DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed to help students understand how to reach and minister to young people in a changing world, particularly within a Latino context. It will include practical ideas, concepts and principles for evangelizing and making disciples of current and future generations. The course will use a modular format focusing on the following topics: 1) adolescence and youth; 2) the purposes of youth ministry; 3) youth programming; 4) evangelism and relational discipleship; 5) effective leadership; and 6) the current cultural context.

Pastors and leaders within the Latino community need practical tools to reach out to the young people in their congregations and their communities. Specifically, students will:

1. Better understand the internal processes of adolescent development and the principal needs in light of each stage of development.

2. Recognize the need for the church to care about adolescents and to constructively find ways to assimilate them into the life of the church community.

3. Identify principles that make for an effective, theologically-driven youth program.

4. Recognize and discover how to integrate into their lives the foundational elements of an effective youth ministry in a changing Latino sub-culture.

5. Have the ability to discern the needs of a social situation and be able to adapt their ministries so that they can be more attractive to and effective with new generations.

6. Integrate what is learned in class and be able to begin putting what is learned into practice.

The course will meet in three Friday-Saturday sessions, six hours each day.

Leys, Lucas. El ministerio juvenil efectivo. Miami: Editorial Vida, 2003.

Fields, Doug, Ministerio de jóvenes con propósito. Miami: Editorial Vida, 2000.

Montero-Sieburth, Martha, and Francisco Villarruel, eds. Making Invisible Latino Adolescents Visible: A Critical Approach to Latino Diversity. New York : Falmer Press, 2000.

A counseling book of the student's choice with the professor's approval.

Clark, Chap. Romanos ¡Fe al vivo rojo! Editorial Vida, 2001.

1. Write a book report for each of the required texts (2-4 pages each).

2. Present a quarter-long program for youth ministry in a local church using what was learned in class (3-5 pages).

3. Write a socio-cultural analysis of the young people in the student's local church (or of some other specific youth group previously approved by the professor) (8-10 pages).

4. There will be a short exam at the end of each module (6 exams).

Spanish.

Meets the M.Div. core requirement in Christian Formation and Discipleship (MIN4).