YTC Press is a publishing house dedicated to books on youth, theology & culture.
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Print: $14.27 Download: $10.37 The 19th-century was a crucial time for the development of youth ministry. The East End of London was a hothouse for radical thinking and pioneering practice. This book traces the history of youth ministry during this period to the middle of the 20th-century. It focusses on the Canning Town area and the Docklands Settlement Movement in particular as a case study
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Print: $14.27 In recent years, labyrinths have been rediscovered as a powerful spiritual tool. In 1998-99, alt-worship groups came together to work on an event to mark the Millennium. The result was a contemporary version of a cathedral labyrinth, combining ancient Christian tradition with contemporary music, meditations, art, media and activities at intervals along the path. In the years that followed, this Labyrinth had a profound impact on thousands of users as it was installed around the world.
In this book, Jonny Baker outlines the ideas and history behind the Labyrinth experience within the context of a well developed theology of labyrinth as a spiritual tool. But rather than explaining these themes in a rational and didactic way, the language used is full of imagination, artistic endeavour, images, symbols and metaphors that are evocative of the Holy.
Baker both challenges and inspires us to find a new - yet ancient - way to connect the Gospel with the spiritual seeker.
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Print: $20.73 Much has been written in recent years about the relationship between young people and the influence of film on their developing worldview. However, precious little empirical research has been undertaken in this area. In this book, Jack Gabig presents his detailed and exhaustive research that will inform, inspire and challenge all who work with young people as well as those who are involved in the research of cultural studies.
Dr Gabig presents an ethnographic study of young people in a particular US parish. Welding his findings with wider research into the genre of film, he explores how notions of identity and community are influenced, even forged, through interaction with the media of film. He details the manner in which language and behavior are shaped in friendship groups. Crucially, Dr Gabig shows how young Christians use film to find meaning and expression to their own faith and that of others.
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Print: $14.27 The professional socialisation of graduating youth workers is a crucial issue to consider. The transition from education to full-time employment is a difficult enough process. The difficulties are magnified for youth workers because they are immediately expected to manage teams effectively, interact with government and religious agencies, represent the needs of young people in their locality, keep abreast of new legislation, put together funding bids - and so much more. All this as well as minister to the needs of the young people they serve!
In this book, Joanne Griffiths considers the issues around becoming a professional youth worker. Drawing on case study research, she examines the fears of graduating youth workers alongside the comments of those who have recently graduated.
Griffiths draws conclusions that have profound impact for the self-understanding of youth workers. This is also a crucial piece of research for all those who train youth workers and for those employing graduates.
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Print: $15.87 Many churches of all denominations are exploring ways to create meaningful worship experiences that will address the spiritual needs of young people. Fresh Expressions, blended worship experiences and “youth churches” are all examples of these. Passionate Worship - Hearing the voices of young people contributes to these efforts by asking the young people how they would best express their worship to God. What is helpful and what hinders their worship? The sometimes surprising answers provide a way for young people to enter into the process of helping the church to dialogue with their culture to create worship that is pleasing to God.
This is a book that pastors, youth workers, worship leaders, and educators – all who desire to empower young people to worship – will find helpful.
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Print: $15.87 This is a book about the growing marginalisation of young people from the world of adults and adulthood. Written from the perspective of an experienced youth worker, the book examines the reasons for that marginalisation, looks at the contributing factors, and proposes some strategies that might help young people feel needed in a world that currently abandons them.
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Print: $14.27 Youth ministers need to find ways to connect with young people who may already have a significant level of personal spiritual experience. Unlocking this spirituality – allowing it freedom to be recognised – is the ministerial heart of those who have collaborated to write this book.
If our church communities wait for young people to come, they might continue to wait. However, if we reach out, accepting both their journey and their spirituality and be prepared to share our own, there may be a response.
This book speaks in practical ways about ministry to young people. It identifies and analyses the challenges faced by so many youth workers. It provides practical examples of how others are facing these same challenges in a positive way.
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Print: $14.27 The Christian Manifesto? is a collection of spiritual experiments, pop culture commentaries, church critiques and personal confessions. It is written as a call for the mass sacrifice of the sacred cows mooing around within our faith. It is written as a challenge for Christians to step up, sell out, fix their eyes, be filled and build the Kingdom of God as bold and loving followers of Jesus Christ.
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Print: $14.27 This study explores Christian ministry amongst young people in deprived inner-city communities. It begins by uncovering some of the current practices of the Eden projects operating within Greater Manchester and compares these to other forms of youth ministry in similar urban contexts. By locating some of the discernible patterns and practices of such urban youth ministry within the body of theological thinking collectively referred to as ‘Urban Theology’, the study consequently offers both a practical and theological base from which those ministering amongst young people in deprived urban areas can both refer to and build upon in relation to their own contexts.
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Print: $15.87 Trinitarian Ecclesiology is often neglected in the West. An understanding of the triune nature of God is crucial if the Church is to engage with its new context of spiritual tourism. This book explores a phenomenological understanding of the Trinity and the implications for building community in our overly consumptive and individualistic culture. Once we understand the Trinity as an event and as the inspiration for a higher expression of human relationships, then we are challenged to live this way as 'human-becomings'. Christians then have a constructive basis for a positive engagement with our world drawing on a deep understanding of the Christian God.
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Print: $14.27 Are children little angels or little devils, or are they like their parents a little of each? Must children go through conversion or can they grow up always knowing themselves as Christian? How do theological ideas about human nature, sin and salvation affect how parents treat children? Starting with Horace Bushnell's classic, 'Christian Nurture', Harding brings the discussion up to date with insights from contemporary psychoanalytic thought and Family Systems Theory. Included are practical suggestions for parents and parishes.
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Print: $14.27 Guiding others through the process of bereavement is one of the most difficult aspects of pastoral care. How much more so is this the case for those who work with teenagers who are grieving.
Tom Morris has developed an extraordinary ministry through his US-based organization, 'Grieving Teens'. The wisdom of a life devoted to this area of ministry is distilled into this book. Morris offers an intensely practical guide to helping young people grow through grief.
This book is a 'must' for every pastor and youth worker.
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Print: $14.27 If you were to take photographs of what is significant to you, where would you point your camera? Over seventy young people in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia were asked to do just that.
This book is the first of its kind to listen to the voices of young people in former Soviet countries describe their hopes and fears, their ideas about God and their search for meaning.
In a changing society where the rules of life are constantly shifting, good jobs are scarce and the older generation has little wisdom to offer, the young people speak about how they make sense of their lives. They offer us a window into their personal views about how to find truth, what is significant in life, their value system and worldview, what they think about church and traditional religion.
This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in the intersection between culture and the search for meaning and spirituality among young people. Visualising Hope bridges the gap between church and youth culture.
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Print: $20.65 Dr Sally Nash develops a theology for urban youth work. She does this by combining a brilliant analysis of incarnational youth ministry theory - most especially kenosis - and example from the life and ministry of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She also grounds her work in the organisational ministry of Youth for Christ
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Print: $14.26 ‘Incarnational ministry’ is in vogue. Youth workers are encouraged to ‘hang out’ with youth. However, this has become little more than an excuse for theological laziness! The truth is that Jesus did not ‘hang out’ with people. His ministry was spent wandering the countryside, towns and cities of Israel, never staying in one place long enough to build relationships with those he met. Jesus had a ‘hit and run’ ministry. The contention of Dr Steve Griffiths is that the popular model of Incarnational Ministry does not mirror the ministry of Jesus. Christology needs to be re-framed for 21st-century youth ministry. He suggests a creative re-framing based on key events in Jesus’ life: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and second coming. This approach liberates youth workers to become more effective in their ministry. Developing a notion of Jesus’ ministry operating in kairos-time rather than chronos-time, he explains how every encounter can be packed with a taste of eternity.
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Print: $14.27 Approximately one in six churches employ a youth worker. Despite falling attendance amongst young people, the growing number of full-time church-based youth workers suggests increased commitment to youth ministry.
Peat explores the issues around preparing graduates for youth ministry. She analyses and evaluates the extent to which graduates are prepared and the impact this has upon the young people and churches concerned. This research enables all colleges and seminaries to reflect on their own programs and thereby better equip those entering youth ministry.
The hypothesis is that many graduates are insufficiently prepared or not suited for such positions. This has resulted in the youth worker experiencing failure and, the church, disappointment. The research outcome provides improved insight for seminaries in relation to the effectiveness of academic study, practical mission and placement experience, community life and tutorial contact in preparing graduates for youth ministry.
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Print: $20.65 For some, the very word ‘theology’ arouses suspicions. In this book, Thomson challenges that suspicion. All involved in the fields of youth work and youth ministry need to turn their theological assumptions into decisions, and that requires thought. Young people often face issues and ask questions that have theological dimensions. Youth practitioners should be able to spot these theological dimensions and develop ways of bringing them into the open.
This book helps us support young Christians in exploring their own faith. Thomson develops his argument with clarity, drawing on Scripture, early Church theological debate and more recent historical discussions. All this is grounded in practice. Crucially, Thomson elucidates the difference between youth ministry and youth work from a theological perspective.
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Print: $14.27 The UK Church is in decline; falling attendances and weakening influence. However, signs of hope are appearing, particularly through Fresh Expressions.
Here, Dr Williams explores the establishment of a sustainable Fresh Expressions Movement; how it can mature, relate to the consumerist agenda, develop leadership and, crucially, engage with the poor.
Williams examines one UK Diocese and paints a picture of an exciting movement that takes 'God's bias to the poor' very seriously. From interviews with leaders of urban Fresh Expressions, she gives an overwhelming impression of committed people taking incarnation seriously, immersing themselves in the local context, and committed to staying for considerable periods of time.
Williams does not flinch from asking difficult questions. What do some Fresh Expressions flounder? How should Fresh Expressions relate to the wider church? How can leaders make themselves accountable? What support structures should Dioceses put in place for Fresh Expressions?
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