This Way to Youth Ministry

A FIELD GUIDE TO THE WILD LIFE OF YOUTH MINISTRY Youth Ministry. It's quite an idea so much bigger than two words. One part odyssey, one part call, one part mission, and one part quest, youth ministry calls us into places of breathless exhilaration, stunning beauty, genuine peril, and unknown discovery. This is not terrain for the faint of heart. But it is a landscape of grace and wonder. This Way to Youth Ministry is the most complete academic text for those who might be called to such a journey. Thirty-year youth ministry veteran Duffy Robbins explores the theology, theory, and practice of youth ministry and helps you discover how to: Identify your calling to ministry Cultivate the traits and training that make a good youth pastor Set boundaries and maintain priorities Understand the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical development on adolescents Navigate youth culture and postmodernism Understand youth ministry in relation to the rest of the Church Develop a team of volunteers who will walk the journey with you Develop and apply a personalized ministry philosophy With just the right mix of theory and application, this extensive academic text shows you both the big picture and the close-up details of making ministry work. Whether your journey is just beginning or well under way, This Way to Youth Ministry is the book that will help with everything that lies ahead.
Table of Contents Unit One: Introduction 1. Down the Great Unknown 4 2. A Journey Marked by 'Blazes' 16 3. The Call of the Wild 42 4. Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares 96 Unit Two: Understanding the Terrain 5. Changing Places: Adventures in the 'Land of There But Not There' 162 6. Converging Currents: Exploring Adolescent Development 182 7. Exploring the Inner Passages of Adolescence: Moral Choices and Emerging Identity 210 8. Reading the Water: Thinking About Culture 246 9. Reading the Water: Scouting the River 286 10. Introducing the Church: Holy Ground or Unholy Grind? 338 Unit Three: Charting a Course for the Journey 11. Adolescent Spirituality: The Odyssey of Growing Faith 382 12. Youth Ministry Orienteering: Developing a Philosophy of Youth Ministry 422 13. A Biblical Philosophy of Ministry: A Journey with Compass and Compassion 470 14. The Corps of Discovery: Working with a Team 518 15. Conclusion: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning? 558 Bibliography 562 Index 571