Strategic Approaches to Children’s and Youth Ministry
Overview
This subject explores the biblical and theological dimensions of strategic approaches to children’s and youth ministry through a specialised study of history and contemporary literature. The subject equips students to construct evidence-based strategic approaches to effective children’s and youth ministry in complex contexts.
Please visit the timetable by clicking here for current information on subject availability.
Subject Details
| Mode |
On-campus |
| Workload |
Intensive, 12 credit points |
| Status |
Level 9 |
Subject Code
|
DE038 |
| Prerequisites |
DE011 or DE031 or substantial experience in Christian ministry leadership among children and/or young people; 12 credit points of Theology at levels 7 or 8 |
| Teachers |
Graham Stanton |
Content
- Patterns of inter-generational faith transmission in Scripture
- Historical origins of age-segregated ministries in the church
- Strategic tensions in children’s and youth ministries such as education and spirituality; evangelism and nurture; adult-led and child-led; home and church
- Theological examination of contemporary models of children’s and youth ministry
- Innovations in ministry, mission and leading in complex contexts
Study expectations
In this subject, you can expect to be supported as you reflect on how to design approaches to ministry among children and young people that are both faithful to Scripture and effective in meeting the needs of your context. You will be provided with pre-reading to prepare for five days of intensive classes during which you will present a seminar paper as a first draft for one of the required assessment tasks. The major assessment task gives you the opportunity to explore current literature on strategies for children’s and youth ministry and apply them to your own ministry. This subject is taught at level 9 as part of Ridley’s Master of Theological Studies and Doctor of Ministry courses. Students are expected to demonstrate a capacity for independent research-driven perspectives on children’s and youth ministry. In addition to the time spent in intensive classes, students should allow 8-10 hours of study time per week for this advanced subject.
