Ministry with Youth on the Margins

Helping Every Teen Feel Welcome, Seen, and Valued The greatest opportunity for the gospel may be for the church to reach one of the largest unreached groups in the US and the world: teens with trauma and disability.This resource equips ministry students, youth pastors, and denominational leaders to● build a theological framework paired with field-tested, practical guidance for reaching students affected by trauma, disability, and mental health challenges;● create trauma-informed, accessible, inclusive programming for local church youth ministries;● navigate foster care legal issues, challenging behaviors, and referrals to professional counselors and caseworkers; and● cover foundational topics in youth ministry, disability concerns, and program design in classroom, congregation, and denominational settings.While awareness of disability and mental health has grown in recent decades, the church has fallen behind the culture in engaging specific at-risk individuals. Churches and youth ministries often unintentionally marginalize teens with trauma, disabilities, and mental health challenges, but young people deserve better: a church that is wider and willing to go to the margins to be welcoming and accessible.Mike Severe and Laura Widstrom offer a theological framework and practical guidance for serving students on the margins, including those affected by significant life challenges such as foster care, chronic health issues, a death in the family, or divorce. Drawing on research and their personal experience in youth ministry and foster parenting, they address the most common issues, questions, and roadblocks to creating disability-inclusive, trauma-informed ministry.This theory-to-practice resource invites critical reflection on ministry approaches, confronts the mindsets and barriers to creating inclusive environments for teens with disability and trauma, and calls the church to those places where God is at work.

Mike Severe (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of Christian ministries at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. After pastoring teens and families for over 15 years, he now leads the ministry programs at Taylor. He has three adopted children and has hosted nearly 40 foster children in his home.Laura Widstrom (PhD, Trinity International University) is associate professor of youth ministry at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. She served on staff at a local church for 13 years, directing more than 50 workcamps. She has three adopted children and has hosted seven foster children in her home.