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As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students
Today’s students long for a rich, meaningful faith. They want something more than a moral code and therapeutic worship that leaves them unsatisfied and uninspired. Speaker, author, and evangelism professor Alvin L. Reid reveals a key to capturing students’ hearts for a missional youth ministry. Through practical teaching and powerful application tools, discover how giving teens a grander purpose and vision and encouraging them to see all of life as a mission field transforms their faith, their lives, and the world.
- GenresYoung AdultChurch
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2013
7 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Alvin L. Reid
28 books10 followersDR. ALVIN L. REID, best known for his student-given nickname “Doc,” has been a professor for over 20 years, over 17 of them spent at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
He has written over a dozen books, most on subjects like evangelism, spiritual awakenings, missional Christianity, and student ministry, and has taught young leaders on four continents and on scores of college campuses from the University of North Carolina to Harvard.
He has written over a dozen books, most on subjects like evangelism, spiritual awakenings, missional Christianity, and student ministry, and has taught young leaders on four continents and on scores of college campuses from the University of North Carolina to Harvard.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 16, 2015
I've seen the teachings of this book played out within student ministry. It works. I hope every student pastor and parent reads this book.
March 11, 2016
Fantastic resource for anyone in student ministry! Alvin Reid raises the bar for those who spend time with teenagers, whether in the church or in the home. The book contains about 70-90% philosophical/ theological material (as compared to the 10-30% of material that is methodilogical) and that's what's needed for today's student ministry leaders. Read this book!
November 29, 2019
The subtitle of this book is “creating a missional culture of gospel-centered students.” In essence this book is intended for youth pastors or those that work with youth. It is not a “how to” book in the strict sense, though the author does tell of some “how to” things he considers essential. I guess it would be closer to mark to say that this is a book about philosophy of youth ministry.
The book reminds me of The Juvenalization of Christianity, that I read a couple of years back. The author is arguing that the emphasis on “fun” is not going to create a generation of Christ followers. I like his line where he speaks of the youth ministry as “the toy department of the church.” His driving idea is that we must become missional. That word, missional, has become a buzz word in church circles for at least 10 years. It means that you see and do everything with the ultimate mission of the church in mind. That goes back to the great commission of winning the lost and making disciples. His goal is to do away with anything that doesn’t serve that purpose.
I certainly agree that far too much ministry, whether it be youth or otherwise, is built on the idea that it is fun to be a Christian. I do think this book in particular and this idea in general could be of great value if taken to heart.
The book reminds me of The Juvenalization of Christianity, that I read a couple of years back. The author is arguing that the emphasis on “fun” is not going to create a generation of Christ followers. I like his line where he speaks of the youth ministry as “the toy department of the church.” His driving idea is that we must become missional. That word, missional, has become a buzz word in church circles for at least 10 years. It means that you see and do everything with the ultimate mission of the church in mind. That goes back to the great commission of winning the lost and making disciples. His goal is to do away with anything that doesn’t serve that purpose.
I certainly agree that far too much ministry, whether it be youth or otherwise, is built on the idea that it is fun to be a Christian. I do think this book in particular and this idea in general could be of great value if taken to heart.
February 27, 2018
Good overview. Need more specifics.
Great Missional vision and transition of thought. As booked on the ground youth pastor trying to do Missional ministry this lacked specifics on strategy. Understanding the nature of YM and Missional Church, I know you don’t want to over program but a section on how other Missional YM’s are trying it would have been a good addition.
Great Missional vision and transition of thought. As booked on the ground youth pastor trying to do Missional ministry this lacked specifics on strategy. Understanding the nature of YM and Missional Church, I know you don’t want to over program but a section on how other Missional YM’s are trying it would have been a good addition.
September 30, 2020
Great book on building a missional mindset for students. First 5 chapters were especially great, and then there was some good practical advice in the second half of the book. Overall, a great starting point for building a missional vision for your youth group!
September 15, 2013
Alvin Reid, professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is "tired of meeting young adults who tell (him) that what they remember from their youth group experience is 'invite a friend' and 'Don't have sex.'" He wants students to begin living their lives enamored with the risen Christ as ministers of his Gospel of grace and love. He wants to see young people living their Christian lives in a distinctly Christian way, as missionaries and ministers of reconciliation.
Me too! Reid offers a lot of practical wisdom for leaders and parents. He says we have spent so much time on the imperatives(the "do's", commands, law) and lost sight of the indicatives(the "Christ has done", Gospel). This leads to what Christian Smith coined Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and it fills youth rooms and pulpits all over the country, if not the world. The idea that God, an impersonal force more than a relational being, is here to make me feel better as long as I act good is as pervasive as it is perverse. Reid's advice, ditch this and focus on the Gospel.
Focus on the Gospel in its grandest presentation. The typical Roman Road Gospel presentation drops the hearer in the middle of the story, assuming that Romans 1-3 is known and understood as we kick off at Romans 3:23. Reid's point is to see the Gospel from beginning to end, the good news of God from creation to consumation and restoration. He encourages the reader to teach students the "metanarrative" of Scripture, the big story. And see that the Gospel is not the "door to Christianity" that one enters and leaves behind, but rather it is the focus of all of Christianity. Allow the student to see who God is and what He is doing and let these truths be applied to them by the Holy Spirit.
Reid makes a great point in line with this when he says,
Much of what we do in student ministry focuses on the lowest common denominator: What truth can we teach that will apply to all? In an attractional, event-driven ministry, this approach is necessary to keep people coming. And, if your ministry focuses more on the how of Christianity (how to date better, how to witness, how to be happy) than on the why (focusing on God and his plan), it will thus be more focused on truth that applies to the widest possible audience. But the more we focus on helping students see the big picture of who God is and what he is doing and why he is doing it, the better they can learn to make application to the unique aspects of their lives.
This leads to another one of Reid's big points. He seeks to see a more relational, mentor, discipleship type of model grow in student ministry as opposed to the typical, pizza-party+lazer tag= little-to-no spiritual growth model that seems to reign supreme. Not opposing events and pizza per se, Reid sees the role of the minister as that primarily of disciple maker and mentor, someone investing in the lives of individuals and seeing these individuals do likewise and so on and so on. I think there is something quite biblical and quite Christlike to this mentality and this model.
Reid also invests an entire chapter on the role of the family in student ministry. This could be one of the greatest weaknesses in many student ministries, and in many churches, is the compartmentalization of the church into almost little parachurch organizations. Nursery, kid's church, youth group, young adults, middle adults, adult adults, really adult adults...you could go your entire life and never have to really know anyone much more than 5 or 10 years off of your age. The need for the entire family to be involved in the growth and discipleship of students is crucial and I am glad Reid gave it a good section of his book(even if the age-integration soapbox is likely more me than him).
This is a good book and well worth parents and youth leaders to invest the time in reading and seriously consider the points that he makes.
Me too! Reid offers a lot of practical wisdom for leaders and parents. He says we have spent so much time on the imperatives(the "do's", commands, law) and lost sight of the indicatives(the "Christ has done", Gospel). This leads to what Christian Smith coined Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and it fills youth rooms and pulpits all over the country, if not the world. The idea that God, an impersonal force more than a relational being, is here to make me feel better as long as I act good is as pervasive as it is perverse. Reid's advice, ditch this and focus on the Gospel.
Focus on the Gospel in its grandest presentation. The typical Roman Road Gospel presentation drops the hearer in the middle of the story, assuming that Romans 1-3 is known and understood as we kick off at Romans 3:23. Reid's point is to see the Gospel from beginning to end, the good news of God from creation to consumation and restoration. He encourages the reader to teach students the "metanarrative" of Scripture, the big story. And see that the Gospel is not the "door to Christianity" that one enters and leaves behind, but rather it is the focus of all of Christianity. Allow the student to see who God is and what He is doing and let these truths be applied to them by the Holy Spirit.
Reid makes a great point in line with this when he says,
Much of what we do in student ministry focuses on the lowest common denominator: What truth can we teach that will apply to all? In an attractional, event-driven ministry, this approach is necessary to keep people coming. And, if your ministry focuses more on the how of Christianity (how to date better, how to witness, how to be happy) than on the why (focusing on God and his plan), it will thus be more focused on truth that applies to the widest possible audience. But the more we focus on helping students see the big picture of who God is and what he is doing and why he is doing it, the better they can learn to make application to the unique aspects of their lives.
This leads to another one of Reid's big points. He seeks to see a more relational, mentor, discipleship type of model grow in student ministry as opposed to the typical, pizza-party+lazer tag= little-to-no spiritual growth model that seems to reign supreme. Not opposing events and pizza per se, Reid sees the role of the minister as that primarily of disciple maker and mentor, someone investing in the lives of individuals and seeing these individuals do likewise and so on and so on. I think there is something quite biblical and quite Christlike to this mentality and this model.
Reid also invests an entire chapter on the role of the family in student ministry. This could be one of the greatest weaknesses in many student ministries, and in many churches, is the compartmentalization of the church into almost little parachurch organizations. Nursery, kid's church, youth group, young adults, middle adults, adult adults, really adult adults...you could go your entire life and never have to really know anyone much more than 5 or 10 years off of your age. The need for the entire family to be involved in the growth and discipleship of students is crucial and I am glad Reid gave it a good section of his book(even if the age-integration soapbox is likely more me than him).
This is a good book and well worth parents and youth leaders to invest the time in reading and seriously consider the points that he makes.
April 29, 2013
I would actually rate it 4.5 stars. Reid gives ministers and those involved with student ministry a great conceptual framework for constructing a missional youth ministry. You probably won't read anything that hasn't already been said about organizing missional ministries, but the author does a good job of concisely and practically communicating these important truths. Also, he emphasizes two crucial ideas that are often lacking in books on student ministry: 1.) The importance of the local church- Reid rightly critiques the mindset of far too many youth ministries, which view themselves more as parachurch organizations than members of the local body of Christ. 2.) The importance of parental discipleship- As a student minister, I have seen firsthand the importance of parents who are actively involved in the discipling of their children. Reid notes that this issue is foundational in the spiritual formation of teenagers, and he is absolutely correct.
Overall, this is a very good book to help student ministries evaluate their strategy for developing for well-rounded followers of Christ who are passionate about taking the gospel to the nations.
Overall, this is a very good book to help student ministries evaluate their strategy for developing for well-rounded followers of Christ who are passionate about taking the gospel to the nations.
June 4, 2013
This book is a must-read for all youth ministers. Reid calls all youth workers to create a culture of evangelism and missions within their youth groups, and he shows them just how to do that. He provides practical application on how to do this, but he provides more of a theological and biblical perspective on the "why" instead of the "how." Great book!
August 24, 2013
A terrific book on missional youth ministry. It was (to Reid's admission) a very "foundational" book rather than simply a how-to on youth ministry. At the same time, the principles were very powerful. I will attempt to implement some of the wisdom I received from this book right away.
December 11, 2015
Excellent Book on have a missional mindset in Student Ministry
Alvin Reid is a great author, this is an excellent account of how to be a missional and Youth Ministry. Ultimately do you live your life is being sent
Alvin Reid is a great author, this is an excellent account of how to be a missional and Youth Ministry. Ultimately do you live your life is being sent
October 1, 2013
Best student ministry book
April 5, 2016
Great read on the proper mindset of student ministry and how to get students & Volunteers there as well.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews