Teenology: The Art of Raising Great Teenagers
Jim Burns
Bethany House, 2010, $14.99

Jim Burns has raised the bar of ministering to families through this book of integrated knowledge and wisdom regarding teenagers. Without sounding superior, Burns shares authoritative insights that will gift parents with a confident spirit and practical steps. Part One addresses the developmental and cultural hurdles young people face in becoming responsible adults, while Part Two hits on the common problems for which parents need solid answers.

This book is a must-read for youth workers and teachers. The understanding to be gained about why teens act, feel and think as they do will be invaluable to your ministry. Tips abound, from those about handling current issues to others that prevent new ones from developing.

Sample: Page 112
The spiritual life of most teenagers is more like a roller coaster than a calm and gentle ride. As teens move from dependence toward independence, they naturally begin to explore and even question their spiritual belief system. I have talked with what seems like hundreds of kids who are fully committed to God one day and doubt His existence the next. At camp they decide to become missionaries in Africa, and later in the week they are caught smoking in the wilderness or making out with the girl (or guy) they just met.

The experimental phase of adolescence doesn’t just affect moral behaviors [such as] drinking and sexual promiscuity. It is also a major factor in developing a solid faith. As teens figure out and begin to own their faith, it can get pretty tough for parents who desire to pass on their own faith. A teenager’s faith is often contradictory and self-centered. What teenager hasn’t prayed to God to give [him or her] a better grade on a test because [he or she] didn’t have time to study? Or blamed God for not helping [him or her] find a date for the prom? The teen years can be filled with, “I don’t want to go to church anymore because it’s boring and irrelevant.” For others [such as] Cathy and me when we were growing up, the teen years were the spiritual formation time where we were converted and called to a lifelong ministry. Even so, that didn’t stop us from drawing outside the lines with our teen beliefs and behaviors.