Showing posts with label youth ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label youth ministry. Show all posts

Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture) Review

Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture)
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Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture) ReviewMy roommate was given this book a few months back. Since I work with the Jr. High group at church, I figured I might find it helpful, so picked it up. What I found was a thought provoking book on today's youth sub-culture.
The book focuses most on high school students or mid-adolescents as the author calls them. His premise is that adults have started abandoning kids early in life, making the transition from childhood to adulthood a longer and harder process. Teens draw away from adults, not as much out of rebellion, but to cope. The majority of this book is devoted to various aspects of teen life and how it develops and plays out. Chapters such as Peers, School, Family, and Sports hit the nail on the head. And I'll confess I found some shocking stuff in the chapters on Sex, Ethics, and the Party Scene.
I did have some problems with this book. At times, it seemed to go too far into the self-esteem trap. Yes, we need to care for kids, but we also need to acknowledge that not everyone is created equal, something that seemed to be over looked at times. Still, most his examples were of things going too far in the other direction, which makes his points very valid.
Another area was the various ethics discussions. While many of these chapters were eye opening for me, he never addressed ways to teach morals. In fact, he seems to blame adults for problems such as cheating but never blames the kids or discuss how the problem should be addressed.
The last two chapters are a discussion of ways to solve the problem of abandonment, but they seem to be impractical and fall short. City wide meetings for everyone involved with youth? What we really need is a radical shift in our entire culture. Not that I'm exactly sure how to go about doing that, either. So I'm probably little better then he is.
On the whole, this book is an eye-opener about the problems today's high schoolers face. While not perfect, it should be read by anyone who cares about today's teens. Maybe then we can come up with workable solutions to let them know we do care.Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture) Overview

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Student Ministry for the 21st Century: Transforming Your Youth Group Into A Vital Student Ministry Review

Student Ministry for the 21st Century: Transforming Your Youth Group Into A Vital Student Ministry
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Student Ministry for the 21st Century: Transforming Your Youth Group Into A Vital Student Ministry ReviewThis book is definitely worth reading, especially if you're looking to change from a traditional approach to a more relational/purpose-drive approach. It starts out a little slow, but the later chapters provided some helpful ideas.
I would recommend Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Field over this book, however. Most of the ideas in Student Ministry for the 21st Century are also in Purpose Driven Youth Ministry.Student Ministry for the 21st Century: Transforming Your Youth Group Into A Vital Student Ministry Overview

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Children Matter: Celebrating their Place in the Church, Family and Community Review

Children Matter: Celebrating their Place in the Church, Family and Community
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Children Matter: Celebrating their Place in the Church, Family and Community ReviewAlthough this book is written by a group of educators it is one of the best books I have ever read on children's spirituality and show us with many examples how the faith community can nurture its youngest members. Children Matter emphasized relationships between people and encourages the church to welcome all children as valued participants in the people of God.
A wide range of examples from the Protestant traditions and drawing on the Bible, history and psychology to lay good foundations. The examples were excellent and evualated with strengths and weaknesses for all ages from toddler through grade school. The evidence of teaching is learning; how the children respond, the questions they ask, the attitudes they demonstrate in actual behavior and the way they use Scripture to inform their lives and decisions.
A wide ranges of examples were given from ancient times to the present. The book was exciting in the responses from the children. Anyone who works with children would find this an excellent tool, it has a great bibliography, footnotes, scripture list ---you couldn't ask for more.
It left me with a great sense of hope and urgency to give our teachers and parents great tools.
Imagine the faith journey with children as a pilgrimage or dance with God. Explore the contexts in which children live, make an informed and animated commitment to nurture a vibrant faith in your churchs youngest members. Theory and practice are interwoven ---if your church cares that children matter this is the book for you.Children Matter: Celebrating their Place in the Church, Family and Community Overview

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The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry Review

The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry
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The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry ReviewWithout seeming overdramatic, this is the book we who have been in youth ministry for awhile have been waiting for. Dean and Foster move right to the heart of the matter: youth workers are called first and foremost to be PASTORS to their students, not simply recreation directors. Skillfully blending scripture, theology, the social sciences, and personal experience, these practitioners offer both rich theory and application to assist youth workers in rethinking why we do youth ministry. In my opinion, this is the book that will most shape youth ministry in this postmodern era.The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry Overview

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Starting Right Review

Starting Right
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Starting Right ReviewThis book is excellent from beginning to end. It brings an entirely new, and refreshing, academic view to youth ministry. It is worth the price and worth having on your shelf.Starting Right Overview

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Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide... Review

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...
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Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide... ReviewMaybe I'm the odd one out: it looks like I'm the first to not give Joiner's book 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon reviews. Although written well enough to be easily accessible and readable, with many good insights and some inspiring stories, there are other books now available which have deeper theological and Biblical grounding for inviting a transformational understanding of children, youth and family ministry for the 21st century.
Joiner mostly uses a traditional, didactic, pedagogic model of youth ministry while citing some creative divergences from traditional archetypes. But, he seems to hesitate in fully partnering with families so that the church's FIRST call is the spiritual development of ADULTS, moms and dads, so that parents have the spiritual maturity, resources and life skills to be the primary faith mentors and companions for their children. For example, his section on "Elevating Community" (p185ff) is written in reference to other significant, committed, adults (beyond parents) that are "used to influence youth" within traditional age-segregated peer group programming in the church. This is a good thing, but Joiner does not take the next step, calling for a cultural-shift model of full, inclusive, intergenerational community, where the WHOLE FAMILY is uplifted, engaged holistically in the life of the church and equipped to be the faith mentors in the home. When Reggie Joiner does write about equipping parents it comes across primarily that the church is the educator for effective parenting versus enabling parents to effectively live in authentic discipleship and embracing children into their daily faithful lives of loving God and others in Christ's name.
As I see it, the full power of FAMILY ministry is when the whole church has ownership to include and embrace youth and children in the full life of the congregation; and parents fully engage their lives in living the Christ-life authentically with their children from day to day. In this sense, Reggie Joiner does not talk about an incarnational walk along side youth as Jesus Christ does with us. Adults are called to be the presence of Jesus alongside their children and the youth of the church: loving, honoring, respecting, and caring for them for Christ's sake and not just as a means to make sure they are influenced to have faith some day.
An incarnational ministry of adults with children is scriptural and powerful. How about even one reference of the church community being the body of Christ for children and families? Where is one reference of the concept or term "mentor"? Was that an intentional omission? How about referring to service as being faithful to the call of Jesus to love one another as I have loved you, and not referring to service as a something to use for the purpose of producing faith?
"Thinking Orange" is a book with creative phrases and gimmicky terms, but I think there is much depth and challenge left out for those who use it as their main reference book for transforming church ministry with children, youth and families.
If interested, check out books and cutting edge insights by Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean!Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide... Overview

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Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey Review

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey
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Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey ReviewWelcome to College is an outstanding work! As wise as it is current. Here are FIVE reasons why you should buy this book today.
1. Relevant. Welcome to College is focused on college students--on their concerns, on their needs, and on this pivotal time of their lives. But it is not just a book for college students. It is for anyone who knows, interacts with, teaches, ministers to, parents, or is involved with college students (or college age folks). Welcome to College is a worthy read, no matter your age.
2. Accessible. These chapters come out of a life lived. They are practical, thought out, lived out insights into a Christian life. Not just Jonathan's life, but all of those he's served, worked with, and befriended--a vast number of whom are college students. He's lived this stuff.
3. Diverse subjects. Welcome to College synthesizes subject matter normally not found together. Practical `how to's' like how to deal with syllabus shock, bad roommates, alcohol use and abuse, are combined with intellectual challenges that many young people face on campuses like how Christianity and Science relate and what sort of things we can actually know to be true. Not to mention questions of Christian spirituality, like how to come to know God's will, how become more like Jesus, and Biblical man and womanhood. This is a timely handbook.
4. Great resource. Jonathan has thought through these many issues to provide a ready reference for the most common questions, concerns, and difficulties a college student will face. But knowing that every person is unique and generally will need more of one thing than another, he also provides an abundance of suggested readings and resources (internet and other) if one desires to dig more deeply into any of these issues.
5. This book is an integrated expression of a Christian worldview and a great gift to the next generation of Christendom.
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Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Youth Specialties) Review

Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Youth Specialties)
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Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Youth Specialties) ReviewContemplative youth ministry is a welcomed book. It's a book that seeks to put God at the centre of youth ministry instead of programs that stem from good ideas. The title of the book sums up the theme and direction of the book. Basically if Brother Lawrence had done youth ministry, he probably would have written a book like this. He instructs youth leaders on how to listen to God, how to minister from a place of silence and hearing God's voice, and how to encourage these activities among the youth.
One of the strengths of the book would be his testimony at the beginning of the book in which he describes himself as being program driven and success seeking. He then recounts his transformation to a place where he ministers out of love instead of anxiety. I felt that I could relate.
The part that I got the most from was when he called us to be "fully present" to the individual youths. He made me realise how often I've only given someone half of my attention. His challenge to me to slow down and give a youth my full attention and listening ears is much appreciated.
I felt the book had a couple of weaknesses that made me give this otherwise unique book only three stars. First of all, he fails to ground his (what are for many) new and somewhat radical ideas in scripture. With the exception of the odd verse, he bases his ideas more in church history than in scripture. Not to say that I think that his ideas are unbiblical; for at least the most part they are not. But, when calling the church to fundamentally change how we do things, we want a surer guide then a few testimonies and a "this is how Ignatius Loyola would have done it". Often I thought that he had a good idea which made me think of different texts of scripture, but he failed to ever interact with them. I felt that this decreased the potential power of the book.
The second weakness I felt the book had was the somewhat negative tone towards preaching or what he called "word heavy youth ministry". Preaching is very uncool in today's post-modern era where authority is downplayed. There is a general shift away from preaching and teaching and I feel like this book is affected by that wave of thinking. The author encouraged the exercise of meditating on scripture together and then sharing what each person felt that the text was saying. What the author failed to teach us was what to do when some outlandish, nut-job or even heretical ideas are being shared. How do we bring correction and instruction into a moment like that? Is there really no value at all in having a gifted teacher authoritatively say, "here is the text, let me explain what it means and how to apply it to your lives"? The gospel needs to be preached and not just reflected in the way we live.
Also, the author never uses the term "prophetic", but what he describes in some areas could be termed "prophetic youth ministry". Hearing what God is saying and acting on it is a prophetic action. Though this is unfortunately terribly under lived among us, I felt a desire to say during the book, "There are other types of prayer we can engage in to make effective youth ministry. What about the "loud crying and tears", what about the intercession? We need to do more than just listen to what God is doing; we also need to pray things into being."
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