Youth Ministry: Yesterday and Today

Many adults look back fondly on their years in the church youth group or other parachurch ministries like Young Life and understand the impact that those ministries had on their faith. How has youth ministry changed over the years, and what has stayed the same? What qualities are needed to be an effective youth minister, and what challenges do leaders face in today’s culture?

To shine some light on this subject, the guys are joined by Carl’s friend and a fellow Grove City College professor, Duffy Robbins, Professor of Youth Ministry and a 45-year veteran in the field. Widely respected as one of the leading voices in youth and family ministry, Duffy talks to Carl and Todd about the history, purpose, and future of youth ministry, as well as some of the issues that he sees.

“Another problem is that youth ministry intentionally tries to make sure their ministries and messages and programming are suited to young people, but the problem is we really breed in our young people an appetite for ‘juvenalized’ Christianity, and so when they get into big church, adult church, they still want to have ‘juvenalized’ worship services.” – Duffy Robbins 

We are pleased to award three copies of Duffy Robbins’ book Building a Youth Ministry that Builds Disciples: A Small Book About a Big Idea to our listeners, thanks to the generosity of Zondervan Press. Congratulations to Nick H. from Sandy Lake, PA, Tyle G. from Wooster, OH, and Paula B. from Stamford, CT.

Show Notes: 

The Juvenalization of American Christianity by Thomas Bergler