Youth Culture Matters - A CPYU Podcast

The Scriptures tell us with great clarity that all human beings have been made by God, in the image of God, and for a relationship with God. But the reality of life in our post-fall world has left everything broken, including all human beings. This brokenness touches us all deeply, but in a variety of different ways. This includes the many types of physical and cognitive disabilities in our world. This means that our churches and youth groups must be places sensitive to the unique needs of those among us who are disabled. How can we best minister to the disabled, from birth through old age? How can we create welcoming, safe spaces that foster spiritual growth and development among the disabled? Stay with us as we learn about ministry to and with the disabled as we converse with Ashley Belknap, from a ministry called Engaging Disability With the Gospel, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus issued what is now known as the Great Commission. He commanded his followers in all times and all places to go into the world and make disciples. That task follows our efforts to communicate the good news of the Gospel. Do our youth ministry efforts reflect a commitment to obedience to this command of Christ? What does it mean to do evangelism and discipleship with the emerging generations? How can we fuel our passions and abilities at evangelism and discipleship? We’ll talk about these issues and more with our friend, Dare 2 Share’s Greg Stier, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Four years ago, the band Twenty-One Pilots released a hit song focusing on the pressures of adulthood and a yearning to return back to the relatively easy years of childhood. Title Stressed Out, the song went to number one on the mainstream music charts. But judging from what we’re hearing from researchers, parents, youth workers, educators, and kids themselves, stress and anxiety is increasingly common among our children and teens. What is anxiety? How is it manifesting itself in the lives of our kids? What are its causes? And how does the Gospel speak to this new epidemic of anxiety among our kids? We’ll be discussing strategies for navigating the epidemic of youth anxiety on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Plato once said that “music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” While you might argue with the particulars of Plato’s words, you have to agree that music has power. And there’s no question that Scripture has influenced music since the first ever song was penned. Poet, author, and rock music critic Steve Turner knows this to be the case. And in his new book, “Turn, Turn Turn: Popular Songs and Music Inspired By The Bible,” Steve Turner takes an in-depth look at the lyrics and cultural context of 100 of the most popular songs ever written, and how those songs were influenced by the Bible. Stay with us as we talk music and the Bible in this eye-opening and informative episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Every now and then, a film comes along that offers a helpful, realistic, and compelling peek into the world of contemporary adolescence. The recent film, Eighth Grade, is a movie follows the last week of middle school before thirteen-year-old Kayla graduates and moves on to high school. It’s a good one that covers all kinds of issues including identity, family, social media, friendships, and sexuality. We recently sat with a group of youth workers to view and discuss the film. Does Eighth Grade accurately capture what its like to be a kid in today’s world? Are there issues the film raises that we need to be addressing in our youth ministries and in our homes? And, how can a youth worker use Eighth Grade as a ministry tool? We host a round table discussion with three local church youth workers on these questions and more, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Over the course of the last few years, youth workers and parents have been increasingly lamenting the exodus of kids from the church once they graduate from high school and launch into the next phase of life. A growing volume of research is offering ideas on why this is happening, and solutions designed to reverse this trend. Why is it that our kids are leaving the church in droves after they grow up? Have we come to a clear understanding of the reasons? And what steps can we take to prepare kids for a lifetime of spiritual growth and following Christ? We’ll chat with John Nielson about what he’s discovered about why youth stay in church when they grow up, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

We live in a marketing saturated world. When we engage with an average of 4,000 to 10,000 marketing messages a day, we become unaware of both the presence of marketing in our lives, and the power of marketing to shape our beliefs and behaviors. And for our vulnerable kids who are in the midst of growth and change, marketing is an especially powerful force. What would it look like to disciple our kids into thinking consciously, critically and Christianly about the thousands of marketing messages they encounter over the course of a day? Can we shape the way they engage with advertising now, in ways that will train them to be wise, shrewd, and marketing-savvy for the rest of their lives? We’ll be talking about some practical ministry tips that parents and youth workers can use to help kids manage marketing, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Youth ministry has always needed to adapt and adjust to changes in the mainstream culture. With the advent of the metoo movement and our growing knowledge of the nature and extent of sexual abuse, youth workers must be thinking about how to best engage with students in ways that lead to healthy relationship building. Is it ever proper to give a student a hug? What about car rides, lunches, or having one-on-one meetings with kids? What are the borders and boundaries we need to enlist to insure that none of us or our volunteers cross lines that would thrill the enemy, undermine ministries, or do harm to the kids who have been entrusted to our care? Our good friend Marv Penner joins us to offer wisdom and to help us answer the question, “To hug or not to hug? How Do we love kids well in our metoo culture? . . . on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Thomas Chisholm wrote the classic hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, as a testimony to God’s enduring love. The hymn calls to mind the words of the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations 3: "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” How does one have hope like this? And how can parents and youth leaders nurture children and teens in ways that result in great hope? Our friends Cameron and Lauren Cole have experienced firsthand the kind of tragedy that leads to a downcast soul. But in the midst of that, God gifted them with great hope. We’ll be talking with the Cole’s about Cameron’s new book, “Therefore I Have Hope: 12 Truths That Comfort, Sustain, and Redeem Tragedy”, along with the importance of communicating these truths in our homes and youth ministries, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

It seems that you can’t watch the news or go online these days without encountering stories related to matters of gender and sexual identity. The conversations on these matters are progressing into unmarked territory that can leave parents and youth workers confused, and even paralyzed in terms of how to respond. In recent weeks, a new study has emerged that has opened the door for conversations about what’s being called rapid onset gender dysphoria that’s becoming more and more prevalent in the teen population. We’ll be talking about our need for knowledge, careful posturing, and a distinctively Christian approach to issues regarding gender and sexuality, on this edition of Youth Culture Matters.