Why Youth Ministry Needs to Innovate And What That Actually Means with Chris Curtis

🎙️ S4 E8 — Why Youth Ministry Needs to Innovate And What That Actually Means with Chris Curtis

Episode Description

In this episode, Graham Stanton — Director of Youth Ministry Futures and the Ridley Centre for Children's and Youth Ministry — sits down with Chris Curtis, CEO of Youthscape from Luton in the UK, fresh off the week-long YMF residential with 50 youth ministry leaders from across Australia. Their conversation picks up where the residential left off, exploring one of the most important — and sometimes misunderstood — words in ministry today: innovation. Chris unpacks his definition of innovation as: “The Spirit-led reimagining of mission and ministry in changing contexts, while remaining rooted in the unchanging person of Jesus Christ." They dig into the history of the word (spoiler: it started in the church — and it wasn't a compliment), the four levels at which innovation happens in youth ministry — structures, methods, language and tools — and what "creative destruction" really means for those of us who love the programs and traditions through which we came to faith. Chris also shares his observations on Australian youth ministry from the outside, why youth ministry is the R&D department of the church, and what a sixth-century Irish monk named Brendan might have to teach us about leaving the familiar for the unknown. A rich, wide-ranging, and genuinely energising conversation for anyone in or around youth and children's ministry.

Youth Ministry Futures
The youth ministry futures project has a vision to grow the number of long-term youth ministry leaders with the theological and practical wisdom to meet the challenges of sharing Jesus with young people in a complex world.
We dream of a fellowship of people, committed to praying, promoting, and providing for local church youth ministries, to shift youth ministry from a part-time side hustle into a viable, long-term ministry calling, and see a reinvigorated system of healthy youth ministry in churches across Australia. Learn more: https://ymfutures.com.au/

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