All Christians

[This article is part of a youth ministry series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

While alcohol is traditionally seen as a substance that is not always associated with illicit substances, the impact that it can have on individuals of any age can be long-lasting and more fatal at times than drugs, yet is more normalized and therefore more risky with teenagers. While most areas have a specific age when alcohol is allowed for drinking, underage drinking is still a concern. To help educate youth pastors and community members to develop awareness, we want to share 10 facts to know about teens and alcohol.

Anxiety, depression, or any other mental illness is not a death sentence or time to be stuck in fear, but an opportunity for you to grow and explore. In fact, we don’t want you to discover a new normal, but to thrive into a new you where you find strengths with God and His gifts to you. Let God refine you and come out stronger because of Him.

What does mental and emotional health look like in the midst of chaos? Is it possible to continue to thrive? If you want to take a look at Grace Alliance’s Thrive workbook and how you can talk about the science and faith interconnection in a Christian mental health group, check it out here.

There are times where we have a whole series of articles around a single topic that tying them into one central article to reference them all is necessary. Kind of like a table of contents for the series. We have specifically wanted to help support youth pastors in collaborating with counseling topics and agencies, so here is your one-stop shop with all of the resources we have talked about with youth ministry.

Sleep is one of the most important things someone can do for their health, but in first-world nations, we are struggling with it. So much so that many mental health professionals believe that billions of dollars are lost every month because of poor sleep that leads to domestic and parental conflict, poor work and education performance, sleep, mental health, and substance use disorders, and poor moral, legal, and spiritual choices. So this video by TED gives 6 tips for better sleep.

First off, I want to say that I love Joni Eareckson Tada, and so with this video, I want to say a short prayer for her. This pandemic has been hard on everyone and so for someone to struggle with depression during this time is understandable. And if you are in a place where you need to reach out, do so. Take care of yourself and find peace and strength in Christ.

For those that have attended the 2020 Church Mental Health Summit and would like to access to all of the resources and statistics I discuss in this presentation, you can access it here. Use them for your sermons, to educate your volunteers, staff, and parents, or utilize them to start up an mental health inclusion ministry. (If you missed it, you can go catch the All-Access Pass here.)

Right now is a whole list of uncertainties all around the world. Here in the United States, it has been COVID-19 shutdowns, protests with violence, what will learning look like for students, will I get lose my job or find one to replace what I lost, and now what will happen with the election of the president. Dealing with uncertainty has many layers to it that I want to open up and identify with regards to how we as Christians can healthily and unhealthily approach it.

We love our friends over at Grace Alliance and so when they put out a video that talks about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy’s negative thoughts and how it relates to to spirituality with God, we knew we had to share it. Go check out a great talk by Joe Padilla on how these two things integrate and how pastors and therapists can work with the whole person and not just something spiritual or cognitive/emotional.

Recently I attended a two-day training for mental health and substance use providers who are partnering with Child Protective Services to better serve adults and youth who are involved in courts due to abuse or neglect. In that time, a video jumped out as not only inspiring and joy-filling but hits at a core tenet that God commands to Christian families, that fathers be involved in their children’s lives.

At the beginning of the year, we were excited to talk to you about three different conferences we would be at, one of them we announced, and the other two that were canceled before any material was published. The pandemic has really changed the landscape of a lot of things, including the conference scene.