Youth Worker Collective Podcast

The day we have all been waiting for...re-opening our churches and youth ministry. We sit down this week to talk about what you can do to ensure the safety of your staff, volunteers, and students.

Keeping children, youth, and vulnerable adults safe from predators is very important! Today we talk about how to accomplish that in a digital world.

What about summer? That's the question we're hearing the most as we navigate our new "normal" during this pandemic. We sat down with Scott Meier and Eddie Erwin to talk about what they're doing as far as summer ministry plans.

Summer seems like it is a long time away from now, but there are definitely things in your planning for summer that need to be attended to in January. This week, the collective discusses what those things are, and more. Youth ministry is not a solo sport, but far too often youth workers feel like they have to do it alone. We are here to help with that. Every week some of the top United Methodist y...

Join us as we sit down with the collective to get tips on how best to recruit volunteers for your youth ministry.

It’s getting close to Halloween and haunted houses are probably popping up in your city/town. Hell Houses are popular “haunted houses” that use scare tactics to try to scare Jesus into people. This week we sit down with the collective to talk about how to respond to people who suggest taking the youth group to a Hell House.

We’ve all been there … you plan a big event and no one shows up. Listen as the collective shares their experiences with how to handle it.

It’s something no one wants to deal with, but we all have to—budget! Listen as the collective sits down to give some tips about getting started and how to manage your budget successfully.

We often get asked about Thanksgiving break and what to do during this time. Listen as the collective sits down to talk about what they do for youth ministry as well as college ministry.

It’s time to start planning for Christmas! No worries…the collective sat down and put together some ideas of what has worked for them in the past.

It’s not too early to start planning for summer mission trips. Listen as the collective talks about some ideas and resources to help you plan your next trip.

One of the hardest things to do is evaluate how things are going in your ministry. This week, we sat down with the collective to find out the best ways they have discovered to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t.

We have a tendency to focus on our students and our youth ministry, but it’s important to focus on your own spiritual growth! Listen as the collective talks about the tech tools that help them spiritually.

Don’t try to come up with all the good ideas about youth ministry on your own. Leverage the collective! Listen as we sat down to talk about our favorite (READ: most helpful) articles from the Youth Worker Collective this year.

It’s that time of year again. As the new year rolls around we all try to come up with resolutions to better ourselves. Listen as we sat down with the collective to talk about New Year’s resolutions for youth ministry.

The news has been full of stories of sexual harassment and abuse in recent months. This week, we sat down with the collective to talk about what steps you can take to help protect your youth ministry from abuse and harassment and ways to change the conversation about sexuality.

It’s inevitable…students within your youth ministry will date each other! This week, we sat down with the collective to talk about the best way to deal with students dating each other.

In today’s highly charged times, it’s easy find yourself as the sole adherent to a particular political philosophy in a crowd. This week, the collective discusses how to engage in positive political discussion.

One of the most difficult things to deal with in youth ministry is the death of a teenager in your community. This week, the collective discusses how to answer the questions that will inevitably be asked when this happens.

Cutting, or other forms of self-harm is a phenomenon that youth workers might have to investigate. This week, the collective discusses these behaviors and when is the right time to call parents, or even mental health professionals.

It is inevitable that one will encounter the delicate situation of teen pregnancy in youth ministry. This week, the collective discusses how to handle not only the teen, but others in the group as well.

Tragedies, such as mass shootings, seem to be in the news every week these days. The collective discusses how to engage students on the issues and how to help them process what has happened from a spiritual perspective.

Mission work is an essential part of the youth group experience. But what if it turns out that the mission work that you’ve chosen doesn’t actually help those that you’ve committed to help? The collective discusses how to make sure your mission work does help and doesn’t hurt the intended recipients of your good intentions.

Confirmation is an essential part of ministry to youth. This week, the collective sits down to discuss how it’s being done at the panelists’ church, and what criteria they’ve used to evaluate whether or not the program is considered to be a successful one.

It will inevitably happen. At some point, a well-intentioned trip or retreat will be an abject failure. This week, the collective shares some of those failures and lessons learned from the “experience.”