This quote by William Shakespeare sums up the path I’ve taken throughout my 60 years on this earth. I have been different people on various paths throughout my lifetime. The problem had been no long-term stability, which means there hasn’t been any consistency, I kept going through change, after change, after change. The crises: It isn’t as bad as it sounds, as the opportunity to experience many different scenarios builds character, increased my wisdom and awareness, and allowed me to experience various situations through the eyes of the lost. I can relate the years of not walking in the Spirit to the Israelites walking for 40 years in the wilderness. In my teenage years, I was involved in a gang and doing drugs. What had led up to this was …show more content…
The Spirit hasn’t revealed the entire picture yet, but I know pursuing a Master of Arts in Ministry Studies, with an emphasis on Youth/Family is the correct path. In the future, I will be participating in the ministry full-time by either pastoring a church or working with adolescents in an Urban Youth Ministry. I have been chosen to serve as a Christian warrior carrying out God’s will in the trenches. My focus is to work with the “outcasts”, the ones who are very lost that most have given up on. I am committed to serving God, family, Christian brothers and sisters, and the …show more content…
My vision is to assist youth in becoming Christlike disciples who love and obey God and mentor and empower others. The philosophy I wish to develop for Youth Ministry is a holistic approach. There is a need for youths to know that God loves them and that only through a personal relationship with him, they can experience the full extent of His love. I will engage both the Ministry Model (discipleship training programs) of taking the church to the youth and the Urban Fellowship Model (evangelistic driven, comparable to Young Life Ministries) of taking the youth to the church. They can work together “hand in hand”, utilizing the best of both models can be effective. My long-term mission is to develop each disciple for church planting. I will leverage the leadership that’s developed in our youth ministry to launch new
Philosophy of Ministry: God's desires come first, I must always live my ministry God's way. I must live as a Christian (1 Corinthians 9:27) I must have a proper relationship of surrender to the Leader. In my personal life or in the Church I must understand that Christ is Head and Chief Shepherd (Ephesians 1:22, Hebrews 13:20). The “management” of Church is about relationships with God and Man, not just maintaining a social organization.
The biblical worldview influences me with deciding on what career would be best for me and how I should do it. Decision making is sometimes difficult for some people, unless they feel God has given them a “calling” in a certain career
Youth Ministry is Holistic |. (n.d.). Tree of Life. Retrieved January 24, 2014, from http://jeremypmyers.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/youth-ministry-is-holistic/
Spiritual direction is defined as “help that is given to another to enable him to become himself in his faith” (Davis, 266). It is an adolescent religious education model that encourages an ongoing relationship between the mentor and adolescent; involving one-on-one meetings where discussion centers on issues which are affecting the adolescent’s life in hopes to see how God may be present and working in them. Spiritual direction addresses the major concerns in each individual adolescent's life. Through this educational model, adolescents wrestle with relevant spiritual questions which may lead him or her to discern presence of God in his or her life (Davis, 268). Because adolescence is a time in which one desires to find a deeper meaning to one’s life, spiritual direction from the Church and parents is both beneficial and necessary. Adolescents develop the capability to reason and question, thus understanding the Truth in a new spiritual way. It is important for spiritual leaders to walk alongside adolescents to direct them towards the Truth. This development stage opens individuals to new capabilities for addressing a spiritual hunger, making it the prime time for conversion (Davis, 270). With spiritual direction from parents and mentors in the Church, adolescents can discover and create individual identities before God.
I have a passion for social services, program development, children’s safety and welfare, family rehabilitation and reunification, and community development through education and action. I have a heart for working with and learning from youth. I have recently developed a desire to help transition the homeless to better-living circumstances. My education and career experiences have solidified that social justice is an international cause, but change starts locally. I believe in helping your neighbor and want my life to be a ministry to be a helper to others. I believe that knowledge is empowering and I intend to live my life constantly
Choosing Human Services as a career as a Social Worker or Practitioner. I feel very passionate about as I mentioned before. I feel God has a plan for me, and I will be used to help women with the many problems they face within their lives. I want to help women identify their true abilities young and old I feel I could be
I prayed about it and made the decision to pursue the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Family Ministry. Obtaining this degree will definitely help me achieve my spiritual and academic goals. The degree will also prepare me for a career in counseling in the church and community. Jeremiah 29:11 has given me courage to move forward to obtain my Master degree. My academic goal is to obtain my degree in the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Family Ministry.
I have always known that I wanted my life work to be helping others. Although I did not know what I wanted to do specifically, my goal was to find a career that can better lives of those less fortunate than I am, while also making a good living financially. Through schoolwork and volunteer experience I ultimately chose a path in social work, with an end goal of working with families who have been effected by addiction. I would like to work hands on with those who have the addiction, but would also love to help their family members cope with decisions made by their loved one.
...tial ideas and theologies that are absolutely the cornerstone to having a healthy ministry. Ideas like community, grace, love, and forgiveness could all have their own paper written for them individually, but acceptance is absolutely essential to any ministry. To accept someone into your family, just like the father in the story of the prodigal son, is to share all of these values listed above. By accepting them we are showing them grace, love, forgiveness and belonging, that each and everyone one of them so desperately desires. If we as youth pastors can embrace acceptance and also use it genuinely and not as a technique for recruiting, then surely our ministry will grow both in numbers and in depth in the knowledge of the word of God. By doing exactly what God does for us, we can show His love, His grace and His mercy by simply accepting others into our family.
LaRue, Jr, John C. "A Glimpse at Christian Teens | YourChurch.net." ChristianityToday.com | Magazines, News, Church Leadership & Bible Study. 31 Mar. 2009 .
Walt Mueller’s Youth Culture 101, gives his readers a large gathering of pertinent research and information concerning the younger generation and how they are growing up. For anyone in youth ministry, we know that understanding and relating to every student is a difficult process. Mueller seeks to give youth ministry workers understanding and insight into modern day youth culture and how we must address the problems. We will look at Mueller’s points and discuss how his information can be used in our own youth ministries.
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
My plan after college is to become a Sociologist or a Social Worker. With a college degree in one of these areas, I hope to impact my community in various ways. First, with the knowledge obtained from college, I hope to counsel with young people who are on the verge of going astray. In today's society, there are so many negative factors that influence young people. I want to help them understand the importance of setting goals and striving to become productive citizens. I also want to give them a sense of hope that with perseverance, they can become great role models for other young people.
...ing church at least three times a month, starting in March. Over the next year, I will also take time every night to read the Bible (at least three chapters) and pray to receive guidance on the direction my life should take and to further internalize my preexisting value set. Additionally, I will go on at least one mission trip before I am finished with my undergraduate degree.
In ministry it is important to note that the different people involved in your ministry will be at different stages of their spiritual growth. Having an awareness of your own personal theology will be important for how you go about teaching the students who are involved in your youth ministry. One part of personal theology is spiritual formation. Duffy Robbins states that spiritual formation is, “the growing into the likeness of Jesus” (448). Another main part of personal theology is community. Understanding and having an idea of both spiritual formation and community helps with the formation of personal theology of ministry. This paper will share five areas of theology and how they relate to practical theology in youth ministry. The five areas of theology include view of God, view of people, view of sin, view of redemption, and view of scripture.