Thought Factory Podcast

In this episode, Geoff and Jayson discuss the podcast's future as things have begun to change at Never The Same.

In the previous episode, we discussed the causes of the decline in Youth Ministry.  In this episode, we discuss the five solutions to those causes with our returning guest, Charlie Alcock, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University.  If you have not checked out the last episode, do so before listening to this one.

Several things within the Church are causing a decline in the Youth Ministry department.  But, if the Church ignores the things going on under the surface, it could take out the entire Church in the future.  In this episode, Geoff and Jayson are joined by a special guest, Charlie Alcock, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, to discuss the causes.  They identify seven causes of why they think this is happening, that range from financial to church planting to outdated methodologies.  This is a two-part series, so check out the second episode (#1212) after this one to hear the solutions.

Sadly, the Church has hurt more people than anyone would like to admit.  But, that is because it is made up of people.  Many people have experienced some form of hurt that was associated with someone in the church or associated with the Christian faith.  This may have caused them to walk away from the Christian faith or be skeptical of leadership and the institution of the Church.  Geoff and Jayson have a practical conversation surrounding what they call "church hurt" with a Campus/Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, Miguel DeLaMora.

There are many layers to the topic of sexuality.  It ranges from what we view and keeping our thoughts pure to heterosexual attraction and desire to same-sex attraction and identity, from basic concepts of biological sex to the current cultural conversation of the fluidity of gender.  How do we have conversations with our students about sexuality?  When and how do we broach this topic, and how deeply do we discuss this before it gets weird and awkward?  One thing the Church cannot do is stick its head in the sand and hope these things will pass or settle themselves.  The Church must be willing to discuss such things.  In today's episode, Geoff and Jayson invite Clare DeGraaf, who is an author, teacher, and spiritual mentor, to the show to have the deeper conversations that the Church should be having in regard to sexuality.

Resource links from the episode:

Claredegraaf.com

centerforfaith.com

An Introduction to the LGBTQ Conversation

One of the areas of society that was affected the hardest during the pandemic was schools, teachers, and students.  The level of change they had to navigate was high just to keep things functioning.  Now, as many things are "back to normal," what effect has the pandemic had on the entire system and the most vulnerable, the students?  In today's episode, Geoff and Jayson discuss the changes inside schools post-pandemic with a public school teacher, Jeff Henderson.

Are young people leaving the church in droves? Are we losing the next generation when they graduate from our Youth Ministry because it's only about having fun and eating pizza?  What we have believed for so many decades about the high dropout rate of students from the Church and about them leaving the Christian faith altogether after they graduate is false. Yes, false. It is significantly better than we have thought for so long.  In today's episode, Geoff and Jayson have a conversation with Liberty University professor Derik Idol, who has done extensive research on this topic and his findings are eye-opening.

Derik's research, An Assessment of Dropout Rates of Former Student Ministry Participants, can be found here: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3428/

For those who have been in Youth Ministry before Covid, we know things have changed since the pandemic.  We live in a different world now.  Youth Ministry is different.  Being Youth Pastors before stepping into the non-profit world, Jayson Brewer and Kyle Wood recently reentered the local church Youth Ministry together after being away for many years.  In this episode, they recount some of the things they were very surprised by and discuss some differences between a pre-Covid to a post-Covid world in Youth Ministry.  

There is an overload of messages coming to students about who they should be, what they should think and believe, and what they should value in this world.  The majority of those messages go against the truth found in the Bible.  When we have competing worldviews, how do we get students to decipher the true messages of God?  In today's episode, Geoff and Jayson, along with guest host Becca Ebenhoch, discuss what students believe about the Bible and how that impacts our ministries with students.

neverthesame.org

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What do students know about sex?  Probably more than we care to believe or admit.  The topic of sexuality is no longer just an adult topic but is influencing students of all ages.  Want to know what students think about the number of genders?  In today’s episode, we hear from students directly about what they believe regarding sexuality and share thoughts about where the Church can step up.

Resource mentioned in this episode:

The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender