Posts Tagged ‘youth ministry’

The first half of this post was taken from ChristianityToday.com which posted a thought-provoking article titled, “Is the Era of Age Segmentation Over?” Read the Article here.

Youth Segregation

The statistics are grim. Rainer Research estimates that 70 percent of young people leave the church by age 22. Barna Group argues that the figure increases to 80 percent by age 30. The Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest denomination, recently observed that growth in their churches is failing to keep up with the birth rate. Taken together, these findings suggest a startling fact: not only are we failing to attract younger worshipers, we’re not holding on to the ones we have.

As executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary and a former youth pastor, Kara Powell has her eyes on the youth drop out trend. She is currently in the midst of a three-year College Transition Project, a study that involves over 400 youth group graduates and is focused on understanding how parents, churches, and youth ministries can set students on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service. Though research is ongoing, it is already revealing a promising pattern: youth involved in intergenerational relationships in church are showing promise for stronger faith in high school and beyond.

Leadership editors Marshall Shelley and Brandon O’Brien spoke with Kara about her research and what it means for the local church.

The following response is from: Pastor Julio Guarneri, Getsemani Baptist Church. (more…)

I know what you’re thinking, Hispanic Youth Ministry, this should be good. You think that because Hispanic Youth Ministry, depending on the church, is so unorganized that you can only do the best you can.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful for the experience that I had and it was an honor serving Hispanic Baptist churches in Texas and it continues to be that way. Many say that the best way to learn is by doing and that is exactly how I learned to do this type of ministry. In other settings I would not have been able to do what I did the past six years. The reason is because so many churches require a youth leader to have some type of ministry related degree or training or experience for that matter. All I needed to qualify was to be active in the youth group before hand and to be a good responsible person that the “hermanas” can speak for whenever needed. So my calling to ministry was the first step and the second was getting involved in the youth leadership meetings.

Hispanic Youth Ministry does have its weak points but I think its because Hispanics are used to doing things on the fly and last minute. That is why we give people invitations to Quinceanera’s the day before the event. Then call everybody on Saturday to tell them that the location has changed. It’s awesome and informal at the same time.

The best part of Hispanic Youth ministry is also the worst part of youth ministry, the budget. Put a dozen youth ministers in room and ask them about what kind of help they need in their Hispanic church where they serve. I can almost guarantee you that its going to be budget. Once you have a set budget you can do the activities that the youth want to do.

I must admit, the best part of Hispanic Youth Ministry was coming up with activities to do for free. You’d be surprised what youth will do with marshmallows and string. Since youth act up in my lessons I often make them act out verses to get back at them, and they get creative. Maybe it was those dollar cheeseburgers that I would give away to the winning team. Nonetheless it doesn’t take a lot of money to start up a youth ministry inside a Hispanic church. Especially when BaptistWay Press has free bible studies for youth.

To all Hispanic Youth ministers reading this, hang in there and thank you so much for your service in our churches. People are afraid of Hispanic Youth ministry because of all the challenges that come with it but I know that the experience and creativity that I gained is priceless and the many youth who received Christ under my leadership as well.

Blessings!