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Type of bind: Perfect Paperback
EAN num: 9781931548694
ISBN number: 1931548692
Label: InQuest Ministries, Ltd.
Manufacturer: InQuest Ministries, Ltd.
Page Count: 240
Printing Date: October 12, 2007
Publishing house: InQuest Ministries, Ltd.
Sale Popularity Level: 72254
Studio: InQuest Ministries, Ltd.
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Is student ministry accomplishing what we think it is? Roughly two-thirds of students leave the church after graduation. Baptisms are down. Student pastors are walking away from ministry at startling rates. It s time to rethink student ministry. This book pairs the most up-to-date research available with an overview of a Biblical framework for ministry. It will arm you with facts, Scripture, and real-life ideas that will help you find new ways to involve parents back into the equation and help you escape the busy, bigger-and-better, number-driven model of student ministry.
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Rated by buyers 
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If you are surfing the net looking for a quick fix to your youth ministry, do not buy this book.
The author uses the results of extensive research, combined with his own experience, to reveal a new model for youth ministy with the end goal of retaining people in church life following their leaving the youth ministry nest. Nationwide, statistics demonstrate that church retention of young adults is horrible and even as people age, the church regains only a small percentage of those she once had.
Graves' model calls for educating parents that they are the primary spiritual nuturers of their children and because of this "spiritual drop off" as the accepted model of youth ministry must end. The model also brings a fresh approach to including parents in youth ministry.
What I like about the book:
--Several years ago the author implemented the model he proposes and speaks from experience, trials, and successes. This is not just a book of untried ideas or something a youth worker did once and then wrote a book about it. (We have enough of that in youth ministry.)
--The author is careful to teach principles that are transferable to churches without insisting specific things have to be done in certain ways.
What I would like to see in a future edition of the book:
--A timeline of the Graves Model as it has evolved and been implemented in his church. He clearly says he started with his incoming youth and worked from there; it would be good to visualize it in terms of what happened year one, two, three, etc until it was fully realized. Plus I'd like to see a current monthly schedule of when his leadership teams meet...it's a bit overwhelming as I read; I visualize an idyllic setting of multiple teams of educated, enthusiastic parents who prioritize regular meetings--a pipe dream for most most of us.
If you are interested in the book for your own ministry, read the book in its entirety before recommending it to your people. It's all to easy to be captivated by the very first or second chapters only and then launch out with your own meetings before grasping the whole book. I read it four months ago and have asked three others to read it to help me decide the best way to contextualize it to our setting.
Rated by buyers -
This book capsilizes the need in our churches for real Biblical discipleship. The authors make a strong case for rethinking the way we do student ministry. I hope this, and others like it, start a revolution in the church.
Rated by buyers -
Alex Chediak already did a great reveiw of this but as a "youth pastor" I found this to be very sobering and helpful as to what my job actually, Biblically is and it ain't teaching youth, but rather getting parents to do their job discipling their own kids and stop cumpulsively and lazily "dropping" their children whom God entrusted to them to raise and have their Father's raise and INSTRUCT them in the discipline of the Lord Eph. 6:4.This means doing the "senior pastors" job teaching older people how to be real grown-ups as far as the Word of God is concerned, and get them to man up. very helpful insights as to how to do that and the emphasis being NOT on more crap programs that make the rift between families bigger and the church more foriegn and alien (church is believeing people, not the building the church meets at, by the way look up ekklesia its translated church but it meeans gathering and is always used of believers in Christ not a building!)
Youth ministry is un-biblical but mentoring kids with no Father's like orphans is and ofcourse legit. A college ministry to older boys and girls as to how to be men and women; if they were not previously taught,is ofcourse Biblical as well. By the way being a man or woman is being not a child; put away childish things and at like someone who could get married and start a family, that is the measuring stick, Eph. 5-6 is still applicable here! And another side note the love that Christ shows is outlined in the very first 2 chapters of Ephesians if you didn't catch that, its one letter and should be read altogether in context, when Paul says husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church (ekklesia, people He saved, not a physical building but a spritual building as in 1 Peter)with unconditional love its because they couldn't fulfill the true conditions for Gods love, that is why Christ does it for us. It's impossible for us to meet God's perfect and infinate standard. And He came after us and keeps us with the Spirit. Think about it gentlemen, unrelenting love and sacrifice toward your wife based on Grace and because you choose her not because she is pretty or smart or whatever, though she may be those things, it can't ever be why you love her, because Christ doesn't love you for any good reason in you but because of the good in Him. That is what that means, read it and think about it, pay attention to how much you verbage their isn't and how much Him and His language there is He does to you not you to Him and He does it because He is good, not because your good, much like Deut 9, check it out!
How do we get parents back involved so that the Body of Christ can be healthly and whole. Based on Gospel work and participation, not VBS and more garbage programs that only beg the question when are going to boldly proclaim the truth and stop hiding behind childrens programs to reach out to adults and other children. The Church for the most part has been feminized and the men that do come are often very passive, which is a sin for men just look at Adam, ladies is that what you really want or would you like to be proud of your men as being Biblical leaders and heads of authority in your house. They better not be sheirking all their responsobility on you wives for the spiritual growth of the family because that is His job, Eph 5:22-6:4, Gen 2-3, Deut 6. And as far as headship goes ladies look at it this way, when you or your children are badly behaving, people look at your husband and shake their heads, naturally. It's his fault. When he bahaves badly they don't look at you to get him under control, he bears his own reproach. When you disrespect him or dress like you don't have a husband or at least a good father, the men are shamed because you have no respect for yourself or the men in your life. When you act like a man and try to take charge of your home out from under him, even if its because he is lazy it shames you and your husband, your femininity and his masculinity are both degraded. Laziness is the sin of men and we gladly geive control over to women because its our nature to do so, look at Adam. Eve is speaking as if God told her anything and she misqoutes Him twice. She speaks as if she were the head of the family and never calls for her husband. And Adam lets her do it. Death to both! Eve and her daughters will forever struggle with the time proven trust issue with men, she didn't trust her husband Adam to do His job and thus trys to do it for him, that is her sin, in and of itself because women ofcourse could do our job, its not a questioin of ability and worth (the serpent makes it about that, as does feminism) but of role and God's design.
Also you should read 'Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood' by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, it will help you both get your roles back and find joy in how God made you instead of listening to the serpent and the feminists making you feel ashamed your not the other and trying to ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
If you are looking for a great biblical philosophy on student ministry, look no further. It is filled with great pastoral insight and tone. This book flows from a father's heart. You will love his testimonies, stats, and solutions. Whether or not you believe in "student ministry", you should read this book. Wright gives a good balance of wisdom and humility in this approach to ministry; while at the same time maintains biblical integrity.
Steve- Thanks for writing this book. I will refer to it often in the future. My favorite parts were the testimonies at the end- very compelling.
Rated by buyers -
"I often wonder if perhaps we have moved so far away from the biblical ideal (for youth ministry) that we may not recognize it any longer."
This is the title of the latest book that I have read. reThink, written by Steve Wright and Chris Graves. There are a plethora of books on the subject of youth ministry, why should anyone care about yet another book? The reason why this book IS different, is because it is not yet another model. At least not in the sense most of you may be thinking. Wright does an excellent job of pulling out the common themes/characteristics of typical modern day youth ministry models (YMM) and treating it as just one model. He then evaluates that model in light of scripture. What this book seeks to do, is to take a hard look at the current YMM and ask, "Is it Biblical?" If it isn't, then how fast can we get rid of it and replace it with one that is Biblical?
And YES, all the other youth ministry books claim theirs is the most Biblical, too. The question then is, "What are the fruits of the `typical' modern day YMM?" The entire very first chapter of the book deals just with raw data/statistics. And, let me tell you, the evidence is overwhelmingly against the current youth ministry model. Nobody needs statistics to argue for a Biblical YMM (all you DO need is good hermenutics), but when the stats are on your side, it makes your argument that much more potent.
For example: the lowest number cited in regards to student drop-out rate for church membership after high school graduation was 61%; the highest was 88%. In regards to the tenure of youth pastors, the stat cited was 3.1 years at a given church. If you were looking at just the bottom line, which I am glad the author does much more than that, then this would be seen as a miserable failure. Even at the low end, 61%... if a college basketball coach averaged a 61% win record every year over the past 10 years, he would no longer have a job. Youth ministries have had this model for over 50 years.
So, what is the typical youth ministry model that Wright rails against? It is hard to describe it in just a few words, but let me try to sum up what Wright thinks are the basic characteristics of a typical youth ministry:
1. There is little to no parental involvement.
2. Parents are seen as competition for the youth pastor.
3. Youth are won over by the youth pastor's charismatic personality, gimmicks, and entertainment instead of being won over to Christ and to authentic Christian relationships.
4. Pragmatism, rather than the Bible, is the default method of evaluating ministry effectiveness.
5. Numbers are the prime indicator of success.
6. The youth group is at best weakly connected with the rest of the church and at worst totally severed.
7. Because of the above mentioned characteristics, far too many youth (presumably even the ones that are truly saved- I'll get back to this later.) not only graduate from the church when the graduate high school, but they graduate from God.
(I would say that my youth group can be described like this, but it's difficult for me to do so. That's because my youth pastor that discipled me in high school endorsed this book. Needless to say, I'm going to have a very interesting phone conversation with him some time in the near future.)
After lambasting this current YMM, he evaluates the only two other choices: Total Family Intergration and what Wright calls a hybrid model; a model that takes the Biblical elements of both family ministry and student ministry and "co-championing" them both together. This hybrid model takes seriously the charge to parents that's made in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 for parents to view themselves as the primary disciplers of their own children. This is the primary principle behind Wright's argument. If it is true that the parents are the primary discipler of their children, then everything else needs to fall in line behind it. We can see what this looks like by basically flipping the above-mentioned list on its head:
1. Parents are to be challenged and encouraged to be involved in all aspects of student ministry.
2. Parents are considered as the primary disciplers of their children and partners with the youth pastor.
3. Youth are won over by a gospel-saturated family life (or won over by the friend who comes from a gospel-saturated family life) and, not surprisingly...
4. ...by the preaching of God's word (here's a great quote from the book about preaching God's word: "Does the church have the courage to become relevant by becoming Biblical?").
5. High attendance numbers do not matter nearly as much as retention numbers.
6. The point of the youth ministry is to teach the youth how to operate within the life of the church as a whole, therefore the youth are ... Read More
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