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The 9: Best Practices for Youth Ministry
We've never met a youth worker who wanted to be ineffective. Why would anybody enter the turbulent world of youth ministry unless they wanted to make a difference! But where to start, what to do, and how do you know if your efforts really are effective?
In The 9: Best Practices for Youth Ministry , Kurt Johnston and Tim Levert unwrap nine characteristics of effective youth ministry. They specifically tackle this vital "What can churches and youth groups do to keep students from walking away from church after high school?"
This book takes an up-close look at some "best practices" discovered in an extensive study led by leaders from seven different denominations. Researchers surveyed more than 6,000 lead pastors, youth pastors, paid and volunteer youth workers, parents, and teenagers who have found success in creating ministry settings that foster long-term Christ-followers, not just youth group attendees-and they found some solid, real-world answers.
So, what are these nine practices? We're glad you asked!
1. Nurture Your Own Soul
2. Build an Awareness of God's Active Presence
3. Encourage Personal Spiritual Growth
4. Foster a Sense of Evangelistic Urgency
5. Increase the Congregation's Appreciation of Students
6. Provide Opportunities for Relationships
7. Develop Confident, Competent, and Committed Adult Leaders
8. Consistently Value Families
9. Create Contextualized Programs and Events
This isn't a textbook-it's a practical guide for anyone who works with teenagers in a local church setting. If you're committed to effective, real-world youth ministry, this book will help you build, lead, and support the cause of helping teenagers own their faith and maintain that faith once they graduate from high school.
In The 9: Best Practices for Youth Ministry , Kurt Johnston and Tim Levert unwrap nine characteristics of effective youth ministry. They specifically tackle this vital "What can churches and youth groups do to keep students from walking away from church after high school?"
This book takes an up-close look at some "best practices" discovered in an extensive study led by leaders from seven different denominations. Researchers surveyed more than 6,000 lead pastors, youth pastors, paid and volunteer youth workers, parents, and teenagers who have found success in creating ministry settings that foster long-term Christ-followers, not just youth group attendees-and they found some solid, real-world answers.
So, what are these nine practices? We're glad you asked!
1. Nurture Your Own Soul
2. Build an Awareness of God's Active Presence
3. Encourage Personal Spiritual Growth
4. Foster a Sense of Evangelistic Urgency
5. Increase the Congregation's Appreciation of Students
6. Provide Opportunities for Relationships
7. Develop Confident, Competent, and Committed Adult Leaders
8. Consistently Value Families
9. Create Contextualized Programs and Events
This isn't a textbook-it's a practical guide for anyone who works with teenagers in a local church setting. If you're committed to effective, real-world youth ministry, this book will help you build, lead, and support the cause of helping teenagers own their faith and maintain that faith once they graduate from high school.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 10, 2016
Being a youth pastor and having read (and internalized) the content of this book equals with a great hope for the youth ministry in almost any given church context - or at least I believe so, and so this is a must read for a youth pastor!
The book is not only enlightening about very important aspects of a youth ministry or include a vast amount of handful and practical tools/hints that provide straight to your ministry, but is also enormously encouraging.
In a "nutshell": the book is easy reading, funny, serious, and thoughtful take on the important aspects of the youth ministry. It is based on both a serious research ("The Study of Exemplary Congregations in Youth Ministry (EYM), funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., was conducted from 2001–2005 and led by leaders in student ministry from seven major church bodies in the United States: the Assemblies of God, the Catholic Church in America, the Evangelical Covenant Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the United Methodist Church. These leaders had observed a dramatic drop in the percentage of teenagers and young adults who were involved in church communities and ministry. These leaders also observed that some church communities were effective at establishing faith in the lives of students. The ultimate goal of EYM was to identify, via both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the common factors that typify church communities that were effectively nurturing students’ faith.") ... and to the capability of the authors to convey the key findings to the reader (both authors are well educated, plus have tons of experience to say a word concerning this field of ministry) in a successful way.
The book is not only enlightening about very important aspects of a youth ministry or include a vast amount of handful and practical tools/hints that provide straight to your ministry, but is also enormously encouraging.
In a "nutshell": the book is easy reading, funny, serious, and thoughtful take on the important aspects of the youth ministry. It is based on both a serious research ("The Study of Exemplary Congregations in Youth Ministry (EYM), funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., was conducted from 2001–2005 and led by leaders in student ministry from seven major church bodies in the United States: the Assemblies of God, the Catholic Church in America, the Evangelical Covenant Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the United Methodist Church. These leaders had observed a dramatic drop in the percentage of teenagers and young adults who were involved in church communities and ministry. These leaders also observed that some church communities were effective at establishing faith in the lives of students. The ultimate goal of EYM was to identify, via both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the common factors that typify church communities that were effectively nurturing students’ faith.") ... and to the capability of the authors to convey the key findings to the reader (both authors are well educated, plus have tons of experience to say a word concerning this field of ministry) in a successful way.
February 1, 2016
It's not about baseball.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews