Each issue of YouthWorker revolves around a theme. Here’s a list of our themes for our 2016 issues. See a topic that you’re passionate about? Send us a proposal!
January / February :: Administration
– What are the top three essential habits of successful youth workers?
– Explain the essential skills youth workers need to be administratively savvy.
– What does a healthy, intentional administration do for youth workers? What does it do for their ministries?
– Explain the benefits of a to-do list. How do we harness the power of a to-do list? How do we know what things belong on our to-do lists—and on the lists of other staff members?
– What must youth workers do on Monday so we’re successful throughout the week?
– How do we manage Fridays so we’re properly prepared for Sundays (and so we don’t have to work Saturdays)?
– What is a rhythmic week? How do we harness the power of a weekly rhythm? How does harnessing that help us?
– There are benefits to using elderly people as youth ministry administrators. What are those benefits? What is the best strategy and plan for using them?
– What new tools, apps, programs are available to help us manage our ministries? How do we use them?
– Which communication strategies work best with church staffs? Senior pastors? Parents? Youth? Secretaries?
– When we encounter dysfunctional staff members or dysfunctional relationships, what is the best strategy for dealing with them?
– Parents sometimes push agendas that are counter to the overall goal of the youth program. How do we deal with parents who are pushing their agendas?
– What basic administration tips do we need to know?
– How do we know when we’ve crossed the line between working hard and workaholism? What do we do when we’ve crossed that line?
– How do you convince church boards that you need non-administrative time (time to read, dream, create, hang out)?
– What is the line between connecting with youth and being an adult?
– What are the best processes for evaluating our ministry effectiveness?
– Delegation 101: What are the five best ideas for effective delegation?
– Calendaring 101: What is the most efficient way to produce a yearlong events calendar?
– Meetings 101: What is an effective strategy for presenting ourselves in the best light at parent and church meetings.
– Stress management ideas that are real world, make sense, and aren’t intensive.
March / April :: Camps – Retreats – Trips – Mission Trip
– Are retreats an effective model of spiritual formation? How do we make them more effective? Do we need retreats anymore?
– What are the best group games to use on camps and retreats?
– Where are some of the best camps and retreat centers for your kids to attend?
– How do we pull off a retreat when we don’t have any money—or any adult leaders?
– What are the best schedules and procedures for backpacking trips?
– How do we prepare parents for their kids to go to camp or on a mission trip?
– What do we do to help youth manage the post-retreat high? How do we help kids land safely after our amazing retreat?
– What do we need to communicate to our leadership team before a retreat? How do we best prepare our leadership team for a retreat?
– Managing out of town trips: What are the best in-town trips to take, and how do we make them memorable?
– Do old-time games still work? (Bigger Better hunts, scavenger hunts, etc.) How do we put a new spin on an old-time game idea?
– How can we plan for times for the Holy Spirit to speak and work during a trip?
– Mystery Trips: What are some ideas for planning and pulling off a trip for your students?
– Managing trip failures: What do we do when a trip bombs?
– When your core kids can’t go on a trip, and every fringe kid wants to go, what is the best strategy?
– How do we handle it when the wrong parent wants to chaperone a youth trip?
– Trip mechanics: managing the little things (e.g., seatbelts, trash, headphones, etc.)
May / June / July :: Self
– What is the best way to invest in students without losing our souls?
– How do we stay connected to the most important relationships in our lives? What are the best, healthiest practices for staying in touch with your family while being immersed in youth ministry?
– When we’ve been a vapor at home and with our family, what’s the best road home?
– What boundaries do we need to set between work and home?
– Each one of us has a personal and a spiritual identity. What steps do we need to take to preserve those?
– Dreaming for ourselves is so important. How do we best do that? What happens when we can’t dream for ourselves?
– What are the best ideas for taking a personal spiritual pilgrimage?
– What are some strategic ways we can work so as to honor God and not to honor ourselves, churches, senior pastors, etc?
– Why is a day off important? How do we protect it?
– What podcasts, books, movies, videos, movies, artists, spiritual disciplines and foods do we need to discover to enhance our understanding of ourselves as youth workers?
– How do we approach a counselor for the purpose of listening to our hurts and engaging with us for emotional healing?
– What’s the process for getting a spiritual director? What do they do? Who needs one?
– What are the best practices to make sure you keep growing in your skills?
– How do we handle being fired or being wrongly accused?
– How can accountability partners help keep us on track for emotional, spiritual and physical health?
– How do we engage in meaningful community for ourselves?
– What are the best ways to form friendships outside the church?
August / September / October :: Parents
– What new family systems and parenting styles are emerging ng? (They used to be helicopter parents, blended families…What’s new?)
– How do overbearing parents ruin youth ministries? How can we help overbearing parents learn to let go?
– What do we need to communicate to parents that will help them feel comfortable with their kid going on a mission trip, retreat or out-of-town event?
– How do we respond when parents choose not to bring their kids to youth group?
– What do we do when parents expect youth workers to be their kids’ spiritual parents?
– What are the best practices for helping parents become active members of the youth ministry team?
– How do we partner with families for better youth ministry?
– How can we help parents be their kids’ spiritual heroes?
– How do we manage a youth group when your youth group is full of kids whose parents don’t come to church?
– When a parent is honest with you about how they feel about you, and those words hurt…
– For young, unmarried youth workers: How do we relate to people who have children?
– For older youth workers: What do we do when we relate with parents but not with their kids?
– Dealing with parents vs. partnering with parents: What’s the best strategy?
– How do we work with parents who constantly try to tell you how to do your job?
– Sometimes, we are the problem parent. What do we do when our own children are out of control?
– What do we do when our own children don’t want to go to our youth group, when they don’t want us to be their youth pastors?
November / December / January :: Sexuality
– What is the place of the youth worker in educating teenagers about sexuality?
– Teaching purity to a generation that is redefining the concept of purity.
– How can our youth ministries be more open and accepting places for sexually active teens (or, at least places of non-condemnation)?
– What issues about gender and identity does youth ministry face today?
– How does effective ministry to LGBTQ teens, ministry to boys/girls look?
– What is a healthy theology of sexuality?
– How do we talk about purity in a culture where average marriage age is increasing?
– How can we help students craft their sense of self respect?
– How much should you share about your sex life with students?
– What is the best way to engage this topic with parents?
– What’s the definition of modesty in youth ministry programming? Do youth workers set rules for student modesty outside youth group? If so, how do we do that?
– What do you do when parents allow students to wear revealing clothes—and argue with you when you don’t allow it at youth group?
– What do we do when we’re accused of sexual abuse?
– How do you address pornography with students?
– When boys are predators and talk to girls because, “That’s the way they like to be talked to.” How do we help reshape their worldview?
