This article was originally posted on 5/28/2013 on FirstThird.org
Derek Tronsgard, one of our First Third Voices gives his take on Sarah's Bane's thesis topic in:
Youth Ministry, Stewardship, and the Ladder of Cool
(Before reading this post, we highly recommend reading Sarah Bane's thesis. It's posted again at the bottom of this blog. It's brilliant & it's worth the read.)
Sarah's on to something when she talks about stewardship being more than “giving”. She's also on to something …
This article was originally published on 5/21/2013 on FirstThird.org.
The night before taking my first group of young people to camp as a rookie youth director, I became consumed by a desire to purchase a pair of brightly colored sneakers. Feeling like I was on a game show to find the perfect pair of sneakers before the store closed, I finally landed on a pair of electric blueberry cross-trainers. They were awesome – just like the ones I had seen on countless 11 to 14 …
Here's the next awesome feature in our series of MA thesis posts. This one, by Aaron Fuller asks the question if the problem with twenty-somethings and the church has to do with the structure of leadership. And yes, that really IS Aaron in the picture.
How do we get young adults to come to church? That’s the question that drives most churches these days. However, they understand that to mean, “what types of ministry will draw them in?” Those are not …
Did you read Amanda Nelson's thesis yet? If not, it is posted at the bottom of the previous post.
I want to commend Amanda on her work in digging into what the church needs to learn about the spiritual lives on young adults. Her stories of young adults are similar to so many stories of young people in our contexts. I agree with many of her ideas on what the church can learn and want to add some more thoughts on what can be done to reach young people who have so many gifts to offer the church.
One …
This week on FirstThird.org we begin sharing the amazing thesis work of our Luther Seminary Children, Youth and Family Ministry MA students. We have five finalists, and will feature one writer and their topic for each of the next five weeks. You'll be blown away by their ideas and the quality of their thinking about ministry with those in the first third of life. ENJOY
I began my seminary studies with a deep passion for outdoor ministry. My own experiences tell me that nature …
You Belong
By Andy Sahl
I served for several years with a leadership camp in Western Illinois. High school kids labeled as “student leaders” (read, well connected to their youth group) from all over the country would come together for a week of small groups, worship, workshops, and free time fun on a college campus. What was amazing about this camp is that they had a culture and structure of assigning kids to random roommates and assigning the small groups so that they …
Presently Separate & Separately Present
By Derek Tronsgard
Last Christmas my wife's sister joined us while we opened our presents. A few weeks ago I did pre-marriage counseling for some friends. Yesterday I showed a friend a picture of my dog.
Pretty unremarkable...
...except when you consider the fact that I live in Minnesota. My sister-in-law lives in Denver and was at the dinner table via Skype. The engaged couple lives in North Dakota and were talking to me face-to-face …
We have spent almost two months offering various perspectives on mission and service, but at the end of the day...What's the point?
I love Chicago, and a few weeks ago I has in Chicago for a meeting. Taking the train into the city and walking the streets is exciting, at least for me. As an experienced traveler, I can navigate things pretty well. But one aspect of my trip left me uneasy. Here's what happened.
Walking with a colleague to dinner one night, a mother with two elementary age kids came …
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary
I had this amazing ministry experience that I still miss. For ten years straight, I was able to serve at two or three Group Workcamps every summer. Now I miss it. And here's why: despite sleeping on a cot in a school classroom with a bunch of people I hadn't met before the week began, it never got old. Let me repeat that: It never got old. That has little to do with me or my adaptability. …
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary
I have a confession to make - I’m not much for waiting. Most of my days are filled with things to do and people to see, moving from one thing to another. Truth be told, I even try to choose the quickest line at the grocery store. I don’t like waiting, and I’m not very good at it. But when it comes to the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my attitude changes and …