Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church Hardcover – September 20, 2016

As a twenty-four year old who has lived in three different states in the past six years and been either a student or staff in church youth groups ranging from 3 to 100s, it it’s clear to me that there are plenty of churches who don’t know what to do with/about young people. That’s a problem. As a youth minister (to identify my perspective), I think everyone that cares for the future of the church needs to have access to this book. Whether you come from an urban/suburban/rural/middle-of-nowhere church, a two-week old church plant to a 300 year old congregation, and regardless of denominational affiliation (personally I’ve been part of churches of Christ and Southern Baptist churches) this book can give you some really good ideas.To be clear, this isn’t a book about someone’s “new” ideas on how church or youth ministries should run. It’s a book based on research/interviews with dozens of churches from all over the country (in a diverse set of demographics). The authors are clear that Growing Young is NOT a how-to book. Instead they unpack Six Core Commitments that they found already in practice in churches that were doing well to grow young (engage/equip young people). Some of these core commitments aren’t anything novel (and the authors don’t pretend to make them that way). However, some of these are very difficult to put into practice and constantly require our attention. In each chapter, Growing Young gives its readers several tangible ideas on how to implement these commitments.This book covers the highlights from several other prominent ministry ideas/books/philosophies. In some ways, the Fuller Youth Institute team made this book to be a one-stop shop kind of project. It blends so much good information into one manageable/accessible package that is almost too good (my head hurt while reading sometimes because of how bright the inside of my skull became when so many lightbulbs lit up). It gives leaders from all backgrounds some very important tools for helping the church (intergenerational ministry, empowering students through their gifts, leadership styles, service/justice issues, importance of adult involvement in the lives of teenagers, ministering to families, etc).Growing Young is balanced. At times it provides facts, information, and other metrics. In the same chapter it provides stories/testimonies that coincide with those pieces of data. Then soon after that you get a gentle, but firm reminder that it is important that our churches get it together and implement their findings if we want to be part of the bigger story of God’s work in His kingdom.The authors are deeply passionate about the subject. They present their material in a humble, inspiring manner. This book is written by those who care deeply for God’s kingdom for those who care deeply about God’s kingdom. I don’t see any serious negative qualities in this book other than it sometimes was painful to read (man can only take so many “rip, stab, stabs” to heart upon realizing his/his church’s mistakes in the past). It’s not going to be the final word on ministry ever written, nor was it intended to be. Growing Young is passionate, informative, and most importantly (to me at least) helpful.

So… you’ve probably found your way to this review because you care about young people. Me too! I’m glad we have that in common. I bet we have another thing in common… the struggle of determining just what exactly to do about it. This field is so full of ‘feelings’ and ‘personal experiences' it is difficult to sort out what is worth listening to and what will work in your context. Here is what Growing Young brings to the table: research based findings.It’s not common, and I REALLY like it.What the actual research shows is actually quite different from many of the conclusions myself and others have reached about millennials and what they are looking for spiritually. I don’t think I realized how many preconceived notions I had about millennials (despite the fact that I am one of them)… and most of those notions were discouraging at best. The findings presented in Growing Young are exciting! They are completely in-line with scripture! They give me hope! They are going to change my approach to ministry in many ways!Despite being based on research, the book presents the findings in a very readable and relatable way. They also do a great job of providing you with tangible ways to make the leap from simply becoming educated on the issues to doing something about them. I don’t care what place you might hold in your church, from upper level leadership to low-person on the totem pole… you CAN have an impact in helping your church ‘grow young’ and in the process become a healthier, better functioning, God-pleasing body of believers. The time and money you spend on this resource will most definitely pay out dividends! In fact, I suspect after reading it you’ll buy another copy to share. I did.

The very first statement in the book made me tear up! The very first statement! That’s when I knew I’m ALL in to discover how churches ARE engaging the youth/young adults. Because I want what this girl says, to be what they say about our church:“A lot of my friends don’t really want to go to their church. But we want to be here, and the older people in our church can see that…so they want us to be here. Our whole church treats us like we’re the church of today, not just the church of the future.”--Ashlee, age 17Why I read the book:• I myself left the church from age 18-22 due to lack of engagement in my local church.• I have 2 teens.• Our church is literally across the street from a junior college.• I’m on Staff as a Children’s Director and I’m acutely aware of the teens that stop serving with us in the children’s program and the young adults who need a place to call home.This book, with years of research will show you HOW to engage young people in your church with 6 manageable strategies, each with its own list of actions to take. Couldn’t be simpler. The only problem is you’ll have a hard time picking what next action step you want to take because they are all great! But like I heard on TV, inch by inch is a cinch. Yard by yard is hard.Even if you aren’t on a staff who will decide the direction your church will take with these ideas, if you are a parent of this age group (15-29) it gives you many things to “chew on” that will give you knowledge of this problem of the youth/young adults leaving the church, raise your awareness of the need for churches to “grow young” and why. Plus, maybe give you that impetus to get leaders in your church to begin growing in this direction.Easy to read. One great nugget of a chapter at a time. If you are a fan of Sticky Faith by FYI, this is a no brainer. Get the book. Dive into it yourself or with a couple others!