"Will
Our Children Have Faith?"
A generation ago, Christian educator John Westerhoff posed this
provocative question. Today, his question is more pressing than
ever. Increasingly, churches are recognizing the need to communicate
creatively to younger generations the essentials of the faith
and the forms of Christian life. At the same time, churches
in the 21st century are called to nurture the gifts and calls
of younger Christians and raise up religious leaders from these
generations.
Recent
research suggests that many younger Christians are identifying
their call as ministry with youth and young adults in varied
settings: in college chaplaincies; in restorative justice programs
working with juvenile offenders, youth-at-risk, or homeless
youth; in schools; in the international mission field; and in
church-based religious education, camping, and outdoor ministries.
The
Youth and Young Adult Ministry Studies program works to combine
the best efforts of the nine BTI Schools in fostering different
aspects of youth studies for the 21st century.
The
BTI certificate in Youth and Young Adult Ministry Studies is
designed to prepare gifted and committed leaders to face the
complex challenges and opportunities of church and society in
the 21st century. As a supplement to a degree program within
a BTI school or as a continuing education program, the certificate
encourages students to draw upon the rich resources and ecumenical
diversity of the member schools, and the greater Boston and
New England contexts. The certificate enables BTI students and
local congregations to minister more effectively, with a grounding
in the classical theological disciplines and a deeper understanding
of the theory and practice of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
through the interdisciplinary field of practical theology.
