Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Finding Youth Ministry Resources To Help Teenagers

By Jack Cunningham


Working with young people today is harder than ever for guidance counsellors and other people who have to provide spiritual guidance to these teens. A guidance pastor has a tough job reaching the young people and spending enough time with them. He or she should not be spending all their time having to prepare lessons. Thankfully, Youth ministry resources are freely available to help save time and money.

Guidance for teenagers has two main goals and they are of critical importance. The most critical job is to lead unsaved teens to having a relationship with Jesus Christ. The other task that pastors face is to lead unsaved teens in building a relationship with Jesus Christ. This job is not an easy one.

Teens these days face a lot more than what they did forty, thirty or even ten years ago. They are faced with difficult relationships with siblings and parents that are often absent. Many families are broken up. There is drugs, lust and peer pressure.

The media pressurizes kids to adhere to a specific stereotype, which causes young girls to become anorexic and bulimic. Sadly, when they are unable to cope with the pressures of life, suicide is an option considered by many. Self-harm is another common escape for some.

Taking time to find all the necessary tools to help these children can be quite a daunting and time-consuming task. Pastors who are gifted at working with children should spend their time working with the children and not wading through endless reams of information. Luckily, the Internet provides much of this information quite quickly.

New pastors could find themselves unable to find what they need and veteran pastors may not be that comfortable in preparing lessons that are applicable to todays times. Churches many be able to provide Youth ministry resources to these pastors to make the process far simpler. Otherwise the Internet and libraries would be the best port of call.




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