Youth Ministry As Peace Education

Youth Ministry as Peace Education offers clergy, students, and practitioners a new approach to youth ministry-to equip young people to transform violence and oppression as part of their Christian vocation. In this theologically robust and pedagogically innovative and tested resource, Elizabeth W. Corrie shows that youth, like all of us, are meant to work to establish God's shalom-peace, justice, and well-being-on earth as it is in heaven. Book jacket.

Young people can be peacebuilders--citizens who address the root causes of hatred and abuse of power to build more just and peaceful communities. Indeed, young people are already leading movements to change policy and culture--most prominently, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Climate Strikers, and the originators of the Standing Rock protests and Black Lives Matter movement. Yet churches are notably absent among those who support and mentor such leaders. Drawing on the deep wisdom of Christian tradition and practice and the latest insights in educating for peace and civic engagement, Youth Ministry as Peace Education offers clergy, students, and practitioners a new approach to youth ministry--a way to equip young people to transform violence and oppression as part of their Christian vocation. In this theologically robust and pedagogically innovative and tested resource, Elizabeth W. Corrie takes seriously the capacity of young people and shows how to integrate new tools and insights into the typical facets of congregational youth ministry: building community, learning theology, reading scripture, going on mission and service trips, engaging in worship and prayer. The final chapter suggests an additional facet of congregational youth ministry needed for young people to overcome silence and transform violence: preparing and planning for engaging the world nonviolently. Youth are not the future; they are the present. Youth are not meant to accept injustice and violence passively. Like all of us, they are meant to work actively to establish God's shalom--peace, justice, and well-being--on earth as it is in heaven.

This volume is comprised of contributions from leading scholars in education and psychology. In part one of the book the authors provide insight into the psychology of change, examining: What factors work as catalysts for change in environments, institutions and people What factors hinder change When change is deemed beneficial In the second part of this volume the authors turn their attention to the issue of peace education. They examine the types of problems that societies and scholars should identify and try to solve in hopes of building more peaceful environments. The final chapter is a biography honoring Professor Gavriel (Gabi) Salomon, a significant contributor to the vast literature on change. This book is appropriate reading for professors, students and academics who are dedicated to fostering change to benefit institutions, environments and people.

'Honorable Mention' 2017 PROSE Award - Education Practice Bringing together the voices of scholars and practitioners on challenges and possibilities of implementing peace education in diverse global sites, this book addresses key questions for students seeking to deepen their understanding of the field. The book not only highlights ground-breaking and rich qualitative studies from around the globe, but also analyses the limits and possibilities of peace education in diverse contexts of conflict and post-conflict societies. Contributing authors address how educators and learners can make meaning of international peace education efforts, how various forms of peace and violence interact in and around schools, and how the field of peace education has evolved and grown over the past four decades.

Since 1993, forty-nine theological seminaries have created opportunities for high school students to participate in on-campus High School Theology Programs (HSTPs) that invite them to engage in serious biblical and theological study. Many of the young people who take part in these programs go on to become pastoral or lay leaders in their churches. What has made these programs so successful -- especially given the well-documented "crisis of faith" among young people today? In this book thirteen contributors -- many of whom have created or led one of these innovative theology programs -- investigate answers to this question. They examine the pedagogical practices the HSTPs have in common and explore how they are contributing to the leadership of the church. They then show how the lessons gleaned from these successful programs can help churches, denominations, and seminaries reimagine both theological education and youth ministry.

Ministry with Youth in Crisis is a comprehensive treatment of major adolescent crises related to life themes including self-identity, faith formation, family life, social relationships, sexuality, suicide, substance abuse, and eating disorders. The distinctiveness of this book is that it offers a fine blend of solid research, workable theory, and specific strategies for successfully ministering to and with youth in crisis. Furthermore, it emphasizes the caring and sensitive side of working effectively with adolescents experiencing both normal and extreme crisis situations. This volume, therefore, is both descriptive and prescriptive in nature, in that it describes the world teens live in and offers biblical responses for ministry.