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Sticky Faith
Sticky Faith
224 pages, Unknown Binding
First published September 20, 2011
75 people are currently reading
359 people want to read
About the author
Kara Powell
57 books45 followersDr. Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI), a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Fuller's Chief of Leadership Formation. Named by Christianity Today as one of “50 Women You Should Know,” Kara serves as a Youth and Family Strategist for Orange, and also speaks regularly at parenting and leadership conferences. Kara is the author or coauthor of a number of books, including 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, Growing Young, Growing With, The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family, Sticky Faith Curriculum, Can I Ask That?, Deep Justice Journeys, Deep Justice in a Broken World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, and the Good Sex Youth Ministry Curriculum. Kara lives with her husband Dave and their three teenage and young adult children, Nathan, Krista, and Jessica, in Southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
June 27, 2014
There were some good observations about ways youth workers can increase student connections to their home church and their faith through college. As a middle-aged adult in youth ministry, it was reassuring to know my relationships with students can influence the strength of their faith and encourage them even after they leave the church. Based on my own experience in "leaving the church nest," I think there is legitimacy to the claim that maintaining contact with students in your youth group, even after they leave for college, will increase the likelihood they will connect with a church fellowship perhaps during and certainly after college.
July 19, 2018
A fantastic book, choke full of great ideas. I actually used this book's chapters as jumping off points for a series of youth lessons. I found the book to be very encouraging and helpful in active ideas (not a huge idea person myself), but, being just a volunteer, it also felt convicting and slightly overwhelming. Surely though, a must read for those in youth ministry.
November 11, 2021
I would have said that the "sticky faith" definition is really just "real faith," as in, it is internalized and it matters to the person. It's interesting to read this book and see that I did in fact have many of the things that are encouraged - multi-generational church service, being on the worship team as a teenager, a series in Youth Group that examined "why Christianity", a strong push to find a Christian community in college, even an adult in the church sending me a care package when I was in college.
Mostly this book made me wonder why the teens in our church are segregated during the service. My conception of "youth group" is that it is something extra, outside of Sunday morning. Anyway, I still mourn the passing of Sunday School, which for me was always both the most fun and the most fruitful part of church (who could forget "Sex is like a can of Drain-O?").
A lot of the stuff about preparing seniors for college seemed like it should be the responsibility of the family - teaching them how to do laundry? Really? And about "having rituals of passage" - I distinctly remember getting somewhat sick of being "celebrated" when I graduated high school - there were just so many parties and ceremonies and whatever that I would not have welcomed yet another one. Since I didn't have much of a relationship with my youth leader, I didn't miss the lack of contact with them when I went to college, though I do remember that I emailed a couple of my high school teachers my first semester and was disappointed that they never wrote back. And really, it's disappointing when your email is ignored no matter who you are emailing. It's not that I expected people to reach out to me.
So, yeah, I guess my main take-away is why are we reading this book when we aren't doing most of it?
Mostly this book made me wonder why the teens in our church are segregated during the service. My conception of "youth group" is that it is something extra, outside of Sunday morning. Anyway, I still mourn the passing of Sunday School, which for me was always both the most fun and the most fruitful part of church (who could forget "Sex is like a can of Drain-O?").
A lot of the stuff about preparing seniors for college seemed like it should be the responsibility of the family - teaching them how to do laundry? Really? And about "having rituals of passage" - I distinctly remember getting somewhat sick of being "celebrated" when I graduated high school - there were just so many parties and ceremonies and whatever that I would not have welcomed yet another one. Since I didn't have much of a relationship with my youth leader, I didn't miss the lack of contact with them when I went to college, though I do remember that I emailed a couple of my high school teachers my first semester and was disappointed that they never wrote back. And really, it's disappointing when your email is ignored no matter who you are emailing. It's not that I expected people to reach out to me.
So, yeah, I guess my main take-away is why are we reading this book when we aren't doing most of it?
February 9, 2025
This book is a great starting point for discussions exploring what happens in the faith life of students during the transition from high school youth group to college. Why do so many students fall away from the faith?
The core solution from their research seems to be that relationships are key. Particularly relationships with adults. If a student is able to form a relationship with an adult youth volunteer that transcends the high school to college transition, they are more likely to continue on "in the faith."
The book consists of many great ideas of how to bridge that transition as well as help students feel valued and understood. I really appreciated the mention of moving away from sin management in the first chapter.
Because this book largely offers practical solutions, my biggest criticism would be the lack of space present for searching out solutions through prayer and guidance by the Holy Spirit. Often, false core beliefs need to be dismantled and properly redeemed in order to build a strong faith. The Holy Spirit is a great counselor and guide in helping pinpoint those issues unique to the individual.
The core solution from their research seems to be that relationships are key. Particularly relationships with adults. If a student is able to form a relationship with an adult youth volunteer that transcends the high school to college transition, they are more likely to continue on "in the faith."
The book consists of many great ideas of how to bridge that transition as well as help students feel valued and understood. I really appreciated the mention of moving away from sin management in the first chapter.
Because this book largely offers practical solutions, my biggest criticism would be the lack of space present for searching out solutions through prayer and guidance by the Holy Spirit. Often, false core beliefs need to be dismantled and properly redeemed in order to build a strong faith. The Holy Spirit is a great counselor and guide in helping pinpoint those issues unique to the individual.
January 22, 2021
Really, really, good observations about the current state of youth ministry and a must read for both new and old youth ministers. This book does an excellent job of giving concrete goals and ideas to youth ministers on how to operate their ministry. Many times, I think Youth workers can be most susceptible to burnout because they have no overarching goal to their ministries and they unfortunately, become glorified Christian baby-sitters. This book helps refocus the needs of our youth, diagnosing the problem of our teens wandering from faith in their college years, and offering solutions.
My only qualm with the book is that it seems to be geared toward older groups, meaning groups primarily made up of high schoolers. Many ideas presented may not be as effective with a middle school audience.
My only qualm with the book is that it seems to be geared toward older groups, meaning groups primarily made up of high schoolers. Many ideas presented may not be as effective with a middle school audience.
November 18, 2025
There were some great observations that I think the church can really use to jump off of, but I also think the book is a tiny bit out dated at this point. There’s little mention of social media and the role that really plays in kids (really everyone’s) lives these days. Along with that this group of kids is so anxious some of the ideas to showcase them would be the end of the world to some of my youth. I mean a prayer over a drivers licenses would be so powerful, but my youth would HATE having to stand in front of the church and have that happen. A good and important read nonetheless just needs some adjustments for the current world we live in!
June 15, 2020
This is the best research-based resource for churches who want to build a strong bridge into adulthood for their children's and youth ministries. No single suggestion in the book is a silver bullet to "fix" the issue with young people "leaving" the church (that phrase has a lot of loaded language, and needs context that I'm not enough of an expert to deal with in this review), but the ideologies behind the suggestions are impactful and constitute a reimagining of what ministry to children and youth needs to be in order to have a lasting positive impact.
September 5, 2018
Stuck On You
A great resource on the process of what is happening in our local churches. My vision is to create a context of safety to discuss where God's vision includes the personal, individual stories of our people. That vision, if done well, will allow our hope to be placed on the Creator God and not the fear that the church is dying. God is doing a new thing. I think sticky faith gives a pathway to the new thing.
A great resource on the process of what is happening in our local churches. My vision is to create a context of safety to discuss where God's vision includes the personal, individual stories of our people. That vision, if done well, will allow our hope to be placed on the Creator God and not the fear that the church is dying. God is doing a new thing. I think sticky faith gives a pathway to the new thing.
May 31, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. It had a lot of great suggestions for youth group leaders on how to help students continue their faith after high school. I will definitely be referencing this again in the future for ideas!
January 31, 2019
a lot of good, practical information
February 26, 2019
Great book focused on youth ministry. My team at church has been reading. The content has inspired great conversation. It really has us excited and motivated to make changes
October 9, 2019
Very good
November 25, 2019
A must-read for every youth worker and church leadership. Parents would benefit as well. Super approach to building multigenerational relationships and longevity in the church.
March 8, 2021
Helpful read for anyone involved in discipling the next generation. Especially love the 4 + 1 model of high school ministry. Grateful.
July 13, 2022
great resource!
January 30, 2023
Phenomenal youth ministry book. Super helpful stats and really practical stories and application. Really helpful for framing ideas for parents as well
June 6, 2023
Every teen should have at least 5 adults that intentionally pour into their life for cognitive, emotional, and spiritual support. There, saved you 30 bucks.
July 19, 2019
Serving as a member of my Mennonite church's children's ministry and youth ministry team has brought the faith formation of the younger population to the forefront of my mind of late. Our youth pastor, in his ongoing effort to seek new understanding and approaches to youth ministry recently tasked the youth ministry team with reading the book Sticky Faith by Dr. Kara E. Powell, Brad M. Griffin, and Dr. Cheryl A. Crawford. This book explored the topic of how we get faith to "stick" with our youth, beyond their time in a youth group at church.
According to the book, youth are still asking themselves the questions I asked myself when I was their age (and I suspect many of you may have asked as well): Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? and Where do I belong? One way that people in the church can help youth as they try to answer these questions is to help them to identify their passions and gifts, what Sticky Faith refers to as 'sparks'. When you see a youth's eyes light up during an experience, take note. You may have found a 'spark'! Sparks are particularly powerful in kids' lives when kids know their particular sparks, they are important to them, and they take initiative to develop those sparks.
Sticky Faith also told us about trigger events. Trigger events promote identity growth in youth. Trigger events can include exposure to diverse ways of thinking, multicultural exposure through mission trips, or befriending someone from another culture, among other things. Even simply reading about people from other cultures (reading is powerful!) can be a trigger event for a youth. Finally, relationship, health or emotional challenges are also trigger events that will help youth define their spiritual identity.
According to Sticky Faith, high school and college students who experience more inter-generational worship tend to have higher faith maturity. The more teenagers serve and build relationships with younger children, the more likely it is that their faith will stick. And important relationships with older adults are extremely significant. Which leads me to my biggest takeaway from the book... the idea of a 5:1 adult to kid ratio in church.
According to a study cited in Sticky Faith, teens who had five adults or more (who are not their parents) from church invest in them during the ages of 15 to 18 were less likely to leave the church after high school. According to the authors, it is the primary responsibility of the parents to find this web of five adults to support their teen, in the same way that faith formation is primarily the responsibility of parents as the biggest influencers in a young person's life. Youth pastors and children's ministry leaders can support parents in this effort. And, so can the rest of the church community.
I'll leave you with one final guiding principle from the book- stories are powerful. "As powerful as research is, stories are more powerful. Stories are more memorable, more personal, and more transformative."
According to the book, youth are still asking themselves the questions I asked myself when I was their age (and I suspect many of you may have asked as well): Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? and Where do I belong? One way that people in the church can help youth as they try to answer these questions is to help them to identify their passions and gifts, what Sticky Faith refers to as 'sparks'. When you see a youth's eyes light up during an experience, take note. You may have found a 'spark'! Sparks are particularly powerful in kids' lives when kids know their particular sparks, they are important to them, and they take initiative to develop those sparks.
Sticky Faith also told us about trigger events. Trigger events promote identity growth in youth. Trigger events can include exposure to diverse ways of thinking, multicultural exposure through mission trips, or befriending someone from another culture, among other things. Even simply reading about people from other cultures (reading is powerful!) can be a trigger event for a youth. Finally, relationship, health or emotional challenges are also trigger events that will help youth define their spiritual identity.
According to Sticky Faith, high school and college students who experience more inter-generational worship tend to have higher faith maturity. The more teenagers serve and build relationships with younger children, the more likely it is that their faith will stick. And important relationships with older adults are extremely significant. Which leads me to my biggest takeaway from the book... the idea of a 5:1 adult to kid ratio in church.
According to a study cited in Sticky Faith, teens who had five adults or more (who are not their parents) from church invest in them during the ages of 15 to 18 were less likely to leave the church after high school. According to the authors, it is the primary responsibility of the parents to find this web of five adults to support their teen, in the same way that faith formation is primarily the responsibility of parents as the biggest influencers in a young person's life. Youth pastors and children's ministry leaders can support parents in this effort. And, so can the rest of the church community.
I'll leave you with one final guiding principle from the book- stories are powerful. "As powerful as research is, stories are more powerful. Stories are more memorable, more personal, and more transformative."
October 24, 2011
Whereas Sticky Faith focuses on what parents can do to help their kids faith stick for life, Sticky Father Youth Worker Edition takes the same study and applies it to those who work in a church context. There were so many great ideas for youth pastors and youth workers throughout the entire book. I particularly liked the sections on how to prepare seniors for college and helping your whole church buy into the vision of sticky faith.
The overwhelming highlight of this book was chapter 2, The Sticky Gospel. This book is worth it just for this chapter. It was by far the best explanation of how to teach the gospel to teens I have ever read. So many teenagers adopt the gospel of sin management, but this chapter was rich with ways to help teens grasp the deep truths of the gospel and its implication in a proper way.
Even for those who have read Sticky Faith, this book is different enough that I would highly recommend it for all youth workers.
The overwhelming highlight of this book was chapter 2, The Sticky Gospel. This book is worth it just for this chapter. It was by far the best explanation of how to teach the gospel to teens I have ever read. So many teenagers adopt the gospel of sin management, but this chapter was rich with ways to help teens grasp the deep truths of the gospel and its implication in a proper way.
Even for those who have read Sticky Faith, this book is different enough that I would highly recommend it for all youth workers.
May 19, 2014
An interesting resource for Youth Ministers and parents. The book is based on a year long study analyzing various elements of student's experiences and how those influenced the shape of their faith into college and adulthood.
The insights are not hugely surprising but presented well and backed with anecdotes and survey information from their study. The statistical nature of the information is maybe somewhat overplayed given its abstract subject matter. Provides some helpful tips and principles for arranging youth ministry.
Overall a good resource for working with youth in a church setting but suffers from the same type of application questions that plague all books of this type (how does my specific church actually try this? how do I adapt this to the specific needs/resources/community I have at hand? Also seems to imagine a much more volunteer gifted congregation than many have available to them.
The insights are not hugely surprising but presented well and backed with anecdotes and survey information from their study. The statistical nature of the information is maybe somewhat overplayed given its abstract subject matter. Provides some helpful tips and principles for arranging youth ministry.
Overall a good resource for working with youth in a church setting but suffers from the same type of application questions that plague all books of this type (how does my specific church actually try this? how do I adapt this to the specific needs/resources/community I have at hand? Also seems to imagine a much more volunteer gifted congregation than many have available to them.
December 6, 2013
The best book on youth ministry I've read to date! Powell and her team have done a ton of research and have found what I have noticed in my own personal experience to be true--traditional approaches to youth ministry are not producing life long disciples. Why waste time doing things that don't change lives?
Rather than advocate a particular model or program the team at Fuller Youth Institute shows the results of their findings and share ideas and stories of ways that they and the partner churches have seen results and made strides towards an approach to ministry that produces a faith that sticks with youth once they leave the safety of our churches.
There are a lot of great testimonies from youth and youth workers alike, which validate the research. If you are in youth ministry or interested in discipleship, I recommend this book.
Rather than advocate a particular model or program the team at Fuller Youth Institute shows the results of their findings and share ideas and stories of ways that they and the partner churches have seen results and made strides towards an approach to ministry that produces a faith that sticks with youth once they leave the safety of our churches.
There are a lot of great testimonies from youth and youth workers alike, which validate the research. If you are in youth ministry or interested in discipleship, I recommend this book.
April 25, 2013
I felt that Sticky Faith offered up some really good insight to a very big problem facing the Church and youth ministries across the country. The one hesitation I have with this book was what appears to be a small sample size with some of their stats. My context is that of a smaller to medium sized church (small compared to the churches they studied). I felt that some of the advice and statistics did not apply to churches of our size. Regardless, the problem is the same and this book does offer up some really good information in terms of ways to go about solving the issue.
I would recommend this one to anyone working with youth. It is not something I would base my entire youth ministry on... but it is a great tool to add into the mix.
I would recommend this one to anyone working with youth. It is not something I would base my entire youth ministry on... but it is a great tool to add into the mix.
January 11, 2013
For anyone that's concerned about the future of the church, students continuing to grow in faith through college and beyond rather than shelving it, or about any individual student's personal faith journey, you should read this book. Research based, it is full of ideas, suggestions and resources for youth workers (parents, volunteers and paid staff all included). Non-youth workers should read this book as a way to better understand what effective youth ministry looks like and how it needs support from all levels.
January 9, 2015
This book is packed full of researched backed suggestions, and case studies for churches to implement. The aim of Sticky Faith is for churches to develop a faith that sticks, and not an extension of their parents faith. This book should be a must read for all people involved in children's work in the church context, even if they are not working with teens, it helps to have a vision of where you are heading.
I gained a lot from this book both as a parent and a church children's worker.
I gained a lot from this book both as a parent and a church children's worker.
May 1, 2016
Probably the most influential youth ministry book I've read to date. The information is research based but incredibly practical. I used this as a training manual for 25-30 adult volunteers who work with 7-12th grade students every single week. It's a different perspective that's very doable, and we have already begun implementing the philosophy into our ministry. Would highly recommend this book to anyone who works with youth in the church.
November 30, 2012
Definitely a movement that is on the rise. A good read for youth workers who are looking to expand their knowledge of faith retention in teens. KAra offers practical advice on how to foster an environment within the church that nurture the faith of teens to a faith that they will not abandon once they move on to college.
January 22, 2014
This book is an excellent read for youth leaders who are experiencing the phenomena of youth who graduate from their Christian faith after they graduate from high school. If you've ever read the book, "Almost Christian" by Kenda Creasy Dean you'll find some practical steps for addressing the issues raised by Dean. I would call this a "must read" for anyone who leads youth in a church context.
March 1, 2016
I'm so excited. I finished this whole book in like 6 hours! I'm happy.
This was actually a really good book and normally I get really bored while reading non-fiction but this was very informative. If you are going into any sort of youth worker job and you're a christian then I definitely suggest you read this book!
This was actually a really good book and normally I get really bored while reading non-fiction but this was very informative. If you are going into any sort of youth worker job and you're a christian then I definitely suggest you read this book!
June 17, 2013
If you work with teenagers you have to read this book. The research of the Fuller Youth Institute as it relates to kids growing up in church youth groups and how they handle their connection to their faith post-high school is invaluable.
June 20, 2017
I read this book for school (Spiritual Formation of Adolescents), but it was an easy read with good practical and research-based ideas on how to get teenagers' faith to stick after they graduate from youth group.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews