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Resource Centers

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Church Resource Center

Christian Youth Workers face a set of highly unique challenges as they seek to serve the needs of the youth in their care. Effective youth ministry in any area needs to be designed to handle the overwhelming challenges that face today's youth, from poverty, violence and family conflict to coping with and thinking critically about global issues. Youth workers must be well prepared to bring the Light of Christ into troubled lives and work towards raising up a generation of Christ Followers equipped to proclaim the Gospel in the midst of a highly secular world. This is, in large part ,the goal of the Center for Youth Studies, but it also must be the goal of churches to hire, train and equip those who work with youth to accomplish these often daunting tasks. 

This is why we are including this Church Resources Center as part of this resource. Please see below for resources designed to help churches support, train and equip youth workers for the work of ministry. 


GENERAL RESOURCES (For more resources, see our own Church Resources Page)

Scazzero, Peter. (2003). The Emotionally Healthy Church. Zondervan. Presents a model of discipleship that integrates both emotional health and spiritual maturity. 

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Resources. Peter Scazzero's own list of resources for cultivating emotionally healthy churches. 


HIRING A YOUTH PASTOR

Cooley, Rachael. (October 1, 2007). Wanted: Youth Pastor, a.k.a. Superman. Banner Magazine. An excellent article with ideas for thinking about hiring a youth paster, from discovering the gifts and talents that may already exist within a congregation to what qualities to look for when hiring.

DeVries, Mark. (2008). Sustainable Youth Minstry: Why Most Youth Ministry Doesn't Last and What Your Church Can Do About It. InterVasristy Press. 

Franklin, Doug. Five Questions to Ask when Hiring a Youth Pastor. Asking the right questions from the start can have an immense impact on the success of a church's ministry to youth. Here Doug Franklin from Simply Youth Ministry outlines five important questions churches must ask when hiring a new youth leader. 

Mark DeVries and Jeff Dunn-Rankin. Before You Hire a Youth Pastor Resource Pack. Simply Youth Ministry. Forms, tools and resources to aid in locating the right Youth Pastor for your church. 

 

SUPPORTING A YOUTH PASTOR

Borthwick, Paul. (1990) Feeding Your Forgotten Soul: Spiritual Growth for Youth Pastors. Youth Specialties, Inc. 

Burkhardt, Allison. Story from a (Volunteer) Youth Worker: Ten Tips for Supporting Your Youth Pastor. North Park University, Chicago. 

We Love Our Youth Worker. A set of seven promises churches make about the about the practices and principles they will use in employing a youth worker. We Love Our Youth Worker started as an idea in the UK through conversations with youth workers abotu the experience of working in a church, and grew into a National Charter and later a covenant between youth workers and the churches that hire them. View a more detailed description, as well as a Powerpoint presentation, here.