Like us on FacebookVideos of spring colloquium on youth ministry
Berkeley Divinity School, in conjunction with the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, has just concluded its spring Wesley-Royce Leadership Colloquium on youth ministry. Four speakers came to campus to discuss the latest scholarship and best practices of youth ministry, and students worked with exemplary youth ministry teams throughout the United States and Puerto Rico to examine best practices in a variety of contexts.
On January 17, Dr. Andrew Root, Associate Professor and Carrie Olson Baalson Chair of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, visited Yale as the first speaker for the Youth Ministry: Now's series of lunch and lecture series. Root spoke on relational ministry to area pastors and youth workers. In the afternoon, as part of the Wesley-Royce Leadership Colloquium, he spoke on the topic of how young people's identities are formed. You can view video of the afernoon lecture here.
On February, 14, Dr. Roland Martinson, Academic Dean and Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary, spoke on "Youth's Questions, Faith's Stories, Christ's Claims."
A Lutheran pastor and a member of the National Council on Family Relations, Dr. Martinson is concerned about the number of young people who stop attending church at age 18 or 19 and never return. He believes that pastors and lay leaders must, in part, learn to speak a new language to address this crisis. You can see the video of his talk here.
On March 20, Dr. Rodger Nishioka offered a presentation titled "Beyond Soup Kitchens and Sardines: Youth Ministry as Practical Theology."
Dr. Nishioka, an associate professor of Children Education at Columbia Theological Seminary, worked for thirteen years as the national coordinator of the youth and young adults ministry program of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. He focuses on teaching pastors to be teachers and leaders in the church’s educational ministry, especially its youth and young adult ministries. He has written a book called Sowing the Seeds—an exploration of faith development in adolescents. You can see the video of his talk here.