Accurate Appraisal of Youth "Ministry"

One of the presenters at the conference I attended this weekend was Alvin Reid. New to me, alas. I picked up a copy of his book, "Raising the Bar - Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium" (Kregel Academic, 2004) and am nodding and praying in agreement with what I've read.

Josh McDowell wrote in the foreward, "Inside the church, well-meaning youth pastors and youth ministries have developed, sometimes with the unintentional consequences of separating families; encouraging adolescent rather than mature behavior; and - perhaps most significantly - failing to challenge teens, who are at their greatest-ever potential for learning."

Reid writes, "It's time to jettison our recreational Christianity for the radical New Testament kind." I've not seen that term, "recreational Christianity," but it is a sadly apropos term.

I look forward to reading the rest of the book, and will share more later.