Andrew Root reviews the history of relational/incarnational youth ministry in American evangelicalism and recasts the practice as one of "place-sharing"--not so much "earning the right to be heard" as honoring the human dignity of youth and locating God in their midst.

Publisher's description: Presence-Centered Youth Ministry shows how classic disciplines, symbols and practices that have sustained the church over the centuries can shape the worldviews, virtues and habits of young people today. Come explore the deeper terrain of an ancient faith; your students are sure to follow.

For more than 50 years, relational or incarnational ministry has been a major focus in youth ministry. But for too long, those relationships have been used as tools—as a means to an end—where adults try to influence students to accept, know, trust, believe, or participate in something. While our motives may be good, it’s possible that by focusing on these goals, we’re not ministering the whole person. When we choose not to engage in the full life of a student, we run the risk of failing them and our ministry. In this thoughtful and insightful book, Andrew Root challenges us to reconsider our motives and begin to consider simply being with and doing life alongside teenagers with no agenda other than to love them right where they are, by place-sharing. As he shares stories of his (and others’) successes and failures in relational youth ministry, you’ll find practical ideas to help you recreate the role of relationships in your youth ministry. If you’re involved in the lives of teenagers, whether as a youth pastor, volunteer youth worker, church leader, or parent, you’ll want to read this book and work together to discover the value of place-sharing in the lives of teens. You’ll see that it’s time to tear down the old structure of relational youth ministry and start again.

Even if you know you’re called to youth ministry and are passionate about the students in your group, you’ve probably had a few of those moments when you’ve wondered why you’re doing certain things in your ministry, or wondered why you’re even doing youth ministry in the first place. If you’ve ever stopped to ask, “What’s the point of youth ministry?” ... In Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root invites you along on a journey with Nadia—a fictional youth worker who is trying to understand the “why” behind her ministry. Her narrative, along with Root’s insights, help you uncover the action of God as it pertains to your own youth ministry, and encourage you to discover how you can participate in that action. As you join this theological journey, you’ll find yourself exploring how theology can and should influence the way you do youth ministry.

Michael McGarry explores the foundation of youth ministry in the Old and New Testaments and brings that together with Church history in a compelling way. McGarry presents a thorough biblical framework to think about youth ministry as the church's expression of partnership with the family for co-evangelizing and co-discipling the next generation.

What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century. Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents' perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today's culture, youth ministry can't compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

The questions our youth have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians. Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean invite you to envision youth ministries full of practical theologians. Follow them into reflection on your own practice of theology, and learn how to share that theology through rich conversation and purposeful experience.

Best Review at the Catholic Press Association Convention Studies of young American Catholics over the last three decades suggest a growing crisis in the Catholic Church: compared to their elders, young Catholics are looking to the Church less as they form their identities, and fewer of them can even explain what it means to be Catholic and why that matters. Young Catholic America, the latest book based on the groundbreaking National Study of Youth and Religion, explores a crucial stage in the life of Catholics. Drawing on in-depth surveys and interviews of Catholics and ex-Catholics ages 18 to 23--a demographic commonly known as early "emerging adulthood"--leading sociologist Christian Smith and his colleagues offer a wealth of insight into the wide variety of religious practices and beliefs among young Catholics today, the early influences and life-altering events that lead them to embrace the Church or abandon it, and how being Catholic affects them as they become full-fledged adults. Beyond its rich collection of statistical data, the book includes vivid case studies of individuals spanning a full decade, as well as insight into the twentieth-century events that helped to shape the Church and its members in America. An innovative contribution to what we know about religion in the United States and the evolving Catholic Church, Young Catholic America is the definitive source for anyone seeking to understand what it means to be young and Catholic in America today.

A recognized authority on youth ministry explores from a theological and spiritual standpoint the baffling sense of loss of self experienced by children of divorce.

Kids desperately need healthy, committed adults who can help them thrive in their faith and become active participants in the life of the church. This requires the efforts of the whole faith community. Chap Clark, one of the leading voices in youth ministry today, brings together twenty-four experts from a variety of denominations and traditions to offer a comprehensive introduction to adoptive youth ministry, a theologically driven, academically grounded, and practical youth ministry model. The book shows readers how to integrate emerging generations into the family of faith, helping young adults become active participants in God's redemptive community.