Youth Ministries

Course Overview

In this course we will strive to explore the worlds of adolescence in contemporary settings with a spirit of curiosity that refuses to allow young people to be collapsed into stereotypes, marketing groups, or our own experiences of being a teenager.  In addition to the questions you bring to the class, we will be working together to answer the following questions: How can we describe something of what adolescence looks like in contemporary settings, with adequate complexity and without collapsing difference?  How do we help young people discern their vocations and how might they be nurtured educationally within intergenerational faith communities?  What are forces in contemporary society that inhibit the responses of young people to their sense of religious calling and faithfulness?  How can churches and other educational settings provide a space of resistance to these forces rather than a replication of them? What does good youth ministry look like at this moment in history?

 Course Objectives

Students completing the learning activities of this course can expect to:

1. Identify assumptions about adolescents and youth cultures that shape the response of institutions in which young people participate.
2. Develop skills for conversing with youth about issues and ideas important to them and practices for opening safe teaching/learning space for young people.
3. Develop skills of observation for discerning social, economic, and cultural patterns that enhance and/or inhibit youth quests for religious meaning and faithful or meaningful living.
4. Begin to develop a familiarity with and explore strengths and weaknesses in theoretical discussions of youth ministry.
5. Develop and articulate a framework for leadership and teaching practices in ministry with young people in the context of their own vocational trajectory.

Course Overview

In this course we will strive to explore the worlds of adolescence in contemporary settings with a spirit of curiosity that refuses to allow young people to be collapsed into stereotypes, marketing groups, or our own experiences of being a teenager.  In addition to the questions you bring to the class, we will be working together to answer the following questions: How can we describe something of what adolescence looks like in contemporary settings, with adequate complexity and without collapsing difference?  How do we help young people discern their vocations and how might they be nurtured educationally within intergenerational faith communities?  What are forces in contemporary society that inhibit the responses of young people to their sense of religious calling and faithfulness?  How can churches and other educational settings provide a space of resistance to these forces rather than a replication of them? What does good youth ministry look like at this moment in history?

 Course Objectives

Students completing the learning activities of this course can expect to:

1. Identify assumptions about adolescents and youth cultures that shape the response of institutions in which young people participate.
2. Develop skills for conversing with youth about issues and ideas important to them and practices for opening safe teaching/learning space for young people.
3. Develop skills of observation for discerning social, economic, and cultural patterns that enhance and/or inhibit youth quests for religious meaning and faithful or meaningful living.
4. Begin to develop a familiarity with and explore strengths and weaknesses in theoretical discussions of youth ministry.
5. Develop and articulate a framework for leadership and teaching practices in ministry with young people in the context of their own vocational trajectory.

Everyone will read 5 books for this class.  Two are common, and three are choices from lists of books clustered around a common theme.  When we are reading different texts, we will be sharing insights with one another so together we can all hear about a range of approaches to youth ministry (while becoming experts in the couple we have chosen).

Common Readings (Required for all students):

Michael J. Nakkula and Eric Toshalis. Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators. Harvard Education Press, 2013.

Nancy Lesko. Act Your Age! A Cultural Construction of Adolescence. 2nd edition. Routledge, 2012.

Students choose one of three:

Julie Bettie. Women Without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity. University of California, 2003.

C. J. Pascoe.  Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. University of California (reprint edition), 2011.

Mary Robertson. Growing Up Queer. New York: NYU Press, 2018.

Students will also choose two additional youth ministry texts they will use for presentations later in the quarter. To see the list of books from which to choose and some brief descriptions of their content, go here.

I will be asking you to engage two films throughout this course:

The Education of Shelby Knox. Directed by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt. Studio: Docurama. 2006. A PBS POV film, which you may be able to see through your local PBS station online (depends on the region). Available to rent for $4.99 from https://www.reelhouse.org/incite/the-education-of-shelby-knox, or we have a copy in the Iliff Library (and maybe through your local library). 

and 

Soul Searching: A Movie about Teenagers and God. Directed by Michael Easton. Starring Christian Smith. Studio CreateSpace. 2006. Available to rent from Amazon.com  for $1.99. I also willing to share my copy for local folks.

I just wanted to give you a heads up so you can decide how you want to acquire the films.  

Evaluation

Your final grade in this course will be on the basis of the following major elements of the course:

1. Adolescent Autobiography: An autobiographical essay or media presentation exploring significant religious/life meaning questions and issues from your adolescence and ways parents, church leaders, school teachers, and other significant adults or peers in your life responded to them. (10% of grade, due September 21)
2. Interview Assignment: A summary of the significant religious/life meaning questions and issues important to an adolescent you have recruited and interviewed in conversation with the readings from the first part of the course. No grade for this assignment will be awarded without upload of a signed consent form from interview participant and parent! (5-7 pages, 25% of grade, due October 17 )
3. Approach to Youth Ministry Presentations: Two presentations of the key elements of an approach to youth ministry based on a text from the book choices list and presented to several of your colleagues  (25% of grade, due Nov. 5 & 12)
4. Final Projects: An integrative final assignment in one of several genres: Philosophy of Youth Ministry Statement, Analysis of a Youth Program, Vocational Credo, Ideal Program Design, or Curricular Unit. This should draw on the materials of the course from across the quarter, and demonstrate significant constructive insight and critical thinking about the practice of youth ministry in a contemporary context (4-5 pages, 20% of grade, due Nov 19)
5. Class participation: This grade will be based upon your promptness and consistency of significant posting to weekly discussions and activities; completion of course readings; your contributions to collaborative learning through peer review and response to the input of your colleagues; timeliness of uploading assignments;  degree of progress over the semester; and evident effort (20% of grade throughout quarter). Grade for this portion will include self-evaluation of your own participation as well as instructor analysis of your ongoing participation in class discussions and activities.

Degree Learning Goals Served by this Course

Theology and Religious Practices (PR):  engage, construct, and apply theological and interdisciplinary analyses in relation to contemporary religious traditions, practices, and institutions in order to assess, design, and perform transformative leadership and meaningful communal practices with sensitivity to contextual realities and theoretical constructions.

MAPSC adds:  Demonstrate a complex interdisciplinary understanding of the human person in social context, develop and demonstrate an intercultural approach to pastoral and spiritual care, and demonstrate personal and professional competencies needed by effective caregivers.

MDiv adds: Demonstrate a complex interdisciplinary understanding of the breadth of theological disciplines as well as the depth within those disciplines.  Develop and embody a comprehensive range of ministerial responsibilities, skills, and capacities – intellectual and affective, individual and corporate, ecclesial and public – that inform and support a life of religious leadership.