Jodie McNeill lives in Sydney, Australia,
and is a member of the team at Anglican Youthworks.
Level 1, St Andrew's House, 464 Kent St, Sydney
PO Box A287, Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia
jodie@jodiemcneill.com
Phone: +61 425 222 338
The other day, as I trained a bunch of youth and children’s leaders at my church, I was vividly reminded of the impact that youth leaders have on the teens in their group.
For many years I’ve trained youth ministers and leaders about the importance and impact of their ministry.
But now, as a parent of teenagers of my own, the significance of youth ministers on the teenagers has arrived very close to home.
Read my tribute called ‘Thank you, youth leaders’, in today’s sydneyanglicans.net.
The Kony 2012 phenomenon is remarkable on many fronts.
Regardless of what you think about it, you can be assured that our young people know about it and are trying to work out what they should think and do about it.
To help them and to help us grownups, I’ve written two articles.
The first I wrote for sydneyanglicans.net called ‘Talking to kids about Kony’.
In this, I offer seven things that adults should think about as they talk to youth and children about this topic.
The second I wrote for Fervr.net called ‘Should you help make Kony famous?’.
This attempts to apply the advice I’ve given in the earlier piece so that my seven ideas can be modeled to anyone trying to work out just how to put these thoughts into words.
You might also refer the youth in your church, whether believers or unbelievers, to this Fervr.net article.
Let’s pray that our youth are wise in responding to Kony, but far more importantly, wise for salvation.
If you’ve been going to a Sydney Anglican church, or maybe been influenced by someone who studied at Moore College, then it’s likely you’ve been impacted by a view of church known as ‘Knox Robinson’, after two key figures at Moore.
My training and lecturing in youth ministry has been strongly influenced by this understanding of the church, especially in terms of what we ‘do’ when we gather.
The latest edition of ‘The Briefing’ has an excellent summary of this doctrine, and I think it’s an important read for anyone who is responsible for shaping the content and context of a Christian gathering.
Read the article in full here at The Briefing online.
As we deal with the disaster fatigue that comes from our 24-hour exposure to news coverage, we tend to seek refuge from this through finding fun. The pagans seek to “eat, drink and be merry”, and we in youth ministry are often tempted to follow a similar strategy.
Yet, the right thing for us to do in our youth groups right now is to lead our kids through a sober reflection on the global crises facing us, and to show the students how to respond appropriately to these events.
So what is your youth group going to do this weekend in the light of the Japanese disaster?
Read my further thoughts (and contribute your comments) in my latest article at sydneyanglicans.net
I’ve just had posted an article on sydneyanglicans.net about the whole idea of a Christian male rite of passage.
Should we run some sort of wilderness experience where we get fathers and sons to learn about manhood and to mark the occasion of a boy turning into a man?
Read the article (and join in the controversial comments) by visiting http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/ministry/modernministry/rites_of_passage/
Recent sydneyanglicans.net blogs on youth and music ministry