DEEP DIVE | Guidance
Decision-making can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to significant life choices such as career, relationships, and ministry. Many Christians also face the challenge of seeking to make decisions that align with God's will, often seeking certainty through our "calling" from God.
To help navigate decision-making and drawing on guidance from God’s Word, Viv draws from Scripture to show how understanding our calling as God's children offers both security and freedom in decision-making.
Kids Ministry Tips to Support Children with Disability
When you have children in your ministry who have a disability, it can be tricky trying to find ways to encourage involvement and participation, particularly if it’s met with any kind of resistance.
Here are 5 ways to help enable young people with disability to meaningfully participate in church ministries and services.
Is Your Ministry Accessible?
A church is accessible when people aren’t required to advocate for their needs by special request or every Sunday. We want our churches to welcome all people, every week, no fuss required. Accessibility ensures that all people, no matter what their disability is, can enter without any barriers.
Read more to find out how to evaluate if your ministries are accessible and ensure that more and more people know that they are welcomed.
How to Develop a Leadership Training Plan
Are your children's and youth ministry leadership teams thriving in their roles, or could they benefit from a more structured approach to training?
Cam breaks down practical steps to equip your leaders with the right skills, from safe ministry practices to casting vision. Discover key strategies to ensure your leaders are growing as disciples while discipling the next generation. Whether your team is small or large, this guide will help you create a training plan that fits your context and empowers your leaders for long-term success.
The What and the How of Spiritual Formation
Many ministries have been devastated by the moral and spiritual failings of leaders, impacting the most vulnerable, including children and youth. This emphasises the need to invest in spiritually and emotionally healthy ministry workers, a priority at Youthworks College.
Discover how the New Testament presents a clear vision of spiritual formation and the transformation that God accomplishes through His grace, rather than our own efforts.
Exploring the Epistles with Kids
Teaching Paul’s epistles, such as Colossians and Ephesians, to children may seem challenging. However, these letters offer rich opportunities for spiritual and moral development that are invaluable in a child’s faith journey. Here are some helpful ideas to help you engage children with God’s Word.
Contextual Youth Ministry
Mike Dicker travelled through Dubai, Cairo, Harare, and the Seychelles delivering training at churches, and teaching at various theological colleges on “Contextual Youth Ministry”. Be inspired as he shares an overview of a method for contextualising ministry and some of the surprising applications from various contexts.
Raising Mission Heat in Kids’ Ministry (Part 2)
In part two Cam explores some actionable strategies that you can try in your kids’ program to help raise the mission heat.
Raising Mission Heat in Kids’ Ministry (Part 1)
Discover how to raise the temperature for mission in your children’s ministry programs. Cam Harte shares five characteristics of kids that get mission.
Why our Theology of Sin Matters
Talking about sin can seem negative and risky, especially when kids are part of the equation. Yet it is undeniably important if we want to be faithfully teaching God’s Word and pointing young people to Jesus.
How we understand sin will impact not only how we seek to disciple young people but also how we understand ourselves. Here’s a few observations on how our theology of sin speaks into our life and ministries.
DEEP DIVE | Holy Household, Holy Children: 1 Corinthians 7:14
Whether you're a parent, church leader, or simply curious about biblical insights on family and faith, Viv’s exploration offers valuable perspectives on how the sanctity of a believer's life can impact their entire household. Dive in to discover how these ancient teachings still resonate today and what they mean for us.
Fidget Tools and their Benefits in your Kids and Youth Ministry Setting
Do fidget tools help people maintain focus or are they just a big distraction for everyone? In her article, Bec provides practical tips on choosing the right fidget tools and implementing them effectively in your ministry setting.
What Happens When Young People Own Youth Ministry – A Story from Norwest Anglican
Al James recently spoke to Tim Scoular, Youth Pastor at Norwest Anglican Church, about the changes they made in their youth ministry to increase participation, ownership and service among young people. Read more to hear what Tim had to say.
Starting from Scratch in Youth Ministry
Here are some general principles that are useful in guiding us as we think about how to disciple teens in our differing contexts, so that they can reach their friends with the gospel.
Life Imitating Life
Viv's quest began eight years ago while translating 1 Corinthians from the original Greek, where the recurring term "call" piqued her curiosity. What followed was an academic adventure that led her from a master's thesis to a PhD, culminating in wonderful insights found in Romans.
The long-term fruit of SRE
Be encouraged by Adam’s experience of running into a past SRE student he taught 20 years ago. Through SRE, Adam had sown seeds which now, it appears, God is growing. Praise God that SRE is producing long-term fruit in peoples lives!
Benefits of Teaching SRE
As people who value ministry to children and young people, we don’t need convincing of the importance of SRE teaching. Yet despite this, we’re often finding ourselves having to make the call-out for more SRE teachers in our local primary and high schools.
Jenn helps us see how different groups of people in our churches might be able to look at SRE in a new and different way.
Cultivating your Youth Group’s Heart for Global Mission
In recent times many of our churches have done some helpful thinking about ‘mission’. Yet current trends in church culture have meant that when we use the term ‘mission’ we now mostly mean local evangelism.
Amongst this increase in mission thinking it’s worth taking a temperature check and asking the question – Have we unintentionally side-lined a heart for global mission in our youth ministries?
Australian Evangelical Perspectives on Youth Ministry: Identity, Church, Culture, and Discipleship
Youthworks College's recent book launch introduced "Australian Evangelical Perspectives on Youth Ministry," a comprehensive guide merging theology and practice, offering insights, reflections, and practical strategies to equip youth ministers with a robust theological framework and professional development tools to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of youth ministry.
Responding to Big Emotions in Children
Join Annemarie on a journey into the heart of children's emotions, where frustration, anger, and sadness often run wild. Discover why it's crucial to acknowledge these feelings without judgment and how to clarify boundaries while offering support and empathy.