Postmodern Youth Ministry

The rules have changed. Everything you believe is suspect. The world is up for grabs. Welcome to the emerging postmodern culture. A "free zone" of rapid change that places high value on community, authenticity, and even God--but has little interest in modern, Western-tinged Christianity. Postmodern Youth Ministry addresses these enormous philosophical shifts and shows how they're affecting teenagers.

There are a number of ministers today that are unaware of the characteristics of postmodernism and of how it affects our young people. This book is written for all who work with youth and young adults in ministry; be they youth minister, youth pastor, director of religious education, Sunday school teacher, high school or college campus minister, or pastor or pastoral associate. It is an introduction to and framework for youth ministry and postmodernism. By bringing together and synthesizing the present literature on postmodern theory and guides for youth ministry, this book begins the discussion and lays the groundwork for a more comprehensive model and study for the future of youth ministry with a postmodern generation together with ideas for the working youth minister to begin implementation today.

Most adults feel uncomfortable in the teen subculture. From this uneasy position, adults like to 'handle' the teens like children because they are threatening. The purpose of Timeless Youth Ministry is to help people in the church and Christian youth organizations minister to teenagers. As former youth pastors and current professors of youth ministry, the authors have 'been there, done that' in this field. They've run programs, camps, and ministry trips in such diverse places as southern California, east Tennessee, northeast Ohio and Alberta, Canada,to name a few. This book is a needed resource to examine afresh what it means to be an adolescent in today's culture and how those who minister to young people can best reach them.

This practical, thought-provoking book presents a new paradigm for children’s ministry in the emerging 21ST century and explores how churches are currently putting that vision into practice. Advocating the need to regard children as full participants in their faith communities, the book provides strategies for building intergenerational community where children feel they belong and have the opportunity to serve.

Dean Borgman, a nationally known youth ministry expert, offers a new edition of his influential classic. Reaching a broadly ecumenical audience, this book challenges readers to think about the theological nature of youth ministry. Questions for discussion and reflection are included. This thoroughly updated edition was previously published as When Kumbaya Is Not Enough. Praise for the first edition "Writing with the lens of a theologian, the heart of a pastor, and welcome doctrinal breadth, Borgman has provided a 'field book' of pastoral theologies that takes seriously the social systems shaping the lives of adolescents. This book is a significant step toward the long-awaited conversation about theology and youth ministry in postmodern culture."--Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary; author of Almost Christian "In this excellent work Borgman brings theological integrity, depth, and years of wisdom like nothing else I have seen in our field."--Jim Burns, author of Teenology: The Art of Raising Great Teenagers

Christianity Today Book Award of Merit winner What haunts your youth group? So often we avoid talking about doubts and fears because we feel inadequately equipped to address them in any meaningful way. The crisis of existence can't be answered with pat Sunday school formulas or a few Bible verses, let alone another relay race. The questions our youth have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians, driving them to search for God in the places God didn't appear to be--places of brokenness, suffering and confusion. What if we let these questions drive our search for God too? Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean invite you to envision youth ministries full of practical theologians, addressing the deep questions of life with a wonderfully adolescent mix of idealism, cynicism and prophetic intolerance for hypocrisy. Follow them into reflection on your own practice of theology, and learn how to share that theology through rich, compassionate conversation and purposeful experience.

Whether Bible studies are a regular part of your ministry, or you’re thinking about how to bring Bible study into your ministry in a more significant way, chances are that you want to help your students enter into God’s word in a way that challenges them and changes their lives. That’s a goal worth working towards...but sometimes you will feel like it’s a goal that you may never reach. Unleashing God’s Word in Youth Ministry is designed to help you develop a Bible study approach that engages students on a deeper level—even if you’re an avid curriculum user or someone who creates all your own discipleship materials from scratch. As you devour the wisdom Barry Shafer brings from decades of student ministry and engage in your own study of God’s Word, you’ll discover that Bible study for your students can be taken to a whole new level. In the pages of this book you’ll:·Get beyond the typical Bible discussions and learn to confidently engage students in an in-depth search of God’s Word·Teach teens how to study the Bible on their own·Be invigorated in your own personal interaction with the Bible·Gain confidence and competence in leading teens deeper in Bible studies, and much more! If you want to take your students deeper into the Bible, discover what it takes to unleash God’s Word in your own ministry and watch your students and youth ministry be transformed.

Find practical answers in this handy resource! Get an inside look at the practical insights from the perspective of practitioners, who collectively have over 100 years of experience in Asian American youth ministry, as they share about the intergenerational church, student leadership, and vital outreach.