Summer 2013/Houston
YF500
Alston
YF500: FOUNDATION OF YOUTH MINISTRY. Chris Alston.
DESCRIPTION: This course provides the foundational concepts and best practices to prepare the student for ministry to the young in both a church and non-church setting in any context. The course will provide a basic understanding of adolescent development, contemporary culture, and historical and contextual models of youth ministry thinking and practice. The course is designed to help the student to think and respond theologically to the needs and expectations of the young and their families in a church or organization, and provides practical tools enabling the student to design a theologically sound youth ministry program suitable in any context.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: From a human perspective, the future of the church rests in the hands of the next generation. How those in power pass on the Christian faith to children and adolescents will determine the shape of the church for years to come. By understanding the nature of human and spiritual development, how to read a culture, how to solicit support and adult ownership and how to develop programs and models that reach an adolescent subculture so the young are effectively and practically adopted into the community of faith, this course will enable the student to lead a congregation or organization into reaching the next generation for Christ and his kingdom.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will (1) understand cultural trends that influence and affect adolescents and their families; (2) develop a comprehensive theology and philosophy of youth ministry that produces a ministry of adoption into a local church body; (3) understand the different ministry needs of early, middle, and late adolescents; (4) create multi-generational relational programs and curriculum that enable discipleship and Christian nurture within a theologically driven framework of congregational ownership and strategic adoption of the young.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet for one week, six hours each day, consisting of lectures and class discussion. Each student will also complete a contextualized final project.
REQUIRED READING: The texts below and 250 pages from the recommended reading are required.
Clark, Chap. Hurt 2.0: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers. 2nd ed. Baker Academic, 2011. ISBN: 978-0801039416, Pub. Price: $17.99 [288 pp.]
Clark, Chap, Kenda Dean, and Dave Rahn. Starting Right: A Practical Theology of Youth Ministry. Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2001. ISBN: 978-0310234067, Pub. Price: $34.99 [400 pp.]
Clark, Chap, and Kara Powell. Deep Ministry in a Shallow World. Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2006. ISBN: 978-0310267072. Pub. Price: $18.99 [256 pp.]
Emerson, Michael O., and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 978-0195147070, Pub. Price: $19.99 [224 pp.]
RECOMMENDED READING: See the course syllabus.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Five 3-4 page reflections on the readings (25%).
An exam on the lectures and reading (25%).
A 15-page final project that reflects a programmatic interpretation of the course content in a given context (50%).
PREREQUISITES: None.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets the MDiv core requirement in General Ministry & Spirituality (MIN 1), MDiv core requirement in Christian Formation & Discipleship (MIN 4), or Ministry Foundations requirement (MIN F) for other master’s degrees. Required course for MDiv concentration in Youth, Family & Culture; and for MA in Youth, Family & Culture.