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Youth Ministry in Mexico

January 29, 2009 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

We did a survey of the Seminary students (and a current survey is up at our Spanish youth worker site) about the problems that the young people in their churches are going through.

I’m not sure what to make of this information. I just thought it was interesting to see the answers. It’s not a very scientific survey, but it helps me know what the Seminary students (not the YM students) are dealing with in their churches.

Also, the responses that are coming into the forum on our Spanish youth ministry site are a little different than those that the Seminary students gave. I’ll post those responses later.

Here’s how it went:

What problems exist today in the youth of your church?

They gave more than one answer on a sheet, so the percentages are per seminary student, not per total answers.

30 surveys given – 59 answers

  • Rebellion – 21 (70%)
  • Dating Problems – 14 (47%)
  • Sexuality – 8 (27%)
  • Alcoholism – 5 (17%)
  • Apathy – 4 (13%)
  • Drug Addiction – 1 (.03%)
  • They go with whatever teaching – 1 (.03%)
  • Commitment to discipleship – 1 (.03%)
  • Self-esteem – 1 (.03%)
  • Loneliness – 1 (.03%)
  • Youth leadership – 1 (.03%)
  • Nothing – 1 (.03%)

What are you doing about it?

  • Talking with them and their parents, counseling, Involving the family, Talking to them personally
  • I haven’t done anything yet, I don’t know, It’s not being dealt with, Nothing
  • Studies, Sermons, Learning activities, Organizing conferences, Teaching doctrine classes
  • Camps and activities to talk about the problems they have
  • Trying to involve them in the work of the church, Programs to involve them
  • Individual Discipleship
  • Evangelism
  • Gaining their trust so that I can later counsel them and their parents, Building relationships, Spending time with them and their parents
  • Praying for them

(Photo by Hfabulous on flickr)

Ministry Multiplication

January 25, 2009 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, Latin America with 2 Comments

Saturday mornings we have started some informal training for youth workers. Huberto is teaching the first series, and it’s cool for me to see one of my former students interacting and training others (2 Timothy 2:2).

Here’s a qik video of Huberto teaching the YM Goal statement: “Develop a vehicle (program) through which every adolescent will hear the gospel in a culturally relevant manner and have the opportunity to spiritually mature.” (That’s my rough English translation of what we use).

I love how passionate he is about training others. He’s taught in the bachelor’s program at the Seminary, he went with us last year to Boyce College’s Youth Emphasis Week, and he’s taken a major role in the Saturday morning training we have started.

Please pray that the ministry will continue to expand and multiply.

Expanding Youth Ministry Training in Mexico

January 12, 2009 in Center for YM, features, Global Youth Ministry, Seminary, Youth Ministry with 7 Comments

For a while now, we’ve been thinking about a way to expand the youth ministry training we do in Mexico. We already started one of the only Bachelor’s degrees in youth ministry in Latin America. But we know that it’s not enough to offer a bachelor’s degree in youth ministry.

Although the bachelor’s program has been growing, we recognize that not everyone who is working with young people can come to the Seminary full time for training. With the problems that come from living in Mexico City, it makes it difficult to do a lot of informal training.

Saturday was the first day of the long-awaited Diploma in youth ministry. We started with 6 students who are working in various churches. Each one of them told us how important it is to get training in youth ministry, and they are all very happy to have this informal type of training.

The purpose of the diploma program is obviously to provide practical training for youth workers as well as promote the other youth ministry programs at the Seminary.

We are praying that this Saturday morning course (9 months out of the year) will help many local church youth workers and spread throughout the country.

We’ll keep you up to date with this new program, which we think will grow and expand in the coming months.

Youth Leaders’ Network

December 8, 2008 in Center for YM, features, Youth Ministry with 1 Comment

Some of my best memories as a youth pastor in Dunedin, Florida, were going to a monthly youth worker meeting. I would sit in the youth room at Clearwater Community Church and talk shop with a bunch of like minded people. Every month it would be a little different, but I remember looking forward to this meeting, unlike many other meetings I had to go to in those days.

Leadership can be lonely. Often times, you go about your business, and it seems like nobody even notices what you do (unless it’s bad) or even the struggles that you have in your own personal life. Most of the time, ministry is difficult. But because we recognize the need that leaders have to connect with each other, we held the first ever youth leaders’ network meeting in northwest Mexico City.

I don’t know about you, but I always feel great after hanging out with people who share the same vision I do (like we did when we went to Ecuador). Networking is more than just seeing what you can get from other people or even how you can work together to extend your reach.

Youth worker network meetingIt’s about a shared vision and a shared passion. It’s about shared dreams. It is about identifying with other people so that you can understand that you’re not alone in ministry (and so they understand this, too). This type of connection is vital.

Yes, leadership is lonely, but we are doing what we can to encourage those youth workers in our area and let them know that what they do is important.

What can you do to help connect other like-minded people? You need it as much as they do.

President Calderon and Youth Ministry

November 14, 2008 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, Latin America, Seminary, Youth Ministry with 1 Comment

The Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, at a recent meeting of heads of state in Latin America, said, “Hope must be offered to young people who don’t believe in anything.”

Even the President of Mexico realizes that young people need help. The interesting thing is that there are many people in the church (even in our Seminary) who think that youth ministry is a waste of time.

My students have to deal day in and day out with people telling them that they are wasting their time studying to minister to young people.

I tell them that there is a great need out there for people who really care about young people and who want to invest their lives influencing the next generation. It’s an ongoing struggle for them, but I know that they are committed to offering to these young people something to believe in.

It’s been a great week. I can’t wait to hear what my students say on Monday when they come back from their churches where they work. I know that they will be used this weekend as they offer hope to the hopeless generation here in Mexico.

(Photo of Mexican President and the President of San Salvador at a recent conference)

Where do we go from here?

November 14, 2008 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, Latin America, Prayer, YMI with 0 Comments

I’ve written about the opportunities for youth ministry training in Latin America before, and it seems like more and more people are becoming interested in youth ministry training.

I just got another email from a graduate of ours who recently went to the Dominican Republic, and of course he talked about youth ministry training while he was there. He writes to me, saying, “The people in the Dominican Republic are very interested in taking the experience we had here to their country, and I think it would be a great place to invest in because they have very little ministry to young people. It’s almost zero.”

There are at least 4 countries on the horizon for us in Latin America. We need to know where to go. We need to know what to do. Things in Mexico are picking up. We have a certificate program planned to start in January, and we are working with our Seminary to start a Master’s program as well.

So, where do we go from here? That’s a good question. Please keep praying with us about these things. Pray for wisdom. Pray for resources (both human resources and financial resources).

These are exciting times.

(Photos by: oui c’est moi! on flickr)

My Saturdays Just Got Busier

November 12, 2008 in Center for YM, features, Global Youth Ministry, Latin America, Seminary, Youth Ministry with 6 Comments

We just announced over on our Spanish website that we’ll be starting up a certificate program in youth ministry (see the announcement – Diplomado en Ministerio Juvenil – in Spanish) in January.

The idea is to offer an informal youth ministry training for those who cannot study at the seminary full time. This program will meet on Saturday mornings for four hours starting January 10, 2009. We’ll have two locations – one at the Seminary and the other at a church in the south of the city.

The entire certificate program lasts for a year, with nine courses overall that each last a month. We’ll be taking June, July, and December off each year.

I’m praying for 30-40 students in the entire program, which will benefit many churches.

So, if you read this and know someone in Mexico City who would be interested, pass them the link with more information. If you don’t live in Mexico City or know anyone in Mexico City, pleas pray with me for this new way to train youth workers here.

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