Coming Alongside Youth on New Pathways of Being Church
In this conversation, pastor and justice-seeker Sandra Maria Van Opstal talks Elizabeth Tamez Méndez about how the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial reckoning provided an opportunity for churches to pivot and reset practices and spaces that allow youth to ask hard questions and explore a Biblical understanding of worship, justice, and collective flourishing in Christ.
Cultural Intelligence and Youth Ministry: Creating Safe Spaces for Questions and Community
A youth minister reflects on the necessity of cultural intelligence in ministry alongside youth in order to create safe spaces to ask questions, wrestle with biblical concepts, and hear thoughts from people different from them, all with the purpose of loving God and others better.
Mimi L. Larson on Keys to Involving Children in Worship
Scholar Mimi L. Larson explains how theology, beliefs about children's capabilities, and pastors influence whether or how children meet God in worship. She says that Black church culture offers valuable examples.
Intergenerational Church as a Space for Opportunity, Change, and Learning
In this conversation, pastor Theresa Cho of St. John's Church in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco shares joys and insights from a historical congregation that is learning to embrace change and be vulnerable in order to live together as an intergenerational, contextual worshiping community.
Mimi L. Larson on Pastors, Pressures, and Intergenerational Worship
Pastors play a crucial role in promoting or preventing intergenerational worship. Scholar Mimi L. Larson explains why, despite the pressures, pastors should treat children as full image bearers of God. This choice influences how all ages engage with God in worship.
One Generation Calls to the Next: Youth Agency and Leadership Development
In this conversation, New City Kids president Trevor Rubingh talks with New Generation3 executive director Elizabeth Tamez Méndez on the significance of agency in the spiritual and leadership development of teenagers as they try out their leadership skills with and among their peers.
Andrew Root on What is Youth Ministry For?
In this episode, Andy Root explores how narrative and joy spark the imagination and provide a framework to minister in Christ and for young people in deeply formative ways.
Patrick B. Reyes on Called to Live
In this episode, Patrick Reyes shares his story of growing up in borderlands where he cried out to survive, found guideposts in familia and community, remained present in suffering, and found pathways in and through community to a calling from God to life.
Almeda M. Wright on the Beautiful and Complex Lives of Young People
In this episode, Almeda M. Wright shares about her research that explores the spiritual lives of African American youth and points to a complex picture of both the fragmentation and integration in their spiritual lives as they learn to balance experiences of suffering while persisting along pathways to life more abundantly in Christ.
Amanda Drury on Testimony as Spiritual Formation in the Lives of Youth
In this episode, Amanda Drury talks about the integral role testimony plays in the worshiping community, especially as young people learn how to narrate their faith in a variety of spaces and ways and join the intergenerational faith community in long-term Christian living.
Mentors to the Next Generation of Leaders
Dale Sieverding, vice chair of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Liturgical Commission and director of LAMP So-Cal—Liturgical Arts Ministry Project in Southern California, reflects on the methodology and results of The Liturgical Arts Ministry Project.
Brandon Helder on The Gift of the Cross Holy Week Devotional for Children
Brandon Helder's elementary students and his own children responded to tactile Jesse Tree devotionals during Advent, but he couldn't find similar Holy Week resources. To help children and families anticipate Easter, Helder wrote The Gift of the Cross: Celebrating Christ Through Holy Week and designed Resurrection Blocks.