Rent Mentorship and Marketplace: A New Direction for Youth Ministry

Synopsis

"As time went on, I increasingly found myself longing for a new youth ministry experiment, one that was truly different. I felt a growing sense that if I wasn't willing to risk failure by piloting something new for the sake of Christ, then I needed to hang it up," writes veteran youth worker Matt Overton. Part memoir, part ministry how-to, and part call to innovative action, Mentorship and Marketplace chronicles Matt's journey into youth ministry as social enterprise. That first foray into a new way of doing things—via a landscaping company that employs teenagers—has since evolved into The Columbia Future Forge, a nonprofit that includes a full-scale mentoring program. The Forge does something youth ministries, though well-intentioned, often don't: meet the practical, day-to-day needs of teens, just as much as their spiritual ones. The bonus is that the social enterprise model is financially sustainable, in a time when church-sourced youth ministry funds are drying up.Not all youth workers will be ready to dive into social enterprise, but all readers can learn from the lessons Matt imparts through stories of his own experiments, successes, and bumps along the way, and will find encouragement to explore new possibilities—all in the faith that following God's call will transform the lives of the teens in their communities.

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