Training Opportunities

Advanced Youth Ministry

For the youth ministry veteran, here you'll find seminars to stretch and challenge your thinking.

Schedule

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry

Andy Root

Seminar Series #5

Pittsburgh - Nov 2 3:30 PM-5:00 PM

This workshop will examine a relational approach to youth ministry in order to uncover some of the blind spots in our contemporary understanding of relationships with young people. Relational ministry will be re-imagined NOT as a way to influence kids toward some end (to accept Jesus or to avoid immoral behavior), but rather we’ll see it theologically, as place-sharing.

What if Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was a Youth Worker Today

Andy Root

Seminar Series #4

Pittsburgh - Nov 2 1:30 PM-3:00 PM

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most admired Christians of the twentieth century. His books Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship are greatly loved for their focus on community and the cross of Christ. But what relevance do they (and the rest of Bonhoeffer’s thought) have for us today? For those of us working with young people? How could a martyr killed in Nazi Germany help me with my ministry? In this workshop we’ll explore a few key points of Bonhoeffer’s understanding of Jesus Christ and discover the difference they make in how we do ministry. We’ll see that Bonhoeffer gives us not only some ways to do ministry with kids, but more importantly, some ways to be with them.

Healing and Hope for Kids Who Cut

Marv Penner

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

Pittsburgh - Nov 1 2:00 PM-4:30 PM

Self-injury is no longer a rare psychological oddity touching a few fringe kids in somebody else’s youth group. It’s an all-too-common expression of the intense emotions some kids are feeling these days. And sadly, most of us don’t understand it, much less have a clue about what to do when we come across it. This seminar takes a frank, honest look at a problem that’s increasingly evident in the lives of some of the teenagers we work with. Unfortunately, this won’t be a “feel-good” session with a neat and tidy solution. The topic is graphic, the images are messy, and the details are unsettling; but we can no longer pretend it’s not an issue. We’ll hear the stories of real kids who use cutting, carving, burning, and other self-injurious behaviors to cope with what’s going on inside. We’ll learn to understand what drives their unusual behaviors, and we’ll explore some of the practical dos and don’ts for us to keep in mind when kids choose to share their struggles with us.

Talking About the Gospel as More Than Only Penal Substitution

Scot McKnight

Seminar Series #2

Pittsburgh - Nov 1 8:00 AM-9:30 AM

The standard evangelistic gospel is to create a sense of need in a person to respond to Christ by threatening the non-Christian with final punishment of a wrathful God. Not only does this approach fail to comply with how Jesus evangelized, but it also creates a gospel that’s shaped by one and only one gospel image—the image of God’s just judgment being satisfied. In this seminar we’ll explore how the gospel can be expressed in a variety of ways by exploring a number of images for salvation and God’s gracious work for us.

Theology for Youth Ministry: Its Purpose, Uselfulness, and Practicality

Danny Kwon

Seminar Series #1

Pittsburgh - Oct 31 4:00 PM-5:30 PM

This seminar will begin to examine theology as a vital tool for youth ministry. As such, we’ll examine what purpose it serves for the youth worker, as well as how theology can be used within and practically applied to the context of one’s own life and ministry.