The Rev. Matthew McNelly, far right, on the water with teens and a summer intern with GoFish!
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
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.
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 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
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
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
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.
Bigstock / Mavo Images
A mother hosted a party for her son when he turned 18, inviting influential men in his life to help him learn what it means to be a good man -- and a good human. The church must also help young people understand their gifts, challenges and Christian identity.
bigstock / Nadezhda1906
The founder of an after-school program learns about the power and beauty of gentleness and what it might bring to the lives of children who are struggling.
Bigstock/Denis Vostrikov
The theologian talks about his new book, a collection of letters about virtues and character that he wrote annually to his godson Laurence Bailey Wells, the son of his friends Samuel and Jo Bailey Wells.
In a 2002 letter on the occasion of his godson’s baptism, the theologian wishes the boy, not an untroubled life, but a happy life, one in which he grows ever more confident in the faith.