“The Joy of Untamed Friendship:  Rescuing Youth Ministry from The Little Prince”

Youth ministers have long placed the practice of friendship at the center of youth ministry. But what makes our relationships with young people in church any different from their relationships anywhere else? In this session, Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean and Mr. Wesley Ellis dive headlong into the practice of holy friendship with teenagers, and whether being “tamed” by another is what Jesus had in mind. Is joy the end goal of friendship in youth ministry? Are church relationships “special”? Is this dangerous territory—or precisely the terrain we are on?