Practice
Ministry with Youth on the Margins Serving Teens with Trauma, Disabilities, and Mental Health Issues Mike Severe and Laura Widstrom 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. 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 welcom- ing 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 ministry on the margins. This theory-to-practice resource invites critical reflection on min - istry 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. “Brimming with the practical wisdom only a fusion of personal and professional experience can offer, this book is a must-read for any youth worker committed to a fully inclusive, welcoming youth ministry that honors the imago Dei in all of God’s children. Not only does it offer detailed advice you can use immediately; it also invites you into a deeper theological understanding of why this advice matters—to God, to the church, and to our families.” —Elizabeth W. Corrie, Candler School of Theology, Emory University “I believe that every child has a special purpose in the kingdom of God. But children and youth with disabilities are the most vulner- able in any society, and they often struggle to thrive. As the father of two daughters with special needs and an advocate for disabled youth in the world’s hardest places, I commend the authors of Ministry with Youth on the Margins for equipping Christians and churches to reflect the heart of Christ by loving, serving, and em - powering vulnerable children.” —Edgar Sandoval Sr., president and CEO, World Vision, Inc.
NOVEMBER 2026 • 232 pp. • $27.99p • 9781540970305
Mike Severe (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of Christian ministries at Taylor University. After pastoring teens and families for over fifteen years, he now leads the ministry programs at Taylor. He has three adopted children and has hosted nearly forty foster children in his home. Laura Widstrom (PhD, Trinity International University) is associ- ate professor of youth ministry at Olivet Nazarene University. She served on staff at a local church for thirteen years, directing more than fifty workcamps. She has three adopted children and has hosted seven foster children in her home.
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