Youth & Children

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During the school year, Memphis Athletic Ministries hosts basketball leagues for teams that include participants in MAM programs as well as school, church and recreational teams from across the city. Photos courtesy of Memphis Athletic Ministries

Youth & Children, Education, K-12

Memphis Athletic Ministries for youth isn't just recreational and educational. It's incarnational.

The real aim of MAM isn’t to teach basketball to the 700 kids who show up every day. It is to build community and strengthen families by demonstrating God’s love.

iStock / fotosipsak

Technology, Social media, Youth & Children

Heather High-Kennedy: Teaching the young to #carewithouttheshare

We teach our children that kindness matters, but in the new world of social media, they are becoming oblivious to the joy of doing good works in secret, writes a director of Christian education.

Jonathan Harris, executive director of life skills education at The House DC after-school program, speaks to teens in an afternoon teaching session. Photos by Mike Morones

Youth & Children, Education, K-12, Innovation

The House DC offers hot meals, a safe space and a sense of community to at-risk teens

A Christian after-school program in one of the District of Columbia’s most challenging neighborhoods gives students a sense of hope.

"God is Love" is a ministry of The Robloxian Christians church, which exists online.

Congregations, New forms of church, Youth & Children, Youth ministry

Daniel Herron: Lessons from The Robloxian Christians online church

Does a virtual church for children and teens have any lessons for “real-world” churches? Yes, says the founding pastor of The Robloxian Christians.

The Rev. Matthew McNelly, far right, on the water with teens and a summer intern with GoFish!

Innovation, Social innovation, Youth & Children, Youth ministry

A youth fishing ministry combines Christian practices with social enterprise

GoFish! Ministries takes kids out on Washington’s Snake River to share life together and earn money through a state program that pays anglers to catch an aggressive species of fish.

Bigstock / Siam Pukato

Youth & Children, Youth ministry, Health & Well-being, Spiritual health

Alaina Kleinbeck: Hope takes hard work

Why do we expect young people to be naturally hopeful? Looking honestly at a broken world and resolving to live in hope anyway requires experience, writes the director of the Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

Youth march in the street holding banner reading "Peace Starts Here"

Chicago high school students from The Faith Community of St. Sabina's B.R.A.V.E. program (Bold Resistance Against Violence Everywhere) along with other high school from the neighborhood around St. Sabina attend anti-gun violence rally and march on the South Side. Photo by Anne Ryan

Youth & Children, Youth ministry, Reconciliation

B.R.A.V.E. Youth Leaders chart a strategy to combat violence and promote peace

Youth on Chicago’s South Side are taking anti-violence work into their own hands. Rallies and protests are just part of a campaign that also includes advocacy and policy change.

The SHINE conference offers a chance for young Latinas in Texas to gather and learn. Photo courtesy of Brenda Rincones

Youth & Children, Youth ministry

Brenda Rincones: Reaching out to a new generation of young Latina leaders

When the Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas reached out to young women, they were overwhelmed by the response. Hundreds of young Latinas gathered at the SHINE conference to talk about everything from suicide to teen pregnancy.

Image courtesy of New City Kids

Innovation, Social innovation, Youth & Children

The nine ingredients of New City Kids 'secret sauce'

The organization’s co-founder, Trevor Rubingh, identifies nine elements of the New City Kids after-school model that contribute to its effectiveness.

A middle-school student plays the drums during a New City Kids benefit concert. Photos courtesy of New City Kids

Innovation, Social innovation, Missions & Evangelism, Youth & Children

Measurement, documentation, reflection and adjustment are hallmarks of an after-school program

A Christian program called New City Kids uses tutoring, music, leadership training and spiritual formation to help children in three cities transform their lives. It has been remarkably successful: 100 percent of its graduating seniors have gone to college.

A learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity