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Based on the National Study of Youth and Religion--the same
invaluable data as its predecessor, Soul Searching: The Religious
and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers--Kenda Creasy Dean's
compelling new book, Almost Christian, investigates why American
teenagers are at once so positive about Christianity and at the
same time so apathetic about genuine religious practice.
In Soul Searching, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton
found that American teenagers have embraced a "Moralistic
Therapeutic Deism"--a hodgepodge of banal, self-serving, feel-good
beliefs that bears little resemblance to traditional Christianity.
But far from faulting teens, Dean places the blame for this
theological watering down squarely on the churches themselves.
Instead of proclaiming a God who calls believers to lives of love,
service and sacrifice, churches offer instead a bargain religion,
easy to use, easy to forget, offering little and demanding less.
But what is to be done? In order to produce ardent young
Christians, Dean argues, churches must rediscover their sense of
mission and model an understanding of being Christian as not
something you do for yourself, but something that calls you to
share God's love, in word and deed, with others. Dean found that
the most committed young Christians shared four important traits:
they could tell a personal and powerful story about God; they
belonged to a significant faith community; they exhibited a sense
of vocation; and they possessed a profound sense of hope. Based on
these findings, Dean proposes an approach to Christian education
that places the idea of mission at its core and offers a wealth of
concrete suggestions for inspiring teens to live more authentically
engaged Christian lives.
Persuasively and accessibly written, Almost Christian is a wake up
call no one concerned about the future of Christianity in America
can afford to ignore.
Since 1993, fifty theological seminaries have created opportunities
for high school students to participate in on-campus High School
Theology Programs (HSTPs) that invite them to engage in serious
biblical and theological study. Many of the young people who take
part in these programs go on to become pastoral or lay leaders in
their churches. What has made these programs so successful -
especially given the well-documented "crisis of faith" among young
people today? In this book thirteen contributors - each of whom has
created or led one of these innovative theology programs -
investigate answers to this question. They examine the pedagogical
practices the HSTPs have in common and explore how they are
contributing to the leadership of the church. They then show how
the lessons gleaned from these successful programs can help
churches, denominations, and seminaries reimagine both theological
education and youth ministry.
Every stage of life brings out certain human characteristics, and
according to Kenda Creasy Dean, adolescence is particularly
characterized by passion. If the church is to speak meaningfully to
youth and in turn reap the many benefits that young people have to
offer, then its ministry must be predicated on passion the Passion
of Christ, the passion of youth, and the passionate faith that
results when these two things come together. The uniqueness of
Practicing Passion lies in its relocating youth ministry in
practical theology rather than in educational theory or
psychological or social development. While youth ministry has
routinely capitalized on the passions of adolescents, little
attention has been given to the theological mooring that youth need
to connect with the church and hold firm amid the growing demands
of popular culture. Focusing on the theological resonance between
the Passion of Christ and adolescents experience of passion, Dean
develops a framework for youth ministry that draws on the historic
practices of the Christian community as a curriculum of passion.
Offering a compelling new model for reaching, discipling, and
empowering today s young adults, Practicing Passion is a vital
resource for anyone already engaged in or preparing for youth
ministry.
"Most contemporary young people operate far enough from Moses moral
compass that it never occurs to them that OMG ( oh my God, in
teenspeak) has anything to do with the Ten Commandments, much less
that it breaks one of them. After all, the phrase is a nearly
ubiquitous adolescent throw-away line...Yet Christians should hear
the phrase oh my God differently. Youth ministers, parents,
teachers anyone who has ever loved an adolescent know that OMG can
be a prayer, a plea, a petition, a note of praise, or an unbidden
entreaty that escapes our lips as we seek Christ for the young
people we love." from the book Using six lensthe authors detail
current practices and tease out underlying questions as youth
ministry becomes more self-consciously aligned with practical
theology. Contributors include: Kenda Creasy Dean, Mike Carotta,
Roland Martinson, Rodger Nishioka, Don Richter, Dayle Gillespie
Rounds, and Amy Scott Vaughn. "
2012 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.
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