Church and Culture

How do we continue to tell students that Jesus is good when the Church that purports to espouse His teachings, hurts people? Youth leaders should be prepared for responding when young people are faced with sin within their congregation and the larger church. This article helps leaders consider how they might do approach this difficult topic.

The Lutheran Youth and Adult Poll (formerly known as the Lutheran Youth Fellowship Poll) has been conducted every three years at LCMS Youth Gatherings since the 1980s. The executive summary seeks to highlight the most important findings from the 2022 poll.

In this first devotion tied to the My Roles Now and for the Future study, we are reminded that when this world seems hostile, you have been chosen for the vocation of child of God and sent to bring Good News with encouragement, help, and patience to the world.

The rise, and shocking normalcy, of school violence in our lifetimes brings about difficult questions. This conversation guide on school violence helps us to point teens to the Gospel, an important task since the majority of teens report that school stress is a significant source of stress.

Having hard conversations is never easy, but it’s worth the effort. Especially in today's culture it can be hard to engage well in difficult conversations in youth ministry. Here are six suggestions to help you to start talking about more difficult issues in your youth ministry.

Youth ministry means working to understand and appreciate youth culture. Heather discusses why it is important to listen and care for teens as you share with them the Gospel of Jesus.

As we adjust to the new normal after the pandemic, we can see fewer people in our pews. So, what do we do to get people, especially young people, back in church? This article helps us think through some ways we can answer that question.

Our youth are more and more seeing the cultural trend of “cancelling” someone because of actions now or in the past. As people in youth ministry, we must think long and hard about how we encourage both justice and live as people of grace through Jesus.