Ideas Factory , livre ebook

Lion Hudson - Martin Saunders

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184 pages

English

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Description

The Ideas Factory is a priceless resource for anyone working with young people. It contains 100 adaptable discussion starters: a brief story, usually factual, followed by a series of provocative questions. The stories explore topics relevant to young people, including relationships, technology, and emotions; an important biblical concept, such as giving, the afterlife, or love; and the main stories and themes of the Bible. The questions begin with general issues, before moving on to what the Bible has to say. Extra questions are included for use with unchurched young people. This revised and updated edition has up-to-date examples and references to connect with today's young people.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Christianity

Informations

Publié par	Lion Hudson
Date de parution	15 janvier 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780857217509
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0650€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2007 Martin Saunders This edition copyright © 2016 Lion Hudson
The right of Martin Saunders to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent the views of the partnership organisations.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Monarch Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England Email: monarch@lionhudson.com www.lionhudson.com/monarch
ISBN 978 0 85721 680 9 e-ISBN 978 0 85721 750 9
Cover design: Todd Oliver (www.toli.co.uk)
First edition 2007
Acknowledgments Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. All rights reserved.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction

SECTION A: True Stories
A1 Racism
A2 Emotion
A3 Generosity
A4 Hope
A5 Near-death experience
A6 Adultery
A7 National rivalry
A8 Internet pornography
A9 Why does God allow such suffering?
A10 Perfect partners
A11 Courage and conviction
A12 Virginity
A13 Forgiveness
A14 Revenge
A15 Dying for faith
A16 Youth
A17 Authority
A18 Hypocrisy
A19 Fashion
A20 Reputation
A21 Possessions
A22 Drugs
A23 Advertising
A24 Rules
A25 Graffiti

SECTION B: Teen Issues
B1 Piracy
B2 Laziness
B3 Unrequited love
B4 The Sabbath
B5 Pornography
B6 Parents
B7 Talents and abilities
B8 Integrity
B9 Sexual guilt
B10 Peer pressure/drugs
B11 Attitudes to homosexuality
B12 Stealing
B13 Acceptance
B14 Cheating
B15 Television
B16 Healthy relationships… good break-ups
B17 The Holy Spirit
B18 Jealousy
B19 Dieting
B20 Violent video games
B21 Divorce
B22 Eating disorders
B23 Fairness
B24 Lies and gossip
B25 Friendship

SECTION C: Famous Names
C1 Marriage
C2 Growing up fast
C3 God’s deal
C4 Prayer/staying in touch
C5 God’s plan
C6 Changing direction
C7 Racism
C8 Friendship
C9 Self-image
C10 Defining moments
C11 Charity
C12 Acting justly
C13 Generosity
C14 Second chances
C15 Imposed religion
C16 Power
C17 Ethics
C18 Giving thanks
C19 Equality
C20 Capital punishment
C21 Perseverance
C22 Atheism
C23 Death
C24 The poor
C25 Names

SECTION D: The Bible in 25 Steps
D1 Creation (and evolution)
D2 Sin (and suffering)
D3 God’s people
D4 God hears the cry
D5 The law (and rules)
D6 God’s supreme power
D7 Israel’s greatest king
D8 God speaks through his prophets
D9 Power
D10 Faith in suffering
D11 Worship
D12 Wisdom (and guidance)
D13 A coming Messiah (hope)
D14 Renewal (and life balance)
D15 Punishment and restoration
D16 God sends his Son
D17 Jesus’ line
D18 Discipleship
D19 Prayer (and forgiveness)
D20 Healing
D21 Jesus’ death and resurrection
D22 The Holy Spirit
D23 Church
D24 Paul
D25 Life after death
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank the many people who’ve contributed to this book in various ways: the whole team at Youthwork magazine; the readers who sent in story ideas; every poor young person who I’ve tested these ideas out on over the past few years; my wife Jo for letting me hide in the shed and write; Andy Peck, my on-tap theological heavyweight; Steve Adams, who taught me how to write resources; Grace Benson, who can do pretty much anything; and John Buckeridge, who very foolishly gave me a shot at a job that I was in no way qualified to do.
Preface
Eight years is a long time in youth ministry. When I wrote the first edition of The Ideas Factory , the first of my two books of discussion starters, the economy was still looking pretty good, we’d just welcomed over 2,000 youth workers to a dedicated national event, and there was an air of optimism all around.
Quite a lot has changed since then.
The financial crisis, and ensuing recession, has had a devastating impact on the sector; certainly in the UK, and probably a lot further afield. Churches decided that the first cut they would make would be the youth worker; others merged the distinct roles of youth worker and children’s worker together in a sort of crazy cost-saving fudge. Christian organizations had to radically downsize their staff numbers; some disappeared altogether.
Outside the Church, the story was even more brutal. Youth work roles melted away in many towns, often leaving no youth services available to the young people left behind. One major British city replaced all of its statutory youth work provision with a one-off £1 million grant fund for the voluntary groups that would have to stand in the gap. That money is of course long gone; the need remains and has indeed intensified.
Although voluntary groups (of which faith-based organizations such as churches make up the vast majority) have been relied on to fill these huge sinkholes in provision, they’ve not always found financial support easy to come by. That’s been especially true for Christian organizations, especially those that list the promotion of the Christian faith as an explicit aim.
So while the needs of young people haven’t lessened, our ability to meet them has been seriously undermined by the financial picture. And while a sort of recovery may mean that churches find the pressure on their coffers slowly easing, the continuing commitment from governments to austerity and funding cuts suggests the burden on the voluntary sector is only going to increase.
That’s not necessarily bad news of course; local communities and councils will increasingly look to the church as a provider of youth and children’s activities. It is, however, something we’re going to have to get our heads around, and fast (for a basic guide to setting up church-based youth provision, check out my book Youth Work From Scratch ).
The seismic shift in the financial picture isn’t the only change we’ve seen. In a related story, the number of people leaving youth ministry appears to hugely outweigh the numbers incoming. The workforce seems to have dwindled; the major youth ministry events in the UK are now attracting closer to 500 youth workers – a long way now from 2,000. That’s educated anecdote for now (although at time of writing, Youthscape is currently undertaking a major piece of research into the numbers of youth workers and young people involved in the UK church – check out www.youthscape.co.uk for details) but there’s no doubt that while the numbers of people enrolled in youth ministry training courses has fallen dramatically, we’ve also seen many youth ministers – both local church workers and higher-profile national specialists – leaving the sector. Many of the older heads have moved on; there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of new blood coming in… in employed terms at least.
What this almost certainly means is that youth ministry is becoming slowly de-professionalized, and in many places being handed over to volunteers. Again, this is not necessarily bad news, provided those volunteers can be found, envisioned and trained properly. Indeed, as a reader of this book you may well be one of the new emerging army of volunteer youth workers. Hello if so. Hooray for you. You’re the cavalry!
At the risk of sounding gloomier still, we’ve also seen a change in the cultural temperature since the beginning of the last decade. In the past, most young people grew up in homes that were either sympathetic to Christianity, or else at least ambivalent about it. Now my seven-year-old returns from a playdate to tell me that her friend’s parents have been explaining why her faith is nonsense. Many children grow up in atheist homes which make them suspicious of the church’s motives when we try to engage them.
It’s no surprise then that we’re also encountering young people who have fixed (and antagonistic) views on Christianity earlier too. The New Atheist and secular humanist movements are beginning to have a powerful impact on young minds; the questions we face from young people are often harder, better researched and designed to trip us up. Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing; rather a young person who wants to engage on the question of faith than one who simply can’t be bothered.
So a lot has changed. And this heavy combination of blows to youth ministry’s gut can feel pretty hard to take. It’s not all bad news though as I’ve suggested, and it’s not All Change either.
For a start, and most importantly of all, we still serve the same unchanging, everlasting and undefeatable God. He’s not finished with young people, or with the church that seeks to serve them. He is at work in our communities, schools and families in ways that we can’t see and might never know. His mission is unrelenting, whether we choose to join in with it or not. And when we do, amazing things continue to happen.
In the last few unsettling years I’ve heard stories of near-revival; of the power of God breaking out among a group of young people. I’ve marvelled at the transforming lives of the young people in my own church, some of whom are among the most incredible world-changing, dead-to-self, hope-drenched wonders I’ve ever encountered. And I’ve watched as in the UK the Soul Survivor youth festivals have continued to attract over 20,000 young people every Summer, and each year more than a thousand of them make a commitment to follow Christ. Stop and read that again, because it’s easy to skip over that extraordinary figure. Even in the context I’ve described, over a thousand British teenagers are choosing t