Center for Youth Studies

• Go to Urban Youth Ministry Resources
• What's so important about the social systems?

CYS has urban youth work specially in mind. Why separate urban youth ministries from general youth ministry, some would ask. Most of what you’ll find in the general section should be applicable to all ministries. But urban has its special context, population and issues. By urban we mean a dense, inner city section usually with mixed ethnic and immigrant population, working class or unemployed, and usually lacking in municipal delivery services. In Paris, the poor are not inner city but in suburban housing projects. In much of the world the poor live packed into shanty-towns or small plots adjacent magnificent mansions.

Suburban ministries don’t usually worry about housing, health care and basic amenities, about radical educational deficiencies, unfairness in employment and the criminal justice system. Suburban and rural ministries don’t deal with an oppositional street culture of gangs, drugs, and crime in the way many urban ministries are challenged.

The challenges are great. That’s why we are here to serve and support those called to work with young people in disadvantaged areas in North America and around the world. The good news is that in the U.S. at least there are some great associations encouraging and training urban youth workers.