Welcome to summer school for youth workers. This is your syllabus.
- Show up to class every day and and comment “Here!” for roll.
- Bring your Bible, a pencil, and a desire to contribute.
- Answer the questions given.
- Do your home work and turn it in by commenting
Oh, and no sticking gum under your desk.
Class Notes
Last week I asked youth workers what youth ministry course they would take if it were available right now and I got some really great answers. Today we’ll focus on the first course:
Ministering to a Generation in Crisis suggested by my friend Georg Lynch
Crisis and teenagers go hand in hand. Most of the crisis’ are small, to us, but they are huge to them. Feeling like they have no close friends or any friends is a crisis, not having a boy friend or a girl friends is a crisis, not having anything to do is a crisis, but these are micro crisis’. Oh, and every one of teenagers is in a different crisis all at the same time to boot.
The mico-crisis is what we, as youth workers, are used to dealing with. Macro-crisis, or a national crisis, is where most of us scratch our heads and say things like “What am I supped to do with this ?”
Macro Crisis’ are things like
Suicide
Bullying
Drugs and Alcohol
Education/Dropping Out
Homelessness
Hunger
Gang Violence
How does a youth ministry (which is micro in nature) tackle macro-problems? How does your youth ministry deal with macro issues beyond teaching about them?
Home Work
Search for youth ministries that are dealing with the macro crisis in a micro way.
Class dismissed. See you tomorrow. Don’t be tardy.
Oh, and here is my 5 Step Crisis Strategy
On to Lesson 2 : Equipping Parents To Lead