Archive for August, 2011
Youth Ministry Resources – Stop Creating Materials
I was sitting in my office the other day and had an interesting thought about youth ministry resources. If I never created another game or sermon for my students, would that make me a bad student pastor? Possibly, after all you do have to listen to God’s leading of what He would have you to do every day. But I can say with great confidence that I believe it is very likely that the answer to that question is no. No you would not be a bad student pastor if you stopped creating materials. Here’s why.
It is very likely that your gifts in ministry are something besides creating games, sermons, studies, etc. for your students. However there are people out there who have been gifted in that exact area, creating youth ministry resources. There are creative people and incredible writers who are using their gifts and talents everyday. Since we are the body of Christ, we should fulfill our part of the body and let others use their gifts and talents to reach the body also. Stop trying to be a foot if you are a hand. Get the idea?
Alcohol Statistics – Why Youth Are Getting Addicted Rapidly?
Drug and alcohol dependence are becoming more and more prevalent all over the world. If you give a glance at the alcohol statistics arranged through the Office of National Statistics, you will come to know the scariness of these numbers. From the last ten years, an invariable rise has been seen in the amount of alcohol related deaths, climbing up from 4000 in 1992 to above 9000 deaths in 2008. According to alcohol statistics, the death rate of men due to alcohol consumption is increasing very speedily. However, in women the rate stayed unbothered.
Throughout the world, the death rate of males is much more than females owing to alcohol abuse.These statistics reveal that the death rate of men has increased very speedily and has become almost double over the duration from 9.3 percent in 1991 to 18.7 percent in 2008. However, the raise in the death rate of women is not as fast moving from 5.1 percent in1991 to 8.7 percent in 2008, about half the rates of men. As per the alcohol statistics of the year 2007, the deaths due to consumption of alcohol in males represented 2/3 of the whole figure of alcohol associated deaths. Approximately 6000 men and 3000 women are murdered by this brutal practice.
Youth Ministry Resources – Evaluating What You Need
I can still hear some of the most dreaded words from my childhood ringing in my ears. “It is time for spring cleaning.” I did not really fear the work, but I really feared losing my stuff. We can be the same way as student pastors. Many times we have the youth ministry resources that we have known and loved for years, and they have become like a security blanket for us. But we need to always be in a constant state of re-evaluation, and the materials we use are no exception. We may not have to get rid of everything, I’m pretty sure I still have a handheld version of Tetris somewhere. But we do need to at least look at everything and decide what is necessary. We need to ponder on what is still relevant to our students and our community. We have to ask the tough questions about whether or not what we are doing is working.
For example, I am sure you play some games. This category of youth ministry resources is probably the toughest one for me. Honestly, I do not enjoy games that much, and I go back and forth on whether or not we should play them. But I have found them useful for community building and for object lessons. Not to mention the usefulness of wearing out a middle school student or two. But I have learned they are not a one size fits all. A game may be great with one age group but not another. Or sometimes, groups are just different. One 7th grade group may be high energy, and want to run around, and next year’s group may like to sit around a table. You have to be sensitive to this.
Drug Education Will Create A Better Future For Our Youth
Drug rehab facilities and community organizations across the country are seriously involved in drug and alcohol education and deterrence efforts. In the process of building up prevention efforts, it has become clear that parents need to be more conscious of the hazards that drugs and alcohol pose to their kids. Drug and alcohol prevention starts in the home and when parents advise their kids of the dangers of drug and alcohol addiction, children will be better armed in the face of peer pressure to just say “no.”
A study accumulated by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has come up with some troubling data. According to the study, 80% of the nation’s high school students and 44% of middle school students have seen illicit drugs sold or used and kids intoxicated on school property.
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