Thanks so much for your comment, Polly! Would love to talk more about youth ministry, if you are ever in Connecticut let me know! I think you are exactly right in your call for a balance to be struck on most of these questions. I think you are also exactly right to say that churches should be looking for ways to engage with youth in their worship service and thereby invite them to take part in worship with the community rather than separating them out from it. I also think you are onto something about the necessity and challenge of working with a team. If you come up with any great insights on how to deal with that, please let the rest of us know! Finally, your last point is great! "Take small steps, lay out a plan of attack, don’t be afraid to fail, its not about the program you are doing, but building relationships with the people involved. Pray!" Amazing advice! Thanks for that. Peace to you and Happy Easter!

Thanks for commenting, Adam! I'm glad the article spoke to you. Youth ministry can be lonely work, but you aren't alone. I think you are spot on about the inevitability of the "medium" being updated with time. Great point made there! Of course we have to be mindful of the way changing the medium can and does change the message, but we also have to communicate the message in a way that is accessible to our society in the present world. Its an interesting balance that has to be struck. Thanks for your thoughts, look forward to hearing more!

Thanks for your comment, Sarah! Appreciate you taking time out of paper writing to read this and respond! I'm wading into researching Paul's theology of the Lord's Supper for a paper myself, understand the academic time crunch well (and its Holy Week on top of it all!). You are definitely right to point out that our answers to the "relevance" question will be, in some sense, dependent on our context. Which is part of what relevance is about! I like the idea of turning the issue around, asking youth to explain what they find meaningful about the things that interest them. Your second thought is also really interesting. I think challenging youth to engage with a practice that is "out of the ordinary" for them can be really helpful to their spiritual development. Thanks for a great example of that! And good luck on the Jeremiah paper! Look forward to hearing more of your thoughts when you get the chance/need another study break!

Thanks, Jerry! I think you are definitely right to point to the image of God and of Christ in everyone as a reason why we have to take seriously the immediate needs of the person in front of us, even when those needs conflict with making progress toward our own goals for the church or the individual. Its hard to balance those two priorities, especially when we are engaged in things we are passionate about. All we can do is keep trying to learn and to listen.