Rethinking Youth Ministry | A podcast for youth ministry leaders, pastors, volunteers, and anyone who cares about students

When teenagers experience feelings of despair and grief, it can often lead to outcomes like disconnecting relationally and shutting down emotionally. And yet, it's in these moments that students need healthy relationships and emotional support the most. So what does it look like to support our students in times of despair and grief? Join us as we unpack what's happening in a student's brain in moments like these and talk about how we can help teens better process despair and grief going forward.

Easter is a huge celebration for the Church, but as we all know, Easter looks a lot different this year. In light of COVID-19, we’re all experiencing quite a bit of tension planning Easter and figuring out how to make the best of this situation we’re facing. In this episode, the Orange Kids and Orange Students teams talk about an exciting new resource to help the families in your church have an Easter that’s accessible to everyone.

Single people leading and volunteering in youth ministry often face some unique challenges in the church—especially when it comes to things like relational expectations, time and margin assumptions, and connecting with married people. That’s why the way we talk about and treat single people in our ministries matters so much. This week, join single and married ministry leaders as they unpack what it looks like to navigate the tensions, benefits, and more of being single youth ministry leaders.

As a ministry leader, you're navigating big decisions about whether to cancel services, continue youth ministry gatherings, or find a digital solution. In this episode, we talk about what it might look like to continue pouring into students in your ministry and community digitally in these uncertain times. Please visit the show notes at RethinkingYM.org to download the FREE Digital Service Guide resource that goes along with this episode.

No matter how many years you’ve been serving and communicating as a youth ministry leader, self-doubt can creep in and leave you wondering if you’re doing it well—or worse, if you should even be doing it at all. This feeling is often referred to as imposter syndrome. How can we get past this often-crippling fear that we don’t belong? In this episode, we’ll talk about what it looks like to overcome imposter syndrome and take steps toward being the leaders and communicators our ministries need.

There's no shortage of topics that could come up in small group with middle school and high school students—theology, dating, anxiety, family dynamics, the list goes on. And as ministry leaders, we need to be training our SGLs ahead of time for these kinds of conversations. But what does a GREAT training event look like? This week, we’re talking about what kinds of training events your SGLs need and what it takes to put together a training event that your volunteers actually WANT to attend.

“What school do you go to?” is often one of the first questions we ask new students in our youth ministries. And every now and then the answer is, “I'm homeschooled.” And while, in a lot of ways, homeschoolers are just like the other students in our ministries, the truth is, they have some unique needs as well. In this episode, we discuss some of the specific issues and challenges homeschoolers are facing and unpack a few of the best ways to connect with these students in our youth ministries.

Fact: Your Small Group Leaders are a pivotal part of what happens in your youth ministry. So the question is: What are you doing to make sure your SGLs are at their best every week? What are you doing to lead your leaders and make sure they feel cared for, equipped and encouraged? In this episode, we’re talking about the valuable role Small Group Leader COACHES can play, what to look for in a great SGL Coach, and what it practically looks like to launch an SGL coaching strategy in your ministry.

With so much energy spent investing in our students and volunteers, we often forget to invest in ourselves as youth ministry leaders. And with limited resources—and even more limited time—figuring out which leadership skills to focus on developing can be even more challenging. This week we’re joined by Joel Manby to talk about some of the most important leadership skills you need to develop as a ministry leader and what it looks like to take steps to become the leader your youth ministry needs.

It's not fun or easy to talk about, and yet it's potentially one of the most important things to address as a ministry leader: How do you protect your youth ministry from legal action? In this episode we’re joined by leaders Candice Wynn, Tom Shefchunas, and Dr. Darren Kizer to discuss the realities of the world we live in today and some of the steps we can take to keep our students safe and protect our ministries from potential lawsuits and legal action.

As youth leaders, we have the responsibility to be intentional in the ways we serve all of our students, including those who have diverse family dynamics, backgrounds, and even cultures. In this episode, join us as we hear Jean Sohn and Esther Gray share their experiences growing up as immigrant students, and unpack what it can look like for all of us to better serve immigrant students—and their families—in our ministries going forward.

TikTok. Marijuana use. Anxiety. Flexitarian diets. Text message therapy. These are just a few of the Gen Z trends emerging in 2020. But what do trends like these mean for our ministries going forward? Should they impact what we're doing week to week as youth leaders? This week, join us as we discuss why we should care about cultural trends as youth leaders, where this next generation of students is heading, and what we can do to better connect and engage with the students we lead along the way.

This week we’re closing out the year with a special episode, where we turn the microphone over to you—our youth ministry community! Join us as we take time to reflect on and share some of the stories that have made 2019 a year to remember in ministry. We hope these stories help remind you of the impact of what you do and inspire you to keep going as we gear up for another exciting year of ministry.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, and research tells us that about 90% of Gen Z uses YouTube on a daily basis. What started as video hosting platform years ago has become an unprecedented opportunity for youth ministries to connect with students in unique and exciting ways. In this episode, we’re talking with social media experts and ministry leaders about some of the ways we can begin to leverage YouTube to engage students in our communities and around the world.

If you work with students, you're probably aware of the mental health crisis happening in student culture today. At the same time though, sometimes it's easy to forget that these issues don't end when we become adults. In other words, as youth ministry leaders, we are not immune to issues regarding mental health. This week, we sit down with Dr. Chinwé Williams to discuss how mental health can impact our ministries and what we can do as youth leaders to take care of our own mental health.