Retention, Succession and Stability in Youth Leadership
Okay, so here’s my hot take: I reckon I could accurately guess when your church has been without a youth pastor.
Okay, so here’s my hot take: I reckon I could accurately guess when your church has been without a youth pastor.
I have become convinced that camp and youth group leading is where it’s at. Kids and teenagers are the future. They will be the church in ten years’ time. They need us to disciple them because they’re already getting discipled, just by poor influences.
Mike Snowdon has spent over 15 years as a youth pastor, speaker, student worker and resource creator. For nine of those years he served as a CMS missionary in Spain, and currently is a Youth and Young Adults minister in Sydney and lectures Christian Ethics at Youthworks College. Sam Wan sat down to have a chat with him about how his cross-cultural experience intersected with youth ministry and how we can better engage in youth ministry. SW: Hey Mike, you’ve spent over fifteen years in thinking and serving in the youth ministry space. You’ve also had the opportunity to do...
Youth ministry literature has evolved in 20 years. Previously, back when I started in the youth ministry game, the books published about youth ministry were all about the ‘how tos’. Each book provided practical tips and ideas to make my youth ministry bulging with so-called bored teenagers. All these ‘practical’ books have their place, certain skills need to be developed in order to run events, small groups, and training workshops for leaders and volunteers. But, what’s been missing for the majority of the time I’ve been involved in youth ministry is the theological foundations of youth ministry. Thankfully, over the...
Kerry was born in Cape Town, South Africa to her parents, Rog and Les Palmer. They served in uni ministry at the University of Cape Town during her formative years. Kerry studied at George Whitefield Theological College in Cape Town during her first few years of marriage. After completing her studies, she worked in uni ministry while also serving alongside her husband, Craig, in his role as a pastor at St James, Kenilworth. Their focus was on youth and young adult ministry, with a particular emphasis on training others in Bible reading and teaching skills. Today, Kerry, Craig and their three children...