The 9 Best Practices for Youth Ministry
Kurt Johnston and Tim Levert
Group Publishing, 2010, 188 pp, $16.99
Who needs another book on the how-to’s of youth ministry? Well, when it comes to The 9 Best Practices of Youth Ministry, I’d say we all do.
At first glance, the book contains similar topics to many other books emerging at the moment, such as evangelism, relationships with parents and looking after one’s personal spiritually. What is different is that this book is well-pitched, humorous without being patronizing and written by people who are knowledgeable about youth ministry.
The authors have between them graduate training in leadership and a Ph.D. in youth ministry, culminating in an intelligent yet highly practical book that is adaptable for ministries of any size.
This book is not a how-to on setting up a youth ministry. It also has good, yet perhaps limited, suggestions for immediate application into programming. What this book does is perhaps more important: developing healthy leaders who consider their bigger-picture ministry. This book moves a youth worker beyond curriculum to look at how to be a healthy leader, how to promote a culture that welcomes non-Christians and evangelizes without alienation.
The principles behind The 9 Best Practices of Youth Ministry are a welcome overhaul to any youth ministry.
