Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together

by Andrew Root

Named a 2014 Jesus Creed Book of the Year (Biography)

Best New Contribution to Bonhoeffer Studies & Best Youth Ministry Book for 2014, Hearts & Minds Books

The youth ministry focus of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life is often forgotten or overlooked, even though he did much work with young people and wrote a number of papers, sermons, and addresses about or for the youth of the church. However, youth ministry expert Andrew Root explains that this focus is central to Bonhoeffer's story and thought. Root presents Bonhoeffer as the forefather and model of the growing theological turn in youth ministry. By linking contemporary youth workers with this epic theologian, the author shows the depth of youth ministry work and underscores its importance in the church. He also shows how Bonhoeffer's life and thought impact present-day youth ministry practice.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Christian, Religion, Biography, Discipleship, Faith

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2014

About the author

Andrew Root joined Luther Seminary in 2005 as assistant professor of youth and family ministry. Previously he was an adjunct professor at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C., and Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.

Root received his bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997. He earned his master of divinity (2000) and his master of theology (2001) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He completed his doctoral degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2005.

Root's ministry experience includes being a gang prevention counselor in Los Angeles, youth outreach directed in a congregation, staff member of Young Life, and a confirmation teacher. He has also been a research fellow for Princeton Theological Seminary's Faith Practices Project.

Root has published articles in the Journal of Youth and Theology, The International Journal of Practical Theology, and Word and World.

He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry and the International Bonhoeffer Society.

Reviews

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Root, Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2014).
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Andrew Root's coverage of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is exceptional. Youth ministry was central to Bonhoeffer's life. He was a forefather to a movement. Bonhoeffer's “Christopraxis” (as Root describes it) was that youth ministry should “turn to the theological,” and seek to share in the concrete and lived experience of young people as the very place to share in the act and being of God. By theological he meant that ministry to youth must have its impetus not in the formal but in the encounter of the experiential. This is in contrast to a youth ministry that turns to theology (note the distinction in terms) which only seeks to move young people into forms of formal knowledge (to assimilate to the doctrinal) or a youth ministry bound in the technological which seeks to increase numbers and behaviour.1 (p x,3,7,67)

I respect Bonhoeffer's practicality in that he would visit each child personally and invite them to come to Sunday school. He hosted regular discussion groups. He also valued recreation and playing sports with his students. “It was through games, discussion, and confession that Bonhoeffer formed the deepest friendships of his life.”2 (p 65, 141-142).

He is respected as a scholar who exemplified an incarnational missional purpose, pastoral compassion, theological depth and ministerial sensitivity.

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Memorable quotes:

“It was not so much rebellion that fueled the German youth movement (as it did in the American youth movement of the 1960s); rather, it was romanticism.” (p23)

“... how ministry to young people may be transformative for ourselves as well.” (p60)

“And his ministry comes to him as an event of the concrete and lived experience in the person of a child. … The theological in youth ministry often has its impetus not in the formal but in the encounter of the experiential.” (p67)

“Anxiety, as neuropsychologists today tell us, is toxic; our brains are wired to avoid anxiety. Anxiety corrupts the chemistry of the brain and leads us to depart (emotionally or physically) from others to protect ourselves. Jesus’s words to his disciples “to fear not” (Luke 8:50 NRSV) become of utmost significance. Anxiety is so acidic that it is nearly impossible to have relationship, to be a place-sharer, where the air is poisoned with it. Bonhoeffer’s calm and composure, even on the first day, signaled to the boys that he had no anxiety, no worry about lessons being unfinished or others thinking he was a failure. His composure signaled to them that it might be that he is really just here for them, rather than to fulfill some goal that they could frustrate (like getting them through the material). Bonhoeffer’s composure tacitly indicated to the boys that he was more loyal to their concrete persons than any end others sought for them.”

“Grace is costly because it calls us through our person to the person of Jesus Christ. And when we follow the person of Jesus Christ, when we follow his call through our person, we're sent to act for the concrete person of our neighbor in the world.”
“Too often we want strong youth ministries as investments for the future, so our kids will have faith in the future (and therefore the congregation itself will stay afloat into the next generation). But if faith is only for the future, there will be no faith, for like manna, faith saved spoils. … American youth ministry often looks beautiful on the surface, with big youth rooms and conferences full of excited kids, but underneath the shine is rot, for the youth ministry has been more about mammon than manna, more about investment in banked faith than about inviting young people to partake with parents and other adults in the daily gift of faith that comes to us all as we pray and confess, “I believe. Help [our] unbelief.” (p152)

“It actually may be that the shadows of the so-called middle-class utopia always cast heavily on children, particularly in their adolescence. And this is so because the middle class is the proprietor and perpetuator of the category of childhood; living within the economic advantage of not needing children to work (or serve as marriage pawns for continued nobility) leads to a conception of childhood innocence. The child is hidden from the world behind the structural walls of family and education. Middle-class parents take on a heavy burden of seeing it as their core vocation to protect and advance their children. But this projecting and advancing appears to always come with tension as the innocent middle-class child turns into the alien middle-class adolescent.”

“Bonhoeffer hears the narration that is the revealing of the boy’s humanity by embracing the boy and taking him to his knee, giving him his person in the midst of his suffering, being close enough to hear the boy, awaiting the deep theological questions the boy has, which are tied to his very concrete lived experience, to the deep questions of childhood, questions Bonhoeffer himself remembers from his own childhood.” (p68)

“And like so many of us in youth ministry, he explains at the end of the letter that he felt small next to the significance of the boy’s deep theological question. It is more than ironic that the arrogant young man felt insecure next to the ten-year-old’s question. Bonhoeffer never doubted himself in defense of his dissertation or while wrestling with Harnack in his seminars. But in the shadow of the ten-year-old and his cosmic question raised by the lived sorrow over his dead dog, the overly confident Bonhoeffer sits in fear and trembling.” (p69)

“Here we see a young man in an empty room, checking his watch as no one comes to share in the refreshments he has carefully placed on the table behind him. There is some comfort for those of us taking the theological turn in youth ministry to hear of Bonhoeffer’s own failures, especially with young adults. We also often find it hard to create the spaces to connect with young adults. And if Bonhoeffer is our forefather, it is important to recognize his failures as much as his glowing successes.”

“Mr Wolf forced Bonhoeffer to be nimble, to be a true theological thinker. … But it is in this very thin air of the theological that the transformational occurs; it is where weeping turns to laughter, … It is here in the theological that the theological that we encounter the being ad action of God in the concrete and lived. Bonhoeffer helps us see that a youth minister is not someone who heaves theology onto young people, getting them to know stuff, but is rather a minister of the gospel that stands near the concrete humanity of young people, sharing in their experience, helping them wrestle with God’s action in and through their concrete lives.” (p71)

“And it was not uncommon on warm days for Bonhoeffer to cancel courses to spend the day in recreation, playing soccer or tennis. (p141)
Following his youth ministry experience, Bonhoeffer had no second thoughts about playing sports with his students; he knew it was through such experiences that relational connection grew – and it didn't hurt that he was better than most of them at the sports they played! … It was through games, discussion, and confession that Bonhoeffer formed the deepest friendships of his life.” (p142)

“The faith that you will confess today with all your hearts needs to be regained tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, indeed, every day anew. We receive from God only as much faith as we need for the present day. Faith is the daily bread that God gives us. You know the story about manna. This is what the children of Israel received daily in the desert. But when they wanted to store it for the next day, it was rotten. This is how it is with all the gifts of God. This is how it is with faith as well. Either we receive it daily anew or it rots. One day is just long enough to preserve the faith. Every morning it is a new struggle to fight through all unbelief, faintheartedness, lack of clarity and confusion, anxiety and uncertainty, in order to arrive at faith and to wrest it from God. Every morning in your life the same prayer will be necessary. I believe, dear Lord, help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).” - quoting Bonhoeffer, (p147).

In Root's chapter 16 “The Youth Worker and Life Together" he reviews Bonhoeffer's book 'Life Together'.

“'Life Together' is, arguably, the most direct and important book written about Christian communal life in the twentieth century.” (p192)

“If there is ever going to be life together, Bonhoeffer believes, then the community can never become anything other than the actual existence of broken people. The community itself has no power to save, heal, or reconcile; that power exists only in the Christ of the cross who comes to us bearing our brokenness with the Word to Nachfolge, to follow him.”
“But when we follow him, we are led into community; for, like Peter, to follow Jesus is to be led to his body. And post-Pentecost, this body of the living Christ is concretely the church-community. Bonhoeffer states boldly that there is no christian life outside of community, for there is no Christian faith outside of Christ; and Christ, because he is the incarnate one, can only be where his body is found. And this body is the church-community.” (p193)

Bonhoeffer says poignantly in (his other work) 'Discipleship', “While we are used to thinking of the church as an institution, we ought instead to think of it as person with a body.” {Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 18}. The church can then never avoid the embodied and concrete life of its people, to maintain its ideal. The church-community is a physical community in the world, loving people concretely and practically. It is bound to the concrete personhood of Christ and embodied in the practical life of its people.” (p194-195)

“Away from the devious ideal.”

“And actual living communities, made up of physical, embodied persons, always wrestle with discord, walking the precarious wire above the pit of dysfunction. This, Bonhoeffer says, is normal and necessary.” (p195)

“There is no way to avoid discord, and the Christian leader that wants community without discord wants not true community but to drug himself with a needle of the ideal to the vein. The leader who wants the ideal community does not want community at all, for the ideal community is community without the humanity of physical bodies in relationship. The leader who wants the ideal community has turned community into an idol.” (p195)

“Luke 9 … even in the community where Jesus was present in the bodily form of beard and bones, the disciples still argued about who was the greatest among them. Bonhoeffer opines, “But perhaps we do not think enough about the fact that no Christian community ever comes together without this argument appearing as a seed of discord.”” (p196) quoting Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p93.

“Bonhoeffer's words crackle with their directness.
““God hates this wishful dreaming because it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. Those who dream of this idealised community demand that it be fulfilled by God, by other, and by themselves. They enter the community of Christians with their demands, sets up their own law, and judge one another and even God accordingly. They stand adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of the community. They act as if they have to create the Christian community, as if their visionary ideal binds the people together.”” (p198) quoting Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p36.

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[Kevin Hegeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re youth or children’s ministry (or pastoral ministry in general), this is a must-read. As usual Root makes me think deeply about frameworks I’ve never seen. Here he helps pick up Bonhoeffer’s conviction that the church ought be community rather than society and how that plays out in the "carrying" of children and youth by the church

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provocative, helpful, difficult. I really crawled through this book and want to discuss it with others. Time to reflect and digest.

[Christan Reksa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Banyak aktivis gereja yang mengagumi Dietrich Bonhoeffer, seorang sosok pendeta, teolog, dan penentang Hitler yang menjadi martir karena perlawanannya. Salah satu bukunya yang populer adalah Cost of Discipleship. Tapi nampaknya ada satu yang yang terluput dari pengenalan terhadap Bonhoeffer; yaitu bahwa salah satu passion yang membentuk kehidupan pelayanan dan perjuangannya adalah kerinduan melayani kaum muda.

Lewat buku ini, Andrew Root mengulas perjalanan kehidupan Bonhoeffer dari lahir sampai dieksekusi, dengan fokus pada kehidupan pelayanan kaum mudanya dan bagaimana itu membentuk pribadinya, caranya berteologi, dan bagaimana dia bergerak. Tapi yang lebih penting dari itu, Andrew Root juga menarik perhatian pada bagaimana cara Bonhoeffer melayani kaum muda sebenarnya dapat menjadi purwarupa pelayanan remaja-pemuda gereja yang memberikan kesegaran. Mulai dari pelayanan anak-anak di gereja kecil, katekisasi terhadap anak-anak marginal di kawasan Wedding (Berlin), sampai kehidupan sebagai pendeta-teolog-pengajar seminari bawah tanah Finkenwalde

Satu kata yang menarik perhatian saya dalam buku ini adalah Stellvertretung (diterjemahkan sebagai "berbagi tempat"). Pelayanan kaum muda bukanlah pelayanan yang memberikan perhatian spesial terhadap kaum muda sehingga mereka malah menjadi disingkirkan dalam kehidupan berjemaat gereja orang dewasa, melainkan pelayanan di mana kaum muda diundang untuk berbagi tempat dalam kehidupan bergereja secara utuh. Pelayanan di mana suara didengar, kekhawatiran dipeluk, kecemasan diperhatikan, dan kehancuran dipulihkan. Dan sifatnya bukanlah satu arah, melainkan dua arah, di mana kaum muda bisa belajar dari kehidupan iman orang dewasa, namun orang dewasa juga belajar dari gairah orang muda untuk berkarya. Singkatnya, pelayanan kaum muda adalah pelayanan yang memberikan ruang bagi orang muda untuk mengalami Kristus yang nyata lewat kehidupan bergereja yang inklusif.

Selepas membahas kehidupan Bonhoeffer, di dua bab terakhir Root secara praktis membagikan bagaimana dua karya Bonhoeffer yang paling terkenal (Cost of Discipleship dan Life Together) bisa menjadi pemandu pelayan kaum muda dalam kehidupan pelayanannya. Cost of Discipleship dapat menjadi sebuah buku untuk dibaca bersama kaum muda dalam menggumuli panggilan untuk mengikut Dia dengan "bayar harga" tidak secara murahan. Life Together bisa menjadi buku untuk dibaca pelayan kaum muda untuk menghancurkan segala idealisme sempit tentang kehidupan gereja dan membangun sebuah komunitas (dan diri) yang dalam kerapuhannya bersedia memeluk anugerah-Nya dan menguatkan satu sama lain.

Saat ini saya belum terlibat dalam pelayanan remaja/pemuda secara jauh, namun buku ini sungguh membuat saya "gatal" untuk mulai melepaskan kenyamanan dan kembali memberi diri, lewat sebuah ulasan tentang seorang tokoh yang amat saya kagumi kehidupannya.

[Dustin Tramel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Youth ministry is often "disconnected from the life of the church." p.56, He observed that "American preaching was theologically bankrupt and self-indulgent. In New York, they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been able to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life." p. 81, "The uniqueness of Bonhoeffer's courses were that they pushed out beyond the classroom - and not only in lecture material but also in shared life." p.95, "When the church community obsesses about the generation gap, seeing it always as a problem, the youth worker is obscured from being seen as an essential minister to the whole congregation with particular responsibilities for the young." p.127

[Abraham Allende · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I've had sitting on my shelf for a while and began reading over the Christmas break. Before long, I was captivated. It sheds light on an aspect of Bonhoeffer's ministry that most biographies mention only in passing. I was totally unaware of the significant influence his work with youth had on shaping his theology and his writing. I would recommend it to anyone who has a role in youth ministry in the church.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredible book. Anyone going into youth work needs to read it. The story of Bonhoeffer’s life alongside his theological reflections are so important for grasping why youth ministry needs to be a thoughtful and sober undertaking.

[Kendall Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Good argument, clear writing, insightful analysis. Not what else one could ask for.

[Seth Vopat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the seasons fall is probably my favorite. I love the cooler weather and the opportunities it provides to put on a comfy sweatshirt, make a hot cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a good book.

Andy Root is releasing a new and intriguing book this fall which is truly a gem. In what Andy, himself, calls his latest book-Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker is a lacuna in Bonhoeffer literature as it examines Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a, “sort of”, forefather of youth ministry. You will have to read it to discover why I say sort of. Andy places a spotlight on Dietrich’s work with youth and how these experiences significantly formed and shaped his theological formation/praxis.

For those who are familiar with Andy Root’s growing work, this book will not come as a surprise (it’s kind of the unofficial prequel to the formation of Andy’s great insights on relationships and place-sharing). In what could be considered autobiographical in someways. Andy’s unveiling of the importance of youth ministry in Dietrich’s life and work can almost be paralleled with Andy’s work to help shift the conversations about youth ministry in our contemporary context now.

While Andy is not the only voice, the theological depth from which he continues to ask theological probing questions of how we practice youth ministry cannot be understated. We ignore his voice at our own risk, which leads me to perhaps my greatest fear with the release of his new book this fall.

The wrong people will read this book. Not that there is a wrong person for this book as it is very accessible. You don’t need to read a biography on Bonhoeffer before you read Andy’s book.

But, my concern is that this book will be picked up primarily by those who have read Andy’s other words and/or answered the call to vocational youth ministry. This book needs and deserves to be read by a wider audience-pastors, deacons, elders, and church leaders.

We all know youth ministry needs to change. For this to happen the vision cannot, nor should it, come strictly from the paid or unpaid youth minister/youth volunteer. The very structure of our approach to church needs to change if we want to improve the theological depth of our youth ministries. Andy writes in reflection of Bonhoeffer’s theological beliefs, “The job of the youth worker, according to Bonhoeffer, is not to re-create an institutional church for youth but to help and advocate for the young to be found at the center of the church-community’s life-for it is here that young people encounter the presence of Christ.” Is it possible the reason youth are leaving our churches when they graduate from high school is a result of our disconnecting them from the heart of the church?

With a release date set for mid October I cannot recommend this book enough to make it on the reading list of pastors, Bonhoeffer fans, and anyone else who desires to think theologically about how we approach youth ministry in a rapidly changing world. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a crisp fall morning engaging Andy’s latest book.

[Claudio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trotz seines kurzen Lebens hat Dietrich Bonhoeffer einen Platz unter den grössten Theologen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Nachfolge und Gemeinsames Leben sind Werke, die von Christen mit den unterschiedlichsten Überzeugungen gelesen werden. Andrew Root lenkt den Blick jedoch auf ein Thema im Leben Bonhoeffers, das seiner Meinung nach noch nicht genug Aufmerksamkeit gefunden hat: Die Jugendarbeit.

Von den Anfängen in der Sonntagsschule in Grünewald bis hin zum illegalen Predigerseminar in Finkenwalde zieht sich Kinder- und Jugendarbeit wie ein roter Faden durch Bonhoeffers Leben. Im ersten Teil des Buches arbeitet Root biografisch und beleuchtet die verschiedenen Erlebnisse, welche Bonhoeffer mit Kindern und Jugendlichen gemacht hat, wobei er gleichzeitig aufzeigt, wie die Jugendarbeit jeweils das theologische Denken Bonhoeffers beeinflusst hat.

Ein besonders eindrückliches Beispiel ist die Konfirmationsklasse in Berlin-Wedding. Dieser Stadtteil Berlins war damals für niedrige Einkommen und verwahrloste Familiensituationen bekannt. Und gerade hier sollte Bonhoeffer eine Konfirmationsklasse übernehmen, die völlig ausser Kontrolle geraten war - so sehr, dass Bonhoeffers Vorgänger wenige Wochen nach der Übergabe an einem Herzstillstand starb.

Packend erzählt Root, wie der völlig überforderte Pastor Maller die schreiende und tobende Klasse an Bonhoeffer übergibt und fluchtartig den Raum verlässt. Bonhoeffer wartet einige Minuten ungerührt, ohne dass der Lärm abnimmt. Dann beginnt er, mit leiser Stimme von seinen Erlebnissen in Harlem, New York, zu erzählen. Einer nach dem anderen beginnen die Jungen, leiser zu werden und zuzuhören, bis nur noch Bonhoeffer zu hören ist.

Zwischen Bonhoeffer und dieser Klasse entstand in der Folgezeit eine besondere Verbindung. Bonhoeffer zog sogar nach Wedding, um in ihrer Nähe zu sein, und die Jungs durften ihn jederzeit besuchen, wenn sie Probleme hatten. Schliesslich durfte er erleben, wie sie an der Konfirmation ihren Glauben bezeugten - in Anzügen, die er selbst für sie genäht hatte!

Roots Buch ist jedoch nicht nur eine Biografie. Er versteht es auch, Bonhoeffers Theologie für die Jugendarbeit fruchtbar zu machen. Dies besonders im zweiten Teil des Buches, wo er Nachfolge und Gemeinsames Leben auf die Jugendarbeit heute anwendet. Zum Beispiel mit der Ermahnung, gerade Jugendarbeit stehe oft in Gefahr, in Prinzipien und Programmen aufzugehen. Stattdessen müsse sie den Ruf des lebendigen Christus in die Nachfolge hörbar machen. Es geht nicht darum, dass junge Leute dogmatische Lehrsätze kennen, sondern, dass sie dem Erlöser nachfolgen. Oder mit der Beobachtung, dass es heute wenig Orte gebe, wo jüngere und ältere Menschen gemeinsam beten, und dass hier vielleicht eine besondere Aufgabe der Jugendarbeit liegen könnte.

Root schreibt mit der Erfahrung eines Jugendarbeiters und zugleich als scharfer theologischer Denker. Sein Buch ist sehr lesenswert, sowohl für Jugendarbeiter als auch für an Bonhoeffer Interessierte.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been out for a while but I am now reading it because I'm going to hear Andy speak on Bonhoeffer in a few months.

Bonhoeffer has long been Root's theological muse and while he has branched out and engaged in many different theologians over the years, Bonhoeffer is his first love. That much I knew and expected.

What I didn't expect was to be surprised by Bonhoeffer's connection to youth ministry. I'm not a Bonhoeffer scholar though I've read most of his published writings and have taken a class on him. Still, the careful exposition that Root does tied to Bonhoeffer's biography is surprising. Bonhoeffer was a youth worker and it had profound implications for his ministry and his theology.

Which leads me to wonder why I had never heard this before? And why haven't more Bonhoeffer scholars taken up Root's proposal. Most of the answers that occur to me are not particularly charitable to the theological guild so I will refrain from putting them forward.

For those who are engaged in the "theological" turn in any kind of ministry would do well to read this book for inspiration and aid. Inspiration to keep on pointing to the theological and aid in doing so.

[Derek Klumpenhouwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text was one of the more intriguing studies of Bonhoeffer I have read. Root digs into the role of youth in Bonhoeffer's life, something I have never read about nor heard about. At times, Root appears to be reaching and over-dramatizing the role that youth had in Bonhoeffer's life. At other moments, he is opening the world of the reader to see how much of Bonhoeffer's life and writings were shaped (or at least influenced) by his youth work. One thing is certain. Youth had a special place in Bonhoeffer's heart.

This is a fairly readable text flowing with history, practical theology, and stories. At times (often with a Root text), the reader is left wondering if the same thing could be said in far less pages, however overall the text keeps pace moving through Bonhoeffer's life.

As mentioned, this book is strongest in its work of connecting Bonhoeffer's writings to the theology of youth ministry. And for that and dwelling in the life of Bonhoeffer, this text is a worthwhile read for any youth worker or pastor.

[Jeremy Houf · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading a biography of Bonhoeffer, I was captivated by his story. As a youth worker myself, I picked up on Bonhoeffer’s love for youth and children through that biography. I fell upon this work and knew I had to read it. One of the excellent stories in this work is when Bonhoeffer met with a young lad in a personable way and turned the conversation into an opportunity for a theological conversation. It is obvious from the book that Bonhoeffer had a deep love for those children and youth he discipled.

Andrew Root does an excellent job drawing from His own biography of Bonhoeffer and making connections and applications to current day youth work. It is obvious that Bonhoeffer’s ministry is the missing gap in the entertainment driven youth ministry of today. You will not be disappointed from this must read for every person that works with youth. His call to discipleship highlighted in this book in Life Together is my next read. Thank you for highlighting Bonhoeffer’s youth ministry as personable discipleship that is grounded in theological truths that points to person of Jesus!

[Shelby Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book! The author clearly is very passionate about the topic and as a result can be repetitive at parts as if shouting "Look! See!" at the reader. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed reading this book and it has given me much to contemplate about my approach as a youth leader. Bonhoeffer's life has long been intriguing to me especially the aspect of his dedication to young people. I am so thankful for the authors careful exploration of this often glossed over aspect of his life and writings.

One thing that particularly struck me was how similar Bonhoeffer's ideas on young people are to Charlotte Mason's principle that children are born persons. A central theme in Bonhoeffer's ideas as well, this idea of personhood shaped his ministry. He rightly believed that when we separate faith from the concrete experiences of personhood and reduce it to religious ideas, we lose sight of what faith is all about: a relationship with the person Jesus, not the idea of Him.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely lens to read through Bonhoeffer's life and deepest theological truths. I have been affirmed, inspired, and challenged by these words. My concern about the title of this book is that others will not read it, unless they are rabid fans of Bonhoeffer's or involved in youth ministry. This is, in fact, a book about the life of the church (as any good "youth ministry" book should be) and one I encourage all leaders to read.

[Tara LiHa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diese Buch zeigt eine ganz neue (meiner Ansicht nach unterbeleuchtete) Seite Bonhoeffers! Bonhoeffers pädagogisches Wirken wird von Root historisch analysiert um gleichzeitig theologisch beleuchtet zu werden. Ob für Bonhoeffer Forscher oder Neulinge - eine ganz klare Leseempfehlung.
Roots Rhetorik ist erfrischend und dynamisch - ein Genuss zum Lesen und ein Muss für jeden angehenden Pädagogen oder Theologen, der mit Jugendlichen und Kindern arbeiten möchte!

[Austin Uphoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book and would highly recommend it to anyone in youth/young adult ministry. There are definitely some things that I disagree with Bonhoeffer on, such as his contextualization of truth as he wrestled with not confessing his ploy to assassinate Hitler, but his views on place/person sharing with young people and not decentralizing them from the church community were profound yet simple. I'll be chewing on this for awhile and will likely force others into reading it with me again.

[Christel Deas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book! Loved loved loved it. A bit of a deep read but he was such an advocate for youth being a part of the community of church. It changed how I think about kids and faith and inclusion. Being an example, showing God's desire for us as believer's, from birth to old age. How we need to be together, learning, worshipping, growing, from each other!!

[Hannah Gies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved seeing Bonhoeffer's heart and experience with youth ministry. He is an inspiration for all leaders. However, I did feel like Root could have been less determined to prove his point, that Bonhoeffer was a youth worker, and just wrote what was true. by the second chapter I was already convinced, which made the argumentative tone very redundant and annoying.

[Annie Beckstrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am finding Andrew Root to be a pivotal author in acting and thinking theologically in youth ministry. His portrayal of Bonhoeffer’s life is paired perfectly with what this means today, practical how tos, and deeply convicting challenges. I throughly enjoyed this read and feel as if I can enter Bonhoeffer’s works understanding their weight and context.

[Nicholas Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book! Root provides a solid biography of Bonhoeffer, while engaging him along the way. He holds the readers face until we see Bonhoeffer as youth worker, and it is no forced narrative. He also offers some wonderfully insightful takes on Bonhoeffer and his theology.

[Chadd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am incredibly thankful for this book.

[Kristen Cowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A counterculture read

Challenge you thinking about current youth practices. Perhaps your next big thing is really step back. Easy to read with deep thought provoking content.

[Sarah Mckinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favorite books about youth ministry.

[Gavin Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the most helpful book on youth ministry I’ve come across - so insightful and practical!

[Dustin G. Longmire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important book for these times. For anyone trying to do youth ministry in the context of rising Christian nationalism, this book serves as an indispensable tool.

[Jedediah Gorham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work made me think deeper about practical community together.

[Quique Autrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Andrew Root, Olson Baalson Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, makes a bold yet simple claim in his latest book Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker: A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together. Root’s claim is that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the forefather of the theological turn in youth ministry. According to Root, the theological turn in youth ministry (as opposed to the turn to theology or the turn to the technological), is one that “seeks to share in the concrete and lived experience of young people as the very place to share in the act and being of God.” The book masterfully interweaves Bonhoeffer’s biographical narrative and his theological corpus, successfully demonstrating that Bonhoeffer’s life and theology support the thesis that Bonhoeffer “is the first theological youth worker.”

The book is partitioned into two major sections. In the first section, Root hones in on Bonhoeffer’s early experience in youth ministry and his burgeoning academic career. The first section reads like a theological biography. It is very well-written and engaging. Root skillfully weaves together Bonhoeffer’s biographical story (from his experience being mentored by relatives to the excruciating darkness of being imprisoned) with theological reflections (inspired from Bonhoeffer’s corpus) on youth ministry. Although Root’s distinctive style is present throughout the book, he allows Bonhoeffer’s life and theology to speak clearly.

The second section is dedicated to exploring the significance of Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship and Life Together for the contemporary practice of youth ministry. The first section lifts important threads of youth work from Bonhoeffer’s life and corpus (e.g., his creative work with youth during his doctoral training, the significance of baptism from Sanctorum Communio and the meaning of faith from his confirmation sermons.) The second section is less biographical and functions more as a practical commentary on Discipleship and Life Together with contemporary youth ministry in mind. From his discussion on Bonhoeffer’s distinction between cheap and costly grace in Discipleship to the importance of having a realistic understanding of community in Life Together, Root encourages all of us youth workers to ground our theology in the concrete action of Jesus Christ in the lives of our students.

As someone who has read several biographical works on Bonhoeffer and taken a masters-level course on his theology and ethics, I was surprised how little I knew about the “youth ministry” side of his life and theology. From the biographical sketch and careful attention to sources that are often neglected in Bonhoeffer scholarship (e.g., a letter describing Bonhoeffer’s encounter with a boy who lost his dog, his confirmation sermons, etc.) Root presents a strong case for seeing Bonhoeffer as a tremendous asset in working toward a theologically oriented youth ministry.

I have finished Root’s book with a resolve to do two things. First, I want to go back and re-read some of Bonhoeffer’s major works. Secondly, and most importantly, I want to do a more faithful job of joining Jesus Christ in his “place-sharing” ministry in the concrete lives of youth in my own church-community.

[Wesley Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Root, a pioneering theologian of youth ministry, once again takes a courageous step by offering a book that will appeal both to youth workers and to theologians (particularly, in this case, Bonhoeffer scholars). For the Bonhoeffer scholar, he offers Bonhoeffer's ministry to young people as a hermeneutical lens for interpreting his life and work. Conscious of the "Bonhoeffer phenomenon"--in which everybody tries to claim Bonhoeffer as their own (as the ultimate evangelical or the ultimate political radical, or the ultimate liberal) by zeroing in on one aspect of his thought or experience of his life--Root looks to present Bonhoeffer's youth ministry as a consistent lens for understanding his development of thought. Bonhoeffer's theology didn't develop out of the ether, but emerged from his relationships and from his engagement in the concrete lived experience of the young people to whom he ministered throughout his life. Bonhoeffer scholars who read this book will see Bonhoeffer in a new light. Reading him as a youth worker allows for a fresh perspective on the great German theologian which gives potential to new contextual interpretations of his theology.

To youth workers, Root offers Bonhoeffer as the "forefather" of the "theological turn in youth ministry." Identifying the theological turn specifically as ministry which "seeks to share in the concrete and lived experience of young people as the very place to share in the act and being of God," Root shows how Bonhoeffer pioneered this turn in his own youth ministry and, in so doing, Root offers Bonhoeffer to youth workers as a great teacher, their forefather. Youth workers who read this book will find in the life of Bonhoeffer examples of relational youth ministry that will enhance and challenge contemporary youth ministry strategies. The final two chapters of the book will be of significant importance (in fact they could be read on their own) for youth workers as Root walks through the implications Bonhoeffer's two most popular works have for the practice of youth ministry. He will challenge the ways we typically think of discipleship and community and challenge us to new ways of ministering to the young people in our churches.

Andrew Root says in his introduction that "this books comes out of great joy." This was not, first and foremost, a book written out of necessity, but a book that Root simply wanted to write. On each page, Root's joy in the project comes forth and it's truly a blessing to the reader who shares in this joy. The book is just seeping with insight and it's truly a pleasure to read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker, Andrew Root seeks to write a book that is "a gift to youth workers, showing them that their calling stands on the broad shoulders of Bonhoeffer" (from the preface), but also to give Bonhoeffer scholars a look at how central youth work was to Bonhoeffer's ministry, a fact often overlooked. Root does a good job of the second aim, but the strength of this book is definitely in the application of Bonhoeffer’s life and work for the modern day youth minister.

The first section of the book is primarily biographical, going through Bonhoeffer’s life, focusing on his youth ministry. What the author does admirably in regards to Bonhoeffer scholarship is demonstrate how the ministerial situations [particularly the youth ministry] Bonhoeffer was placed in directly influenced his writings. He then gives application for youth workers in the American church today, showing how Bonhoeffer’s life and words give example and encouragement for the modern youth minister.

The second section of the book (which is noteably smaller than the first) applies Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community and The Cost of Discipleship to youth ministry contexts. It is here that Bonhoeffer’s words and Root’s understanding of the struggles of American youth work shine the most. It is clear that the author knows his audience – youth ministers who desire for their students to grow – and that audience will find this part incredibly useful. In fact, just this last week I found myself talking with a student one-on-one and using some of the practical advice that Root gives in regards to prayer. Despite the small size of this section, the majority of my notes and highlights came from this section.

This book is impossible to skim through because of the way Root wove biography, Bonhoeffer’s own words, and practical application for youth ministry today…but I still found myself wanting to skip to Bonhoeffer’s words and Root’s personal input. As a biography, this falls short of Eric Metexas’ masterpiece, but for a youth minister looking for encouragement to not acquiesce to the marketing-saturated, consumer-driven youth ministry culture in the American church today, this book is invaluable.

Thank you to Baker Academic and Net Galley for a copy of this book – the review and opinions are entirely my own.