Welcome to the Youth Ministry Connection. Here you'll find ideas and resources for youth ministry, links to youth ministry sites on the web, and connections for youth workers, pastors, and lay leaders in ministry with youth in Indiana.
INUMC.org
The Youth Ministry Connection is a ministry of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.
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To contact Rev. Brian Durand, Associate Director of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries, click here.
With May quickly passing graduation time is approaching. What do you do for your graduating seniors as they prepare for transition to work or college? There are a host of ideas out there. I’ve gathered a few links. The first is a connection point for you with our campus ministers and pastors near college campuses who have committed to contacting students when they arrive on campus next Fall. While nothing is as valuable as your direct help with students making faith community connections, this web referral form is one way to facilitate that kind of connection.
3. Thoughts from Josh Griffin: www.morethandodgeball.com. Point 5 on creating an alumni group is interesting. Universities are great at saying that even though you graduate and move on to another community, you are still connected to this community. Could we, or should we, do the same?
4. Ideas at EGAD! Ideas: www.egadideas.com. Blankets, pillow cases, mugs – all great gifts that can be printed with pictures and then signed by members of the youth group in addition to cards.
5. The Fuller Youth Institute is doing extensive research in the area of post-youth group transition: www.fulleryouthinstitute.org.
If you’ve been on Facebook in the last 24 hours, you can’t miss the variety of perspectives and reflections on the death of Osama Bin Laden. The reaction to Bin Laden’s death, and the subsequent celebrations in this country, have sparked a lot of conversation. For those of you who will engage with youth in this conversation in the next few days, below are some reflections and ideas for conversation, in part based on the often quoted Scriptures from Facebook.
1. Proverbs 24:17 says, “Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, or else the LORD will see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from them.” Proverbs 11:10 says, “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.” Good Christian people have had a large variety of reactions to the news of the last 24 hours. Is there a “proper” reaction? How do you understand the Biblical witness on dealing with death, injustice, enemies, etc.?
2. Several sources have quoted Ezekiel 18:23, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” It may be worth discussing this passage in its entire context. Read verses 21-24, which speak not just of the wicked, but also of the righteous. How do you understand verse 23 in its context? How do you understand it in the context of our world today?
3. John Wesley wrote in a sermon, “The necessary fruit of the love of God is the love of our neighbour, of every soul which God hath made; not excepting our enemies, not excepting those who are now despitefully using and persecuting us; a love whereby we love every man as ourselves – as we love our own souls.” (John Wesley from his sermon The Marks of the New Birth.) In reflecting on the fruit of love, Wesley draws on Matthew 5:44, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” How is love of neighbor expressed when we consider someone like Osama Bin Laden?
4. Matthew 5:9 says “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” What does it mean to be a peacemaker today?
5. Isaiah 2:4 reads “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” As Christians, how do we hold onto to the promise of peace and reconciliation in a broken world?
Finally, two ideas/conversation starters to leave you with:
The first a quote from IU College Student and UMC Connectional Table representative Ben Boruff: ”If we must celebrate, let’s celebrate the possibility of peace and international justice. Let us not celebrate the death of a man.”
The second a video shared from another friend that captures the hope of Isaiah 2:4 from an American Hasidic Jewish Reggae musician. (The song accompanied NBC’s early ads for the 2010 Olympics):
Blessings on your conversations and prayers with youth as we seek as Christian communities to understand and respond as faithful followers of Christ.
We are in the process of planning youth ministry training opportunities for 2011-2012 now, but in that process found the opportunity to bring Duffy Robbins to Indiana for a training session. If you haven’t heard him, he is an outstanding presenter with a broad knowledge of youth ministry. The day-long training session will be at Carmel UMC on May 7 from 10am to 4pm. You can see more information and register here.
As we are planning, we’d also like to know what would help you in your ministry with youth. If you have presenters, or topics, or areas of ministry where you could use continuing education, please let us know. You can email me here, leave a comment to this post, or visit our FB page.
