Teaching the Next Generations: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching Christian Formation

by Terry Linhart

How Ministers Can Be Excellent and Effective Teachers

Effective teaching is important not only to the Christian faith but to the success and impact of Christian ministry. This book champions the role of teaching as a necessary skill for ministers to develop, equipping them to work effectively for the spiritual growth of young people. Terry Linhart, who has more than twenty-five years of experience training youth workers, brings together expert Christian educators representing a broad array of evangelical institutions and traditions to show how teaching connects to discipleship and the church in current contexts. Designed for the classroom, the book covers a wide range of topics and includes helpful illustrative diagrams, tables, line drawings, and charts.

Genres: Young Adult

352 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 2016

About the author

Terry is an educator and strategist who develops and launches leaders to lead ministries, non-profits, churches, and mission-driven businesses. Terry is the executive director of extension studies at Bethel University (Indiana). He is also the founder/director of Arbor Research Group, a division of TDL Collective. Arbor Research Group (www.arborresearchgroup.org) is an agency that supports Christian organizations and mission-driven businesses with actionable insights, workplace support, and leverageable data for strategic decision-making.

Reviews

[Courtney Cutshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful resource for Christian education, specifically in small-group/Sunday school setting. Bit repetitive and somewhat dated, but good starting point of structure/tools.

[Rachel Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a different author for each chapter. Some of the chapters are fantastic. Some of them are meh. For a textbook, it’s pretty readable and offers some good insights on modern education principles that are often neglected when talking about Christian education

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linhart assembled a virtual who's who in youth ministry education to develop this book on teaching young people. I found each chapter helpful and a few chapters are gold. I use it in my Foundations of Youth Ministry class.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in homiletics.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real curate's egg: some excellent chapters but unfortunately some really poor contributions. This makes me unlikely to use it as a core text book, despite the good stuff present.

[Darren Sapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of articles on the Christian teaching method but structured in relevant sections that will give teachers of the Word a ton of direction.

[W. Whalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Outstanding Resource for Anyone in Christian Education

To teach the next generation of believers is an important passion of many Christians—yet how do you learn from some of the brightest teachers in this area? I suggest reading and studying TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATIONS.

As Terry Linhart writes in the introduction, “The truth is that young people are still wired to learn. They do wonder about important questions, and they still engage in what is meaningful and relevant. Perhaps part of the problem today is not with the learners but is on the side of the teaching. It certainly feels like at no other time in recent history has it been as important for Christian teaching to be effective, engaging and of excellent quality.” (page x).

Twenty-six contributors lend many different voices to this important topic of teaching the next generation. This book has a careful and well-executed design. It makes great use of subheads throughout the book. Each chapter includes Questions and Activities which are thoughtful and help readers dig into the contents of the chapter. Also each chapter includes a Further Reading section.
While this book comes from an academic perspective, every Christian who teaches others will find inspiration, insight and valuable information in TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATIONS. I highly recommend this book. Read it carefully with a yellow highlighter so you can return to it often to influence how you teach the next generation.

[Tony Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teaching the Next Generations edited by T. Linhart
A very good book looking at teaching the next generations of Christian young people. I would go further and recommend this book for anyone training young people or adults. Linhart did a very good job deciding which sections to place in the book and which authors to use for each section. A question asked early on is “Why do we teach?” Regardless of the subject(s) being taught the answer to this question is fundamental to the success or lack thereof of the teaching. I am very pleased with this book. I received a free copy of Teaching the Next Generations edited by Terry Linhart from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaching the Next Generations

A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching Christian Formation
by Terry Linhart

Baker Academic & Brazos Press

Baker Academic
Christian

Pub Date 18 Oct 2016

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy of Teaching The Next Generations through the publisher and Netgalley:

This book reminds us that we were created by God to Grow and learn. We are reminded too of the importance of teaching for Spiritual Growth.

The importance of teaching is reiditerated throughout the book. Ministers by their very definition are teachers, Spiritual Teachers.

From the time of Moses, and beyond the importance of education is showed. The scriptural reference to teaching is also showed, in Matthew 28.

I give Teaching the Next Generations five out of five stars.

Happy Reading.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book for youth ministry and student ministry