first on Terry Linhart.

A North American history of global youth ministry (repost)

I had the privilege of co-coordinating a brand new book, GLOBAL YOUTH MINISTRY (Zondervan/YS, 2011), that serves one of the faster-growing areas of youth ministry.   International youth ministry, once relegated to a one-hour session at a youth ministry conferences (and only 15 people showed up) has now become a vocational focus for thousands of youth workers.  Some colleges and seminaries have developed new courses on global youth ministry while others have modified their courses to include units related to this area.  We begin the book by stating:

“The growth of Christian youth ministry around the world has been nothing short of phenomenal. In regions where strategic ministry to youth barely existed 15 years ago, you’ll now discover well-organized ministries with established histories of effectiveness. Where none existed five years ago, a fledgling group of adults works to establish a regular presence among the young people in a community.”

When I’ve asked North American leaders how their interest in global youth ministry developed, I’ve heard a consistent history of how these youth leaders first developed their passion for cross-cultural youth ministry.  I thought this might be a good topic to ‘kick off’ our global youth ministry focus on the website here: How interest in international youth ministry has grown in North America.

[This is a work-in-progress post, so I invite you to send me some material via Email and I'll  keep editing the post as appropriate.]

In recent history, one of the most influential people in championing international youth ministry has been Randy Smith.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Randy wrote and spoke (he still does) about the need for formally-trained youth workers to work beyond the comfortable walls of North America and into the rest of the world.  He started Youth Ministry International to help develop leaders to do just that. His famous quote, that  “97% of the world’s formally trained youth workers minister to 3% of the world’s youth population” is still repeated today.  That challenge resonated with many youth workers and served as a prompt for many current global youth workers who point to Randy’s as the author who first challenged them to consider global youth ministry.

Youth with A Mission has been a consistent champion for international youth ministry.  In fact, it remains the most influential global youth ministry organization as it involves youth workers from countries all over the world, not just North America.  YWAM has provided an effective way to get overseas and be trained to work with youth in another culture, and it is influential in over 180 countries, with over 18,000 staff members serving at over 1000 locations. And they’re not done growing.

SonLife started to develop an international heartbeat as leaders began to implement its ministry model overseas.  These leaders had cross-cultural success, but also learned that North American youth ministry required some ‘translation’ into new cultures.  As these leaders worked with SonLife founder Dann Spader for training and coordination, they formed Global Youth Initiative, an umbrella organization that resources prominent ministries (like Josiah Venture (Eastern Europe), Wavemakers (The Philippines), and J-Life Africa) who employ the SonLife ministry model.

SonLife’s work has intersected at times with another large organization, International Teams. Though not exclusively about youth ministry, iTeams has helped facilitate quite a few youth leaders to establish international youth ministry in different cultures/countries.

Within North America, Youth Specialties and GROUP magazine began to help champion the cause for international youth ministry.  Russ Cline, formerly of Youthworld in Quito, Ecuador and now head of Leader Mundial, used to lead sessions on international youth ministry at the annual National Youth Workers Conventions.  He has been writing a column on global youth topics for GROUP magazine.

Youth Specialties then got more intentional regarding international youth ministry, with a particular focus on Latin and South America, and hired Lucas Leys to become International Director of the Hispanic Division.  As he and the YS President, Mark Oestreicher sought to champion global youth ministry, Lucas started  Especialidades Juveniles throughout Latin and South America while Marko traveled to various countries around the world (e.g. United Kingdom, South Africa, and Korea) to try and establish partnerships and networks.

Other organizations champion international youth ministry. Roger Glidewell set up a nice camp facility in Georgia where his organization, Global Youth Ministry, runs camps, short-term mission trips, and coordinate conferences to help develop future leaders.  In tandem with GYM, Roger established The Institute for Global Youth Studies.  GYM’s work isn’t explicitly about “global” youth work, focusing mostly on youth ministry foundations, but the heartbeat is there for participants to consider the youth of the world.

For the last ten years, Chris Davis has worked to develop Global Youth Ministry Network and their growth has been remarkable. One of the more recent organizations to emerge, and one with a specific focus on global youth and overseas training, is YouthHope.  Developed by former Especialidades Juveniles leader, Aaron Arnold, YouthHope looks poised to be a significant organization that helps people follow their passion to minister in cross-cultural youth ministry. There has been a renewed effort to develop a Canadian youth workers’ network. A national research project to determine what’s happening in Canadian youth ministry and the youth specialties convention continue to serve as focal points for Canadian youth ministry.

In academic circles, the interest in international youth ministry was fueled by IASYM, the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry.  Originally started at Oxford by Pete Ward, Chris Cook, Dean Borgman, and a few others, IASYM was an informed discussion on the theological issues facing global youth ministry.  As Malan Nel (from South Africa, where the most recent IASYM conference was held) and others got involved, its international growth signals that youth ministry as an academic focus is growing around the world.  I’ll discuss the academic growth of youth ministry in a future post.

The recent news headlines have given global attention to youth and their concerns about economics and government.  Globalization and its mechanisms of technology, immigration, accessible education, and affordable travel have helped to flatten the world.  We have moved beyond the borders that once isolated us and we have truly entered an era of global youth ministry.  From the early challenge by Randy Smith to the growth of training centers (and centres), colleges, seminaries, and institutes around the world, the church is responding to the needs of global youth.   It is our hope that GLOBAL YOUTH MINISTRY will be helpful  to the many who minister to and with youth in another country or in their own local community.

 

 

The post A North American history of global youth ministry (repost) appeared first on Terry Linhart.

A (North American) history of global youth ministry (repost)

I had the privilege of co-coordinating a brand new book, GLOBAL YOUTH MINISTRY (Zondervan/YS, 2011), that serves one of the faster-growing areas of youth ministry.   International youth ministry, once relegated to a one-hour session at a youth ministry conferences (and only 15 people showed up) has now become a vocational focus for thousands of youth workers.  Some colleges and seminaries have developed new courses on global youth ministry while others have modified their courses to include units related to this area.  We begin the book by stating:

“The growth of Christian youth ministry around the world has been nothing short of phenomenal. In regions where strategic ministry to youth barely existed 15 years ago, you’ll now discover well-organized ministries with established histories of effectiveness. Where none existed five years ago, a fledgling group of adults works to establish a regular presence among the young people in a community.”

When I’ve asked North American leaders how their interest in global youth ministry developed, I’ve heard a consistent history of how these youth leaders first developed their passion for cross-cultural youth ministry.  I thought this might be a good topic to ‘kick off’ our global youth ministry focus on the website here: How interest in international youth ministry has grown in North America.

[This is a work-in-progress post, so I invite you to send me some material via Email and I'll  keep editing the post as appropriate.]

In recent history, one of the most influential people in championing international youth ministry has been Randy Smith.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Randy wrote and spoke (he still does) about the need for formally-trained youth workers to work beyond the comfortable walls of North America and into the rest of the world.  He started Youth Ministry International to help develop leaders to do just that. His famous quote, that  “97% of the world’s formally trained youth workers minister to 3% of the world’s youth population” is still repeated today.  That challenge resonated with many youth workers and served as a prompt for many current global youth workers who point to Randy’s as the author who first challenged them to consider global youth ministry.

Youth with A Mission has been a consistent champion for international youth ministry.  In fact, it remains the most influential global youth ministry organization as it involves youth workers from countries all over the world, not just North America.  YWAM has provided an effective way to get overseas and be trained to work with youth in another culture, and it is influential in over 180 countries, with over 18,000 staff members serving at over 1000 locations. And they’re not done growing.

SonLife started to develop an international heartbeat as leaders began to implement its ministry model overseas.  These leaders had cross-cultural success, but also learned that North American youth ministry required some ‘translation’ into new cultures.  As these leaders worked with SonLife founder Dann Spader for training and coordination, they formed Global Youth Initiative, an umbrella organization that resources prominent ministries (like Josiah Venture (Eastern Europe), Wavemakers (The Philippines), and J-Life Africa) who employ the SonLife ministry model.

SonLife’s work has intersected at times with another large organization, International Teams. Though not exclusively about youth ministry, iTeams has helped facilitate quite a few youth leaders to establish international youth ministry in different cultures/countries.

Within North America, Youth Specialties and GROUP magazine began to help champion the cause for international youth ministry.  Russ Cline, formerly of Youthworld in Quito, Ecuador and now head of Leader Mundial, used to lead sessions on international youth ministry at the annual National Youth Workers Conventions.  He has been writing a column on global youth topics for GROUP magazine.

Youth Specialties then got more intentional regarding international youth ministry, with a particular focus on Latin and South America, and hired Lucas Leys to become International Director of the Hispanic Division.  As he and the YS President, Mark Oestreicher sought to champion global youth ministry, Lucas started  Especialidades Juveniles throughout Latin and South America while Marko traveled to various countries around the world (e.g. United Kingdom, South Africa, and Korea) to try and establish partnerships and networks.

Other organizations champion international youth ministry. Roger Glidewell set up a nice camp facility in Georgia where his organization, Global Youth Ministry, runs camps, short-term mission trips, and coordinate conferences to help develop future leaders.  In tandem with GYM, Roger established The Institute for Global Youth Studies.  GYM’s work isn’t explicitly about “global” youth work, focusing mostly on youth ministry foundations, but the heartbeat is there for participants to consider the youth of the world.

For the last ten years, Chris Davis has worked to develop Global Youth Ministry Network and their growth has been remarkable. One of the more recent organizations to emerge, and one with a specific focus on global youth and overseas training, is YouthHope.  Developed by former Especialidades Juveniles leader, Aaron Arnold, YouthHope looks poised to be a significant organization that helps people follow their passion to minister in cross-cultural youth ministry. There has been a renewed effort to develop a Canadian youth workers’ network. A national research project to determine what’s happening in Canadian youth ministry and the youth specialties convention continue to serve as focal points for Canadian youth ministry.

In academic circles, the interest in international youth ministry was fueled by IASYM, the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry.  Originally started at Oxford by Pete Ward, Chris Cook, Dean Borgman, and a few others, IASYM was an informed discussion on the theological issues facing global youth ministry.  As Malan Nel (from South Africa, where the most recent IASYM conference was held) and others got involved, its international growth signals that youth ministry as an academic focus is growing around the world.  I’ll discuss the academic growth of youth ministry in a future post.

The recent news headlines have given global attention to youth and their concerns about economics and government.  Globalization and its mechanisms of technology, immigration, accessible education, and affordable travel have helped to flatten the world.  We have moved beyond the borders that once isolated us and we have truly entered an era of global youth ministry.  From the early challenge by Randy Smith to the growth of training centers (and centres), colleges, seminaries, and institutes around the world, the church is responding to the needs of global youth.   It is our hope that GLOBAL YOUTH MINISTRY will be helpful  to the many who minister to and with youth in another country or in their own local community.

 

 

The post A (North American) history of global youth ministry (repost) appeared first on Terry Linhart.

Detours on the way to spiritual maturity for emerging adults

I teach an online class on Christian theology.  Designed for adults who didn’t complete college right after high school, the course often has students who are intimidated with taking a Christian theology course in person.  In return, they usually take the opportunity and the online ‘security’ to be honest and discuss their spiritual lives with great honesty and detail.

Now, I haven’t conducted any rigorous research from the papers and discussion boards, but I have heard common themes over the past two years, 14+ classes, and over 200 students from the Midwest US.  I have heard them share what happened in high school, often growing up in a ‘Christian’ home, and what happened since high school.

In light of the recent renewal in the faith development of young adults, I thought I’d share some anecdotal observations.

By far the primary detour from a solid Christian faith is the death of a loved one.  Usually it’s a grandparent who has lived a long life, but the constant reality is that many of these people were unprepared for the confrontation of life’s end and the loss of a caregiver in their life.

The second most prominent issue is a confusion of what the Christian faith is about.  As opposed to confession (Rom. 10:9-10) and a receiving of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9), the essence of Christianity is seen as a performance of obedience.  So, instead of loving Jesus first and then obeying out of that love (John 14:15), the Christian faith is viewed as something we do to earn God’s favor. We ‘perform’ so that God will love us more and not hate us.  (We all may benefit from memorizing Psalm 103 for our own understanding of how God operates).

The third one pours out of the second:  They react to the hypocrisy and restrictiveness they see in some Christians’ lives. And often that restrictiveness is forced on their life, the proverbial list of do’s and dont’s that others construct for them to follow to be in.  The hypocrisy is significant to most, an observed inconsistency with how people believe how how the act… usually how they treatthem.

I will talk about the hypocrisy issue in another post.

The final one is becoming more prominent:  An inability to read, understand, and study the Bible.  If I had a wish for youth workers, it would be for us to all to be excellent teachers of God’s Word, able to model a life of biblical understanding, and help our students mature in their ability to engage and apply Scripture to their lives.

I will be addressing these in coming posts, but what have you noticed about these?  What might I have missed on this list?

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A Sunday Psalm

Most days of each week I read from A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants for my devotional time.  For each week, there is a Psalm you read each day, the same Psalm.  This week’s psalm was 103, one that is well-known. However, this week it popped off the pages again in new ways. So, I share it today for a Sunday reading:

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3 He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4 He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5 He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

6 The Lord gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7 He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

9 He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

10 He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

12 He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

13 The Lord is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

14 For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

15 Our days on earth are like grass;

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

16 The wind blows, and we are gone—

as though we had never been here.

17 But the love of the Lord remains forever

with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children’s children

18     of those who are faithful to his covenant,

of those who obey his commandments!

19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;

from there he rules over everything.

20 Praise the Lord, you angels,

you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

listening for each of his commands.

21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels

who serve him and do his will!

22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,

everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Digest of reviews for GLOBAL YOUTH MINISTRY (REPOST)

It’s a bit awkward to post reviews of a book you wrote (or in this case, edited), but we’re thrilled by all of the positive responses for the book Global Youth Ministry: Reaching Adolescents Around the World (YS Academic), so I thought I’d pull them all together in a post to show the range of positive response the book has gotten:

“The world is full of young people, and the church is ministering to them. In Global Youth Ministry: Reaching Adolescents Around the World (YS Academic), Terry Linhart and David Livermore have assembled an incredible array of experts in youth ministry from various cultures. The authors of the various chapters are youth workers who know the culture and needs of the young people in their contexts, giving the reader an idea of what youth ministry looks like throughout the world – in places like Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe.” – Dennis Poulette, Youth Ministry International (Mexico).

“Do not misunderstand the title. This text is not only for those actively involved in international or cross cultural youth ministry. This text is provocative for anyone in youth ministry that recognizes that whether you live and serve in Paris, France or Paris, Texas, it is in a globalized context with cross pollinated ideas, media, entertainment, cultural informants, economic drivers, consumer goods, and political concerns the world around.“  – Peter Nevins, CCVW Ministries (UK).

“Though it was written as a textbook for students of youth ministry, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and enjoyable it was to read. I was also surprised by how meaningful the content was to me as a youth worker in the Midwest … This book, in fact, was one of the most insightful reads into the world of student ministry that I’ve ever read.”  – Shawn Michael Shoup, Foursquare Church (USA).

Global Youth Ministry: Reaching Adolescents Around the World (YS Academic)“is not about how to establish youth programs from a culturally intelligent or sensitive matter within your culture.  It is not about how to build your system of youth culture to fit the local church in our global ministry field.  But Global Youth Ministry is about how God is moving in an incredibly diverse way through the youth of our world.  But don’t misunderstand.  This book is not simply about youth programs that fit a global market.

I highly suggest that this book not only be used by you readers who are strictly involved in youth ministry, but also by general church leaders within North America.  We truly need the insights that are presented in both of these books for how we do global discipleship, not only youth ministry.” – Bradley D. Friesen, Author & Speaker (Canada)

 

” If you buy into the idea that all youth ministry is contextual—I mean, that all of us are working to plant an outpost for the gospel of Jesus Christ in a particular setting in a particular time for a particular people—then Global Youth Ministry is a goldmine of thinking and ideas and encouragement. Written by a killer group of “in the trenches” global youth ministry leaders including Jonny Baker (UK), the Rev. Mark Tittley (South Africa), the Rev. Jacob G. Isaac (India), and Beth Baleke (Uganda), general editors Terry Linhart (Bethel College) and David Livermore (president of the Cultural Intelligence Center) have constructed a book full of diverse perspectives that somehow speaks with one voice. The stories, illustrations, and strategies embedded in this textbook make it a compelling mix of academic research and pragmatism. For years the rest of the world has looked to North America as a youth ministry mentor, but the tide is turning.“  – Rick Lawrence, Editor, GROUP Magazine (USA).

“The temptation for the editors, who are in their own right highly experienced in global youth ministry, would have been to write the book themselves.  Yet the seemed to understand that what was needed were eyes that looked beyond the US perspective which dominates the youth ministry market … The book achieves more than its stated aim: It provides a global understanding that can inspire those in youth work and ministry to take seriously the unique and global nature of their work.”  – Steven Emery-Wright, Cliff College (Wales), review in June 2011 Youth Work Magazine (UK).

“This text is required reading for our staff at YouthHOPE and we will continue to point people to it as a viable discussion of the theological, theoretical, sociocultural and historical issues that shape ministries around the world.” – Justin Hanneken, Youth Hope.

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Fascinating video – The Social Media Revolution

From Socialnomics.net:

 

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