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.

This book for youth leaders, pastors, and parents looks deep into the mirror of pop and church culture and asks the difficult, and often maddening, question, “Are those things we produce and consume defining us?” Author Stephen Ingram explores these themes of moralism, deism, meism, consumerism, pluralism, and therapeutic religion of pop culture, as well as current sociological and psychological data. Hollow Faith separates the values of the gospel from the cultural norms that have domesticated them including: How we believe we should act (The Andy Griffith Show) How we want to be known (Facebook) What we aspire to become (the American Dream) Ingram says that once we recognize these serious shifts in our faith, we can begin to have discussions, develop plans, and form actions to reclaim the vibrant, life-giving faith of the Bible. Includes a Parents Guide in the back.

Could sharing your faith be the secret to developing your spiritual maturity? For many followers of Jesus, discipleship means doing certain things to deepen our connection with Jesus Christ. But our spiritual growth checklists are often disconnected from the mission of reaching a lost world with the gospel message. Taking a holistic approach that unites evangelism and discipleship, Kevin and Sherry Harney demonstrate how God's plan for our spiritual growth is intimately connected to his mission to the world. In Organic Disciples, the couple lead ordinary followers of Jesus through seven markers of spiritual maturity, showing how simple shifts in our Bible reading, prayer, community life, giving, service, and other biblical practices can connect us with God's work of reaching people with his love. You'll learn: Why true spiritual maturity will always lead believers outward to engage the world with the good news and truth of Jesus. How to overcome the common roadblocks and false narratives that stand in the way of spiritual maturity. How to design a personal pathway of growth to be more like Jesus in character and mission. Along with the Organic Disciples book, churches and individuals can utilize a free, self-directed online tool at OrganicOutreach.com to help each person identify where they are in their growth journey. Also look for eight-session small group curriculum—Organic Disciples Study Guide (9780310139089)—to take congregations and Christians deeper on this journey.

From the bestselling author of Reimagining Church comes an essential guide that provides practical, effective tools for finding vibrant Christian communities. Driven by a passion for the body of Christ, Frank Viola has written some of today's most authoritative and celebrated works on the growing home, organic, and missional church movements. Now Viola shares practical keys to a healthy and successful church plant. Viola contends that many congregations today are struggling to survive, not because of bad planning, but poor planting. He presents an essential guide for starting and nourishing organic churches in any culture. Drawing from both Scripture and a wealth of experience, Viola offers real-world tools, insights, and practical suggestions so churches won't just grow, but thrive.

The seasonal cycles of winter, spring, summer, and fall are echoed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The season of Lent, culminating in Holy week, invites those who follow Jesus into a time of deeper reflection on our own seasons of life in the present age. Where is God to be known, encountered and embodied in these turbulent times? How is God revealed in our dreams and visions? Sarah Griffith Lund, author of the acclaimed Blessed Are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family, and Church, takes you through the 40 days of Lent with these stories of the possibilities of our lives, leading to the ultimate redemption and resurrection.

This is not a book about youth ministry. Well, it's not entirely about youth ministry. This is a book about the church and her relationship with teenagers. And it's a book about leadership. These pages offer an invitation for anyone who loves teenagers. This is a story, a calling, a vision for the church to be more whole, more cohesive, and longer lasting than the six or seven years that make up most youth ministries. In part, this book is a case study about one church who became captivated by a bigger vision for their teenagers and decided things needed to be different. Quite different. And it's a stake in the ground that things must be different in our churches and cities for the sake of this generation and the ones to come. Birthed in the cauldron of frustration and possibility, youth worker and author April Diaz took a big risk when a staff position opened in youth ministry at her church. She led her church by asking some tough questions: What if we changed this position from a Youth Pastor to Student Integration Pastor? And what if this was more than a job title, but a change in the way our church views its relationship with teenagers? What if we don't just hire a youth ministry Pied Piper to isolate our teenagers, but hire a youth ministry champion who won't let the congregation forget about her responsibility for the spiritual formation of the teenagers in our midst? Equal parts intervention, idealism, memoir and guide, this tiny book packs a punch you'll be thinking about and wrestling with well beyond the final page.

You're looking for a youth pastor. Again. What goes wrong? Why do youth ministries crumble? And what is the cost to students, parents, volunteers and church staff? Is a sustainable youth ministry possible, even after a youth pastor leaves? Youth ministry expert Mark DeVries knows the answer is yes, because he helps build sustainable youth minist...

Nearly all churches and ministries consider themselves dedicated to evangelism, and many explicitly include outreach in their mission statements. But few are actually bearing fruit. Kevin Harney diagnoses this problem and offers guidance for multiplying the outreach impact of churches. Organic Outreach for Churches provides direction for local congregations to weave evangelism into the fabric of the church. Commitment to the Great Commission is not simply about sending money and prayers to missions or holding occasional events to reach out (although these things are good). Organic outreach happens when evangelistic vision and action become the domain of every ministry and the commitment of every person in the congregation. This will not happen accidentally. There is huge spiritual and practical resistance to such changes. But the only way evangelism will become an organic part of a church is when every leader and each member is gripped by a commitment to proclaiming the gospel. This book is a roadmap for pastors and leaders who wish to infuse evangelistic passion into every aspect of their church's life.

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