More Scottish youth reached
Luke Randall
Scripture Union (SU) Scotland have revealed that they connected with about 5% of Scotland’s young people in the year to August 2024 and have seen their reach return to pre-pandemic levels.
The organisation’s 2023/24 annual review revealed that their engagement with more than 35,100 of Scotland’s 702,000 young people ensured that they met a long-term goal set in 2019 to reach 5% of the country’s population, after only reaching about 2% that year.
youth ministry
Walking side by side: the adult's role in youth ministry
Robin Barfield
In my previous articles, I suggested that the dynamic of youth ministry revolves around the encounter between God and your young people in Scripture. I have suggested that young people need a voice in youth ministry to enable them to be able to work through questions, struggles and doubts. But what of you, the adult? What is your role in youth ministry?
Some models of youth ministry elevate the young people so much that the adult must be verbally absent. I am not saying that, although I have suggested it may be that we need to stop and listen more. Other models put the adult in the place of God as His mouthpiece - there is an element of that in preaching as there is external revelation to be communicated. But I would suggest that is not the key dynamic. This can often lead to the adult being the all-knowing guru, the sage on the stage, which can bring dangers of spiritual abuse and hero worship.
Should we teach hard doctrine to children?
This term at our children's groups, I made the decision to attempt teaching the doctrine of union with Christ — with mixed results!
It got me thinking about how we teach tricky concepts and ideas to children, and whether that's a good idea or not. Let me tell you what went well, and what didn’t go quite to plan.