The age of technology has meant lots of modern comforts. Instant heat, cold, coffee, and communication are no longer luxuries in this day and age. Instead, they are expected as necessities of any civilized person in current Western culture. In recent history we have gained accessed to instant and constant communication with anyone and everyone. While this is wonderful for the youth pastor wanting to communicate the details of church events to kids and parents, it lacks depth and true connection. Sheer quantity of communication is no substitute for quality connection. By-and-in-large, we have lost the art of quality connection. Even when real connection does happen, it is usually on a peer-to-peer level. Occasionally, a youth worker with a passion for teens will make a long lasting connection, but this is a small percentage compared to the sheer number of teenagers in youth ministries today.
What happened?
Has it always been this way?
More importantly, what does this loss of connection with young people mean for people doing youth work today? What can youth workers do about it?
Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your perspective), this has not always been the case. From the beginning of recorded time people have thrived on deep, intergenerational connections. In those days many generations of one family lived under one roof. Children were surrounded by adults who loved them and helped shape them into adults. Both parents usually worked at home and grandparents were an integral part of the kid’s spiritual formation. Even when a man set out to work away from home he usually joined a guild or became an apprentice. These smaller close knit communities helped to pass along the values and standards of the whole. The ...
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... a youth and an adult that is not limited by a specific time frame. Instead, the mentor has the potential to remain a viable influence in the life of the mentee after the next milestone. Mentoring provides a means of sharing the burden of spiritual development among the body of believers in the local church.
As youth workers we cannot force these connections. But we can foster and encourage mentoring relationships. Running a mentoring program is not the first step. You need to look at how are you currently fostering lasting connections between youth and adults? If you are at a loss the next step is consider what it would take to change the culture from a age-segregated group of Christians to a connected body of Christ. If you believe mentoring is a good solution, then look for a program to help connect kids with caring adults.
You can be part of the solution.
2011). Some research suggests that the recent prevalence of targeted youth work is further stigmatizing the young people involved (Scanlon et al 2011; Jenkinson 2013). It is the role of the youth worker to challenge these negative agreements, to help young people find their truth. Rogers (1980) and Ruiz (2012) describe a process where a person, e.g. youth worker, values the significance and worth of another person. Through this acceptance the young person will begin to adopt a similar attitude and they will experience a rise in self-worth. Thus, they create a new agreement, that they are worthy of being valued and cared for.
In order to gain information for the needs assessment, John Myers, the executive director of Cornerstone Youth Center, was interviewed. He provided information about the biggest issues Cornerstone is facing, and the improvements that can be made to the community as well as Cornerstone. Also, he talked about the strengths of the Center and his hopes for the future of the youth center.
Wednesday services are a great for ministering to family, both the youth and their parents. I need to reach youths because it is hard to evangelize after youths have been indoctrinated the education...
Upon admission into Genesis, I hope to bring engaging and relatable services. I know that many of peers find it hard to connect with the traditional prayers and services. My leadership and time in BBYO has given me opportunities to participate in and lead services for teens.
Mentoring program becomes instrumental and breakdown barriers as employees are interacting and carrying out the organization’s vision. This allows employees to interact with employees of different cultures and backgrounds with the goal that one will learn more about the individual.
Spencer, R., Collins, M. E., Ward, R., & Smashnaya, S. (2010). Mentoring for young people
As I said I have little or no experience in the field of youth ministry. I do have secular experience with youth, but not the spiritual or scriptural understanding that one needs to have too implement and run an effective and efficient youth ministry.
In addition, for some mentors, mentoring was a burden or workload issue that often went unnoticed by others. Mentees, too, were concerned by a lack of mentor interest and training and a host of problematic mentor attributes and behaviors (e.g. critical or defensive behaviors). Professional or personal incompatibility or incompatibility based on other factors such as race or gender was also seen by both mentors and mentees as impediments to the success of the relationship. Organizations, too, were confronted with difficulties arising from mentoring programs. Lack of commitment from the organization, lack of partnership and funding problems were reported in some studies, while in others, cultural or gender biases meant that some mentees’ experiences were not
The main two types of mentoring are natural mentoring and planned mentoring. Natural mentoring occurs through friendship, collegiality, teaching, coaching, and counseling that is formed from un-constructed planning (Newman, 1990, p. 41). In contrast, planned mentoring occurs through structured programs in which mentors and participants are selected and matched through formal processes (Newman, 1990, p. 43). There are many different ways to describe mentoring, but they all boil down to one thing: a positive, supportive relationship between a young person and a caring adult.
...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.
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.
In a mentor/mentee relationship, the mentor will be able to encourage the high school student to attend a higher education institution and show them how to complete certain pre-responsibilities such as applying for scholarships and college application material. The mentor can also provide information about student life and the different types of universities. The relationship would be similar to a student counselor in high school, except they mentor would relate better to the
Mentoring is a person who lends support in different ways to ones pursing a specific goals.
Bom between 1945-1964 (2). They are considered to be in the middle adult category, ages 24 through 50. Often described as generation that refused to “grow up.” Still others describe them as the generation that changed the world in this century. Their receptiveness to the Gospel and sharing of the same makes them a fertile field for evangelism. Often called “Millennials”, their “practice” of evangelism is on the rise. In a 3 year period form 2010 to 2013, millennials had a +9% increase when compared to other age groups in the same survey time frame. (57% to 65%). This is in many ways attributed to the fact the Boomers are very family oriented and gear their lives around social government and education, bonding and fellowship. Effective evangelism in today’s church has to cross age groups and social lines as well as economic salary differences per house hold. Thee appeal of the Gospel in today’s church has much to do with presentation and communication. Witnessing individually and corporately. The most unreached Americans are Millennial youths. So it comes as no surprise that youth ministry is a priority for many churches. Six in 10 (61 %) senior pastors say youth ministry is “one of the top priorities” of their church’s ministry, and 7 percent say it is the single highest priority. However, despite a clear majority, one-third of pastors (32%) say it is either somewhat, not too much, or not at all a priority.
Many young people just need to be motivated and given a fair chance at success. Young people need mentors to help them find their way and to help them stay focused. Mentors play an intricate roll in your lives and are sort of liaisons between your parents or guardians and your educators.