I’ve only read two paragraphs of this book by Andrew Root: Revisiting Relational Youth ministry, but they were worthy of inclusion because of it’s relevancy today:

Relational ministry has too often been seen as an ought…Incarnational youth ministry can induce a vicious cycle of guilt, I should be spending time with kids…the burden becomes too heavy to bear because it is never over; adolescents always seem to need more relational bonds, and once one group graduates there is a a new group of students…It may be that relational ministry has become a burdensome “ought” because it has become a tool for ministry rather than the ministry itself…In other words, relational ministry is something that youth workers do rather than something that youth workers are…relational ministry should not be practiced as an ought but from the core of ourself…

Amen anyone?