About Youth Ministry

1st Sunday/Zaccheus Sunday 1 Tim 4:9-15 -- St Timothy was a young man when the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to him. Timothy had been given great responsibility for a person his age and St Paul has high expectations for him. Today we ten to isolate youth from…

There is much interest in Youth Ministry in our Church. I have been involved with our Church's Youth Ministry for the past five years and have traveled across North America, meeting hundreds of Orthodox youth and youth ministers. Everywhere I go people have questions about what…

Everyone wants to see youth involved in the Church and there are many reasons for this. Clergy see them as a sign of parish vitality and growth. The elderly see them as a guarantee for the Church's future. Parents hope and pray that their children will find an example in the Church…

In a recent letter to the editor of the Orthodox Christian Journal, Kimberly Metz from Pennsylvania wrote, As a fourteen-year-old Orthodox Christian who lives in an area where there are very few other Orthodox kids, I feel like I am the only one of my kind . . . I would like to…

As a manifestation of the Church’s mission youth ministry has many characteristics in common with other ministries of the Church. However, youth ministry has its own particular history and process, its own “story’’ which guides those who exercise this ministry. A Gospel…

Magic Answers. It seems to you that some of the young people in your parish are becoming disinterested in the Church; you see them going off to college and very few returning to "active" participation in parish life. Perhaps you see this even in your own children. You've…

“What do our youth need?” It’s a question we hear everywhere. Over the past number of years literally hundreds of books, magazines, and tv talk shows have discussed the needs of young people, who are taking more drugs, becoming sexually active at increasingly younger ages,…

I realize quite clearly that Christian education is not merely a question of method, of techniques, of expensive manuals and books. Actually, the most important aspect of Christian education is the spiritual quality of the process that gues on in it. The teachers do their best…

As I travel across the country leading teen retreats and activities, adult workshops, and assisting camping programs, I am blessed to talk with many clergy and laity about our Church’s youth ministry efforts Church-wide as well as locally. During our conversations people always…

At the 6th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America interested Orthodox young people, pastors and lay leaders assembled to hear presentations and discussions concerning the important area of youth work in the Church. In order to facilitate a medium of understanding…