Case Study Exercise

Youth Ministry—BIBL 120

Read through both Case Study situations below and choose one for this assignment. Using biblical support and your textbook information (particularly chapters 6-8 in Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry) resolve the issue.

Situation 1

After serving 3 months as the Youth Minister with a youth group of 50 to 60, one of the adult volunteers, Joe, a parent and long-term member of the church (whose brother is also on the finance committee) showed up late to a youth event with a strong smell of alcohol on his breath with slurred speech. You heard this from one of your student leaders who also informed you that this same kind of thing happened six months ago when the Youth Pastor search was taking place. A parent confronted Joe, but nothing was done about it. You heard from a neighbor that Joe was in a local rehab of some kind about 5 years ago.

Situation 2

As the Youth Minister of a growing youth group of 30, you inherited a quarterly Friday night fun event that has followed the same routine for the last 10 years. The small group of youth that currently attend are junior high students and most of the youth group have expressed that the program is “boring.” Sarah, an inherited adult volunteer, leads the program and has expressed on several occasions how important this event is to her and her team of 3 other middle-aged ladies and that she wants to “keep things going like they always have.” (She also sings in the choir, leads the young-adult Sunday School classes, and her husband is a regular, generous tither). Several of the new parents who have been attending since you came have expressed dissatisfaction with the quarterly Friday night events.

Using the wisdom from Scripture and from your textbooks, do your best (1) to diagnose the problem and then (2) list and explain the different steps you would take in dealing with this situation, particularly in dealing with (a) the volunteer and (b) any other persons involved (such as the youth group, other leaders, parents, the pastor, etc.). The assignment should be single-spaced and written in New Times Roman, 12 point font (700 word minimum).

The grading percentages are as follows (minimum words—700) in Turabian format:

• Realistic diagnosis of the problem (20%).
• Integration of biblical principles (20%)
• Integration of wisdom from the textbook, particularly from Fields, chapters 6-8 (40%).
• Presentation, cohesiveness, and grammar (20%)