Virtual overload disrupts sleep

NZ Herald, 27 April 2008
More Kiwi children are being treated for sleep disorders after overloading on technology before bedtime. Specialists say computers, gaming consoles and texting disturb sleep patterns and cause learning, concentration and growth problems. Dr Alex Bartle, director of the Sleep Well Clinic, which has branches in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, said there was no question technology kept children awake. more...

We have probably all seen examples of how important gaming can be to young people and how all consuming it can be. This article gives some credible evidence of it's effect. A good article to pass on to parents.

Eleven steps to successful small groups

by Kevin Mahaffy Jr, Simply Youth Ministry
I have had the privilege and the challenge of leading student small groups in three different churches. At two of the three churches, the students were the only group within the church who had small groups. These churches had Sunday school classes, etc. but nothing in terms of small groups that met outside of the church building. My present church fits into this category. After two years of groundwork, I recently launched small groups in our student ministry. more...

The writer outlines the eleven steps he took to launch small groups, most of which apply for any new programme we might start.

Surprises are overrated

by Brian Berry, Simply Youth Ministry
Some surprises are fun. An unexpected birthday bash with your best friends. Christmas presents. The prize winning bottle cap from a Snapple Contest. A Willy Wonka golden ticket. Your boss gives you a raise because you are doing such a great job at the church. (In that case, it would be a miracle.) While all of these surprises are very cool, they are also very rare. But over my years as a youth pastor, I’ve come to realize that most of the surprises youth pastors experience in ministry are not this much fun. more...

Some useful advice here on how do avoid unwelcome "surprises" and how to minimum the damage when they occur.

Teacher tied himself to disabled teen in bid to save him

NZ Herald, 19 April 2008
Teacher Tony McClean, one of the seven to die in the Mangatepopo River tragedy, tied himself to one of the students, a disabled boy, in a bid to save him. Braced on a ledge in the swollen Mangatepopo River, McClean tied himself to the last teenager left to enter the water and they let go. The selfless bid to try to save the life of cerebral palsy sufferer Tom Hsu, 16, has prompted many to call the 29-year-old a hero. more...

So much has been written about this terrible tragedy that has touched the nation so deeply. Who has not been moved by the lives of the young people who died, the words of those who survived, the courage and faith of the school principal, and forgiving spirit of the parents? Off all the words written here is an article that speaks deeply to us as youth workers - the testimony of a youth leader and teacher who paid the ultimate price for one of his young people.

Creating lasting change in your teenagers

by Jeanne Mayo, Simply Youth Ministry
It’s the never-ending youth ministry saga. Let’s imagine that you just hosted a youth service or retreat where the Lord showed up in a big way. Students’ lives were really impacted. They even said things like, “I’m really going to be different after tonight.” But fast-forward two or three months and what is the scene? Most of those same teenagers are back in their same spiritual ruts, without many road signs that would point to lasting change. It’s a dilemma that all seasoned youth workers face over and over. In reality, how do we more effectively partner with the Lord to create long term spiritual change? more...

What is it that will cause our messages to really creates lasting change in teenagers? Jeanne Mayo says “Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people’s feelings” and in this article gives some practical ideas on how to use this knowledge to greatly improve the impact of our speaking.

Beyond good

by Doug Franklin, Simply Youth Ministry
I have just returned from one of our mission sites where I had the chance to watch a good team have a positive mission's experience. The students loved the kids at VBS and were willing to do anything asked of them. Everything about the trip looked good. The youth pastor was happy, his adult staff felt purposeful. On the surface the trip looked great. more...

Doug Franklin talks about the number one prblem he sees with youth leaders - the willingness to settle for "good".

Companions in Ministry

Will Penner, Journal of Student Ministries
More than a decade ago, a new church-planting pastor met a struggling graduate student who was looking for a place to live. Today this senior pastor and youth minister are friends, colleagues, coworkers, and, most importantly, companions in ministry. more...

Will Penner, editor of the Journal shares his story and along the way gives some very good suggestions for developing a good working relationship with your senior pastor.

Generation Z: Rich and forgotten

The Melbourne Age, 13 April 2008
Welcome to Generation Z, the forgotten generation. Generation Z encompasses children aged 17 and younger, one in five of whom will have some form of mental illness. One in four will be bullied, most likely over the internet. Also known as the New Silent Generation, it will be the most educated, financially well-off and technologically literate in history. Exposed to marketing at a younger age, Zeds are experts at multi-tasking and spend their free time communicating online and texting on their mobile phones. Zeds have older parents, fewer siblings and are more disconnected from their communities than any other generation. more...

The article quotes the findings of Professor Hickie - executive director of the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Sydney, who highlights the growing mental health problem amongst teens along with causes and the lack of adequate resources to help. A useful glimpse into the mental stresses teenagers face today.

Open and informed debate the first step

NZ Herald, 14 April 2008
The Binge Drinking Culture - what can we do about it? There has been a great deal of recent media attention on youth drinking, binge drinking in particular, and the well known harmful effects of abusing alcohol. Starting with the infamous "Undie 500" which televised students running wild, fuelled by excess quantities of alcohol, there's been an ongoing series of alarming headlines. more...

In this excellent article Professor Ross McCormick from the University of Auckland, begins by defining binge drinking before looking at it's effects along with its origins and causes, and possible solutions. His assessment is that it is a complex issue which no one strategy will solve. He calls for an assessment of what is and isn't working, and discussion on what we want our society to be like.

Can kids be born bad?

NZ Herald, 14 April 2008
Forensic psychologist Nigel Latta advises parents on everything from how to stop bed wetting to how to stop your child killing cats - and worse. Here, the Beyond the Darklands presenter gives his controversial advice on how to not raise a criminal. more...

Can kids be born bad? Controversially Latta says "yes". We might agree - yes kids have a "sin nature" but that's not exactly what Latta is talking about. He claims "psychopathic tendencies" are genetic rather than environmental - a theory that may present a challenge to our theology similar to theories surrounding gender orientation. It makes for interesting reading and reflection as do his less controversial ideas on the three principles for raising healthy kids - the vast majority that do not fit the psychopath label.

'Best friend' mums - it will end badly

Stuff.co.nz, 14 April 2008
There's perfectionist mothers, unpredictable mothers, "me first" mothers and "complete" mothers but family experts say the fastest growing group of mothers is the "best-friend mother" - and it can only end badly. Clinical psychologist Stephan Poulter, who works with family relationships, has come up with five categories that he finds fit most mothers. He finds the group that is on the rise is mothers who want to be best friends with their children. more...

Know any mothers (or fathers) of young people like this? It is a growing trend and as the article points out at the heart of it is the parent's own unresolved issues. Whether it be the unwillingness to accept their own aging or a need to be validated by another human being, the results can be disastrous for the young person who needs their parent to be a parent through the childhood and teen years.

Delegates offer solutions to nation's problems

Sydney Morning Herald, April 14, 2008
It might have been lunchtime in Martin Place: men in suits were tapping on laptops, women in heels were punching notes into BlackBerries. But it was Sunday and some of the workaholics had braces on their teeth. The 100 delegates, aged 15-24, of the 2020 Youth Summit in Canberra over the weekend wanted to influence policy affecting their future. They handed the Prime Minister a list of solutions to what they saw as the country's most pressing economic and social problems. more...

I include this, not so much for the list of recommendations that were brought forward (although these will be of interest to our Australia readers) but because it made me reflect on the value of such a process for our churches. What about having a similar "Summit" for 15-24 year olds in your church and allow them to brainstorm and dream of solutions to the church's problems. If politicians will listen to young people's recommendations do it why not pastors? Who knows what might emerge...

Camp hope turns lost kids around

Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April 2008
It's officially called a facility for troubled youths, among them Australia's worst teenage offenders. But there are no high walls or armed guards here, just a vast threatening tropical wilderness infested with snakes and crocodiles. "They usually arrive kicking and screaming," says Allan Brahminy, whose youth camps in the Northern Territory are prompting a rethink about the way juvenile offenders are handled. "By the time it comes to leave, they are usually crying because they want to stay," he says. more...

The critical factors that seem to cause this turnaround are discipline, removal from their usual environment and hard work. Comments on 17 year old "I realised that to get something from people, you have to give a bit … that life is a two-way street." The transformation process is not easy. It can take ten days to get them through the "anger phase" before the real work of transformation can begin. There are some interesting insights here about what young people, troubled or not, really need.

Fairfax unveils youth news website

Sydney Morning Herald, 8 April 2008
Generation Y is the focus of an Australian news website launched today. The Vine (www.thevine.com.au), operated by Fairfax Digital, combines news stories targeted towards 18-25 year olds, with user-contributed content. more...

A website worth checking out regularly to keep in touch with the opinions of (Australian) youth.

Call for taggers to face their crime

Western Leader, 10 April 2008
Youth worker Dave Robertson says taggers must be forced to face their victims. Mr Robertson has been a Child Youth and Family caregiver for almost five years and has a long history working with troubled youngsters. The Glen Eden resident says he has the experience to help stamp out graffiti. But he opposes moves by mayor Bob Harvey to punish parents. more...

What do you think? Hold parents responsible and fine them or have the young people face their victims through family group conferences and having to clean up the graffitti? Or both?

How NZ fell prey to the demon P

The Press, 12 April 2008
People are talking about P, the drug epidemic that is going to steal our children, fry our brains, hollow out Kiwi society from the inside. The use of P, or methamphetamine, took off like a rocket in 2002. By 2005, it had crossed all sections of society -- the party scene, the smart suburbs, the poor suburbs. Now it has become a fixture of the New Zealand landscape. Public enemy No. 1. more...

An excellent article and a must read if you are wanting to be better informed about "P", and it's addictive properties and how it affects young people's behaviour.

Parents under pressure suffer crisis of confidence

NZ Herald, 12 April 2008
Grandmothers are watching in horror as their children turn into over-ambitious, competitive parents with pampered, demanding offspring, says a report into how women's experience of motherhood has changed over the generations. Baby-boomers who brought up children in a time when they say they were allowed to just "get on with it" claim their daughters are being put under huge pressure to rigidly control everything in their own babies' lives, from food intake and exercise to after-school Mandarin lessons. more...

If we accept the findings of this report it is an interesting exercise to take the next step and consider what the effect might be on children particularly when they hit the teen years. A lack of personal initiative? A tendency to equate activity and achievement with self worth? Perhaps the same lack of self confidence their mothers are said to be experiencing, particularly when they call short of parental expectations.

If so what are the messages that we need to be giving teens who grow up in such an environment? Certainly they need to learn to "play" - to relax and not to be so busy and constantly strive to perform. They need to find self worth in who they are in the eyes of God, not in what they achieve. They need to see that character is more important then competitions and achievement.

Genetics and bad parenting link to criminal behaviour

NZ Herald, 11 April 2008
Whether a criminal teenager turns into a violent adult or grows out of crime may be related to how low his ears are set or the types of food he was given as a child. New Zealand research shows antisocial behaviour in young adults can be written into their genetic code, and made worse by bad parenting. Indicators that an antisocial child may turn into a life-long violent criminal can be picked up in kindergarten, says research summarised in this week's New Scientist magazine. more...

The article raises both theological and practical issues regarding the extent to which we are responsible for our own actions. To what degree is sin due to environmental matters and even biological? All of us would acknowledge the link between poor behaviour and poor parenting. This study however introduces a genetic element to behaviour.

Regardless of the extent to which we accept these findings, we can never reach the point of excusing behaviour based solely on parenting or genetics. While such factors may "predispose" they do not "predestine", particularly once we factor in the grace of God and the transforming power of the gospel.

Getting along with your senior pastor

by Jeanne Mayo, Simply Youth Ministry
OK, I’ve got to admit you’re right. I’m married to my senior pastor, so it makes it pretty difficult for him to fire me as his youth leader! But most youth leaders don’t have that “inside tract.” I hear repeatedly from some of you how challenging it is to keep the relationship with your senior pastor from going south. So let me give you some of the advice I recently gave my own son during his first year in full-time youth ministry. Maybe it will strike a helpful chord with you as well... more

Ok so her situation IS a little unusual but nevertheless there is some great advice here.

The journey from victim to leader

by Mark DeVries, Simply Youth Ministry
"This church just doesn’t support youth ministry." "These volunteers won’t support my vision." "Parents around here just don’t get it." "I’ve never seen kids busier than these kids." "I never have time for the things that matter most."
What do these statements have in common? They are all the words of youth workers who have resigned themselves to the unintentional role of victim. more...

Youth ministry can be difficult and the temptation is to develop a vitim mentality. Here are some great suggestions to help avoid this trap.

Blessed by failure

Brandon Schmidt, Simply Youth Ministry
Sitting in the church parking lot, I glance at my time on my cell phone . . . again. The rental van is gassed up, tickets are purchased, and I am ready to take eight students and one volunteer to a basketball game. The volunteer has already arrived. The students were supposed to be there at 5 p.m. They never show. more...

All of us know the feeling of "failure" in youth ministry. Here are some helpful thoughts that we need reminding of in these times.

Faith finds a friend on new website

Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March, 2008
People with an interest in religion now have their own social networking website with the launch of FaithTrip.net. Like other social networking websites, FaithTrip allows users to share their views and experiences, through blogs, forums, video and music, with an emphasis being on religion and faith. The website was created in response to a recommendation from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) who wanted to see greater use of the internet in religion. more...

If you are wondering about new directions for youth ministry check out the article and the website. Such sites will not replace traditional youth programmes but there are another useful adjunct worthy of consideration.

Mobiles could help keep teenagers in line, study says

stuff.co.nz, 5 April, 2008
In a study of 15 teenage girls, the investigated looked at the feasibility of using GPS-enabled cell phones to track adolescents' whereabouts when they were away from home or school. The researchers found that the girls were happy to take the phones with them wherever they went, and that the GPS accurately plotted their travels over one week. The point of the surveillance was not to pass on information to curious parents, however. Instead, the researchers hope to use the technology to study the health risks that teenagers typically face, and possibly to intervene. more...

Who knows where mobile technology will end? While the purpose of the technology is not to allow parents to track their teens, the article comments that "similar services are available for parents who want to keep tabs on their teenagers". What about similar services for youth workers? Imagine being able to GPS track your young people at night when on camp?

Surfing Lessons: Riding the Tricky Waves of Evangelism in a Postmodern Culture

by Greg Stier, Journal of Student Ministries
When I began my first surfing lessons in Hawaii recently, I was surprised at how quickly I got up (on my first try) and rode my little two-foot wave toward the shore.Of course I wasn’t “hanging ten” for very long before crashing into the rocky shallows and sustaining a deep, fist-sized, hip bruise. Nevertheless, I felt victorious—and receiving my black-and-blue trophy was worth the salty pounding.You see, two main obstacles were stacked against me: 1) I may be the most physically uncoordinated guy on the planet; and 2) I can’t swim. more...

What happens when you bring together seven young people with wildly divergent faith views and start to talk about "god" and faith? Read this article and not only find out but see what Greg Stier has to say about evangelism in a postmodern context. He makes some interesting and profound observations - using surfing analogies to illustrate such as positioning the surfboard, maintaining "gnarly" balance, staying behind the "line" and keeping your eyes on the shore.