2013 Princeton Forums on Youth Ministry

This week the Princeton Forums on Youth Ministry are happening here at Princeton Theological Seminary. I've been looking forward to this for a while now, and I'm excited that it's finally happening. In the past, the only Youth Ministry "forum"-type experiences I've had have been in the context of big conferences and evangelical retreats (I'm thinking of Youth Specialties, especially). I've always loved those kinds of events and some have done a better job than others at hitting the tough theological questions of the discipline of Youth Ministry (the theological forums at Youth Specialties were pretty fun), but the broad attempts at asking those questions have always been conditioned by a sort of preference for the practical (and for the conservative) that often has the effect of limiting where the conversation is allowed to go.

I'm looking forward to some good conversations here that take the practical seriously without forgetting to prioritize Youth Ministry (and ministry in general) as a theological task necessitating theological reflection. In case you're wondering, the list of speakers and leaders is my reason for anticipating that the conversations will take this kind of shape (not to mention that Kenda Dean has something to do with this event... even though she's not here...). Folks like Andrew Root, Beverly Gaventa, Mark DeVries, Robert Dykstra, Elizabeth Drescher, and Nate Stucky are sure to make the event worth while.

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