Adoptive Youth Ministry: Integrating Emerging Generations into the Family of Faith

by Chap Clark (Editor), Steven Bonner (Contributor), Marv Penner (Contributor)

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.

Genres: Faith

400 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2016

About the author

Chap Clark (PhD, University of Denver) is professor and chair of the youth, family, and culture department at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he also directs the Student Leadership Project and is coordinator of Fuller Studio. He is on the teaching team at Harbor Christian Center church in Gig Harbor, Washington, is president of ParenTeen, and works closely with Young Life. Clark has authored or coauthored numerous books including Hurt 2.0 and Sticky Faith. Follow him on Twitter @chapclark.

Reviews

[Anna Hoech · Rating 4 out of 5]

My last book I needed to read for this upcoming semester!! This book really emphasized adoptive youth ministry and what it means to invite our youth into the greater church community. I love the emphasis on raising the kids as a church family, not just the parents having to do it alone. Especially in an Asian American context, this view of ministry can be very comforting and encouraging. I appreciated how this author invited many diverse authors to write chapters in this book. Every chapter was written by a different author, coming from diverse backgrounds (race, ethnicity, academia, pastoral ministries, etc.). The chapters were mostly all very down to earth and not very academic word language. I took so many notes because there were so many great reminders and insights. At the end of the day, the church is called to be an adoptive family, where we are all siblings in the Lord. It really brings a beautiful look on the church family. I think my only criticism was that the book became a bit redundant at times. Given that the book was talking about adoptive ministry, it was a bit repetitive when most authors talked about it. Overall, highly recommend and was challenging for me as we prepare for a new academic year of youth group!

[Jake Ruefer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a snooze. Most of the chapters are repetitive. Some are good. Most are forgettable. Some are bad.

[Jacob Padgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had some helpful thoughts but overall the scope of the book was wide making it difficult to go further in depth on certain areas.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The challenge with a book like this that draws many voices to speak to a single issue is that unity and clarity are difficult. The basic premise of this book--that young people need to be integrated into the total life of the church while still experiencing age-appropriate ministry--is well developed. This is an important addition to the discussion of youth ministry for that reason. Beyond that, despite the book feeling more like an academic journal than a book, there are many inspiring notes. This book includes great moments of ecclesiology, as well as heart-felt focus on the connection of youths to God. This book took me a long time to read, partially because of the frequent change of voice, but I found it to be well worth the effort.