Editor’s Note: Today marks YPT’s third birthday! It’s been a true blessing to serve youth workers and to advocate for theological renewal in youth ministry. YPT is grateful for the Lord’s provision through generous givers like you. There are a few potential projects in development behind the scenes that require increased funding for YPT’s ministry to develop. Would you pray about joining our team of monthly partners who are making a real impact for youth workers around the world? Learn more about giving here. Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of cat ..read more

This is the first of a monthlong series about teaching youth the attributes of God. We believe it’s important to teach students about God. That should be a no-brainer. But it’s surprisingly easy to never teach clearly about the attributes of God. You can read YPT’s other articles about the attributes here. If there was one word that you would use to describe God, what would that be? Immediately, what may come to mind is love since the Bible states that God is love (1 John 4:8). Or maybe the word that comes to mind is one of the words when God first described himself in Exodus 34: 6-7: his comp ..read more

Although we preach the same gospel, each culture brings distinct questions and challenges for pastoral ministry. What can Western youth workers learn from African youth leaders and pastors? (note: there were recording problems with this conversation, but we’ve tried to restore audio quality the best we can.) What does youth ministry look like in Kenya? Since Africa is a large continent with many people groups and languages, can you give us a snapshot about what youth ministry looks like across Africa?  You’ve recently published “Apologetics in Africa” through Langham Press. What prom ..read more

Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.) Youth Ministry Finding a (Real) Christian College, by J ..read more

Who or what is a constant presence in your students’ lives? If you ask your students this question (perhaps you might even put it in their language and ask, “What lives rent free in your mind?”), you might receive answers that include social media, the pressure to keep up, their anxiety, their current obsession, or an embarrassing moment that they can’t stop thinking about.  What if your students could also know and rest in God as a constant presence in their lives? The Scriptures teach the doctrine of God’s omnipresence - which is a word theologians use to mean that God is all (omni-) pr ..read more

The State of Theology is a research report published every-other year by Ligonier Ministries. Below is a snapshot of the results from 2022 for 18-34 year-olds (their youngest surveyed demographic) who affiliate as Evangelicals and attend church at least monthly. So, these are GenZers and younger Millennials who profess evangelical faith and are regular church attendees. YPT will revisit these findings when the 2024 report is released in a few months. Below are three main observations, as well as a snapshot of some responses with brief commentary.  But first, it’s important to make tw ..read more

Good and faithful youth ministry can look very different from context to context, and yet we often define “What is youth ministry” by the form it takes rather than the essence. Today we’re going to talk about contextualization with Mike Dicker from YouthWorks College in Sydney, Australia.  What is contextualization and why is it important?  What is "divine accomodation" and can you point to any examples of contextualization in the Bible?  You’ve proposed four steps for faithful contextualization in youth ministry. Could you give us a quick overview of the four steps, and ..read more

Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.) Youth Ministry Teach Teenagers About the Real Jesus: A ..read more

…build your ministry on Clickbait.  That’s it. That’s the article. Don’t build your ministry on Clickbait.  It’s a very real temptation for us in ministry whether we like to admit it or not. This is true as a youth pastor who feels like he is competing against for students attention, and it’s true for me as I build Youth Pastor Theologian. Obviously, this article is a tongue-in-cheek embodiment of this allure. You probably even clicked because the title is clickbait’y.  The gospel, however, is not Clickbait. It is good news of great joy for all people, and yet it comes with sim ..read more

We often anchor relational discipleship in Christ’s incarnation, but is that the best biblical and theological foundation? In what ways might “Incarnational Ministry” have shaped the way we think about the Incarnation, rather than it being the other way around? For this reason, it’s important to get clear on the doctrine of the incarnation as we evaluate the biblical heart of relational ministry.  Discussion Includes: How did this question get on your radar and what motivated you to sink your teeth into it? When people talk about “Incarnational Ministry,” what do they tend to have i ..read more