November Update from CYFM and Kara Powell

I’m reading the “Bible in a Year” this year.

Or more accurately, I’m on the 15-month Bible-in-a-Year plan.

These days I’m in the Old Testament Minor Prophets (see, I told you I was behind). I can’t help but be struck by how much our Lord cares about justice. More than just the powerful-oldie-but-goodie of Micah 6:8, Amos 5:24 declares, “let justice roll on like a river,” and Zephaniah 3:5a promises that every morning, the Lord “dispenses His justice”.

The good news is that more and more youth ministries are accepting God’s invitation to right the wrongs around them. The bad news is that well-intentioned youth workers and highly-motivated teenagers often lack the theology and the skills to see our world truly transformed.

In preparation for the January 2008 release of our second CYFM book, Deep Justice in a Broken World, we’ve made kingdom justice a theme of our next two CYFM E-Journals. In the midst of a host of justice resources, we are especially excited about the free downloadable 30 Hour Famine Curriculum that we are offering in partnership with World Vision. While we narrow in on practical resources that your ministry can use to serve the last, the least, and the lost in your midst, we’ll continue to keep you updated on other CYFM research initiatives, including the newest findings from our College Transition Project.

May our ministries—and our world—be swept away by the Lord’s justice river.

Kara Powell

Kara E. Powell, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry and an Assistant Professor of Youth, Family, and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary.  She has been in youth ministry for 20 years and is the author of many articles and books including the forthcoming Deep Justice in a Broken World (co-authored with Chap Clark, Zondervan, January 2008) Deep Ministry in a Shallow World (co-authored with Chap Clark, Zondervan, 2006) Help!  I'm a Woman in Youth Ministry (Zondervan, 2004) Mirror! Mirror! (Zondervan, 2003), and the Good Sex Curriculum Guide (co-authored with Jim Hancock, Zondervan, 2001).

This issue’s “Tell CYFM” question is: What ministry leader would you most like to hear from in an interview with Kara Powell? Email your thoughts to tell.cyfm@fuller.edu today!

Kara Powell interviews Jim Wallis, President and Executive Director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of justice-seeking books such as God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. An abbreviated version of Jim's interview appears in the upcoming book from Kara Powell and Chap Clark, Deep Justice in a Broken World: Helping Your Kids Serve Others and Right the Wrongs Around Them.

30 Hour Famine Curriculum Release

by Kara Powell and CYFM

Through a partnership with World Vision and thanks to a generous grant from a private foundation, CYFM has developed a completely free curriculum available for use by any youth worker who wants to increase students' interaction with issues related to hunger and poverty and equip them to live out kingdom-of-God responses.

This free curriculum, entitled "Hungry for the Kingdom," is now available for download!

Justice Hits Close to Home:
A Roundtable Panel on Inviting Parents into Our Service

by Kara Powell

In light of recent research and our commitment to the importance of parents in youth ministry, CYFM invited a handful of youth pastors and short-term missions experts to help us better understand how to invite parents to walk with their students in the justice journey.

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Just Worship

by Brad Griffin

Are we more comfortable with singing about God's love or God's justice; with raising our hands in church or reaching our hands out to the poor and oppressed? Whether we're uncomfortable or not, the Old Testament prophets and the example of Christ point us to a radical both/and type of worship justice. This article challenges us to think carefully about how we teach and model worship to students.

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Going Global:
When U.S. Teens Tackle Tough International Issues

by David Russell

Can students in your youth ministry really make an impact on the world? Using an international Transformational Development model, David Russell shares what can happen when we re-cast youth ministry and kids catch on.

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You Make the Call:
What College Freshmen Need to Hear from their Youth Pastors

by Kara Powell, Brad Griffin, and Cheryl Crawford

You've been wondering whether to pick up the phone and check in with last year's grads now that they're a few months into college, but you aren't sure you can make the time. Recent research through CYFM's College Transition Project might help you realize how important that call really is.

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Working alongside frontline leaders, Fuller Theological Seminary's Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) exists to turn research into resources that transform youth and family ministry.

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