Customer Reviews

Help! I'm a Volunteer Youth Worker

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great book with easy, practical advice for your volunteers. Helps give them a sense of ownership and empowers them to choose something they are comfortable with and run with it.

We gave it to all of our volunteers last year for Christmas and I received many positive responses about it. It was great to see them put the stuff into practice. We also used it during our monthly volunteer staff meetings to spark ideas and discussion. Invest in your volunteers and get them this book...it'll pay off a hundred fold.

Perfect book to hand out to your youth ministry volunteers, and to go over and discuss. It's a small book, with one bit advice per page. It's not long on words - this thing is not a book about youth ministry, or how to do youth ministry. It's a short, quickie book of reminders to adults of how to interact and be in relationship with young people. So don't get this if you are looking for a how-to book, but definitely get it for something to give to the team, and also for yourself to look over from time to time and be reminded of some relational things you might have forgotten about, etc.

It's also usable in pretty much every church - whether conservative or liberal, evaneglical, charismatic, or mainline, since it isn't about teaching doctrine, but about how to be with young poeple (and not go insane, and not drive them insane).

I am quite impressed with it, and certainly think that all youth ministers and youth ministry volunteers should have a copy. Very helpful.

What an amazing book! I read this book on my lunch break at work. If you are just getting started in youth ministry, this is a good introduction. It is a brief overview of what youth ministry involves. Mr. Fields also provides good insight for the most experienced youth workers. All too often, youth workers are over worked and under appreciated. This book reminds you of why you do what you do in youth ministry.

While I highly recommend this book, I will add that it is not filled with in depth information. It is just an overview, a spark to re-ignite the flame in youth workers.

HELP! I'M A VOLUNTEER YOUTH WORKER! by Doug Fields is the book that started the complete HELP! line of youth worker books put out by Youth Specialties. The book serves as a great "jumper cable" to your ministry work. Fields goes through fifty different little ways to help you in ministry to jr. high and high school students. There are a few personal stories littered throughout, helping to drive home the points. Quite a handful of graphics are included - filling up a LOT of space in this 96-page book. The graphics look incredibly cheesy, and probably should have been replaced by more text. A lot of the material here is repeated in quite a few other books on high school ministry, but this is a great resource to have on the shelf - or to take along in the car to a retreat.

Give this out to all my youth volunteers and they really enjoy it. Easy to read, but full of great information

This little book is insightful, valuable and practical. It's a quick read, and filled with useful suggestions born of Doug Fields' "in the trenches" experience. Whether you are a youth ministry veteran or newcomer, leader or volunteer, you will find something you can apply and make a difference in your group!
Leslie, a youth leader from Alabama

Doug provides 52 great ideas for serving as a volunteer youth worker. The ideas range from the obvious to the amazingly practical (probably depending on how long you've already worked with teens!). It helps that this book can be read in one night (really!) and can be applied in small church contexts of almost any sort.

The weakness of this book is that it doesn't have much to over beyond the ideas themselves. There are no case studies to illustrate the suggestions made, leaving the reader to figure it out on their own. In the end, Doug passes on a great starter resource worthy of reading, but should not be compared with his more recent and more helpful books.

This book is very short and to the point (can be fully read while you wait for the pizza man to get to your house.) If you have any prior ministry experience, or doing things with various organizations, you probably don't need this book... though it might be good for refreshing yourself on a couple things. In general, some practical advice.