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Forming Faith: Discipling the Next Generation in a Post-Christian Culture
Resiliently rooted in Christ—living into this formational moment.
What would it look like to form kids with lasting faith in Jesus, no matter the culture or context? Does this seem possible? It’s getting harder to imagine in our highly secularized culture. Current approaches to faith formation aren’t working. Matt Markins, Sam Luce, and Mike Handler combine leadership experience from Awana—global pioneer in children’s discipleship—with pastoral wisdom, to provide a much needed, timely resource for the church and home.
Forming Faith helps us understand what isn’t working, why it doesn’t work, and what we can do to build the church. Markins, Luce, and Handler—fathers and leaders—look at the blueprint often employed in children’s ministries that seems innovative but is greatly misguided. Forming Faith brings not only analysis; it provides biblically based, backed-by-research solutions to form lasting faith in our children.
We have real concerns and fears for the kids we love. More than anything we want to see younger generations follow Jesus with conviction and compassion. What must we be doing at church and at home to strengthen our influence? This resource provides the focus, resiliency, and hope we all need!
What would it look like to form kids with lasting faith in Jesus, no matter the culture or context? Does this seem possible? It’s getting harder to imagine in our highly secularized culture. Current approaches to faith formation aren’t working. Matt Markins, Sam Luce, and Mike Handler combine leadership experience from Awana—global pioneer in children’s discipleship—with pastoral wisdom, to provide a much needed, timely resource for the church and home.
Forming Faith helps us understand what isn’t working, why it doesn’t work, and what we can do to build the church. Markins, Luce, and Handler—fathers and leaders—look at the blueprint often employed in children’s ministries that seems innovative but is greatly misguided. Forming Faith brings not only analysis; it provides biblically based, backed-by-research solutions to form lasting faith in our children.
We have real concerns and fears for the kids we love. More than anything we want to see younger generations follow Jesus with conviction and compassion. What must we be doing at church and at home to strengthen our influence? This resource provides the focus, resiliency, and hope we all need!
253 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2024
34 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Matt Markins
8 books1 followerMATT MARKINS serves on the Global Leadership Team at Awana as the Vice President of Ministry Resources as well as the Vice President of Marketing and Strategy. Prior to joining the Awana executive leadership team, Matt served in leadership roles with Thomas Nelson Publishers, Randall House Publishers and was the co-founder of the D6 Conference (a discipleship and family ministry community). Matt's ministry in organizational leadership has been marked by leading and influencing change from within by casting vision, forging strategic partnerships, nurturing healthy culture, developing organizational alignment and implementing sustainable plans toward ministry effectiveness, health and growth. He and his wife Katie have been volunteering and growing in children's ministry for more than twenty years. As Nashville transplants, they live and play in the Chicago suburbs with their two sons tolerating dreadful winters, but soaking up refreshingly mild weather the other seven months of the year.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 19, 2024
My endorsement: Drawing from the Scriptures and significant sociological research on children’s and family ministry, Matt, Mike and Sam make the case that what the next generation needs isn’t attractional gimmicks or even programming excellence but biblical orthodoxy, faithful shepherding, and a loving church community. If you’re a children’s ministry leader this book will help you move from merely declaring that parents are the primary disciple-makers in kids’ lives to intentionally coming alongside parents and growing with them as they learn to shepherd their kids in the faith.
September 8, 2024
Someone or something IS GOING TO disciple and train up your children.
How about we intentionally pour into kids now, so when troubles come they have a reservoir of knowledge, strategies and a community, that will help them through difficult times, INSTEAD of them entering adulthood, feeling broken, powerless, and alone. We will never be able to fully grasp the positive, Christ-centered impact we can have on ONE child and the ripple effect that can have for generations to come.
This book challenges the reader to ask ... who/what is pouring into the kids under my care, and also, who am I purposely pouring into? Am I pointing others to Christ in my actions, words, prayers and service to others?
Excellent resource for individuals or church groups. Questions for reflection are included at the end of each chapter.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and was under no obligation to post a review.
How about we intentionally pour into kids now, so when troubles come they have a reservoir of knowledge, strategies and a community, that will help them through difficult times, INSTEAD of them entering adulthood, feeling broken, powerless, and alone. We will never be able to fully grasp the positive, Christ-centered impact we can have on ONE child and the ripple effect that can have for generations to come.
This book challenges the reader to ask ... who/what is pouring into the kids under my care, and also, who am I purposely pouring into? Am I pointing others to Christ in my actions, words, prayers and service to others?
Excellent resource for individuals or church groups. Questions for reflection are included at the end of each chapter.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and was under no obligation to post a review.
August 7, 2024
Less Disney, More Mr. Rogers. Amen!
As my good friend Mike Handler says, “Don’t just spout problems, start solving them”. (We use this phrase in our house OFTEN).
The incredibly important topic of faith formation is throughly broken down in this well written book to help us understand why what we’re doing isn’t working, all while offering solutions to start to fix this cultural problem.
I must read for anyone raising Christian kids whether it’s in the home, the church, or the mission field.
As my good friend Mike Handler says, “Don’t just spout problems, start solving them”. (We use this phrase in our house OFTEN).
The incredibly important topic of faith formation is throughly broken down in this well written book to help us understand why what we’re doing isn’t working, all while offering solutions to start to fix this cultural problem.
I must read for anyone raising Christian kids whether it’s in the home, the church, or the mission field.
April 18, 2025
Written by Matt Markins, Mike Handler, and Sam Luce, Forming Faith teaches you how to disciple the next generation in a post-Christian culture. Instead of shielding or entertaining children, we need to form them.
Gospel and Scripture
In a chapter that resonated deeply with me, the book compares the two kingdoms of Walt Disney and Fred Rogers. While Walt created an escape from the real world, Fred lived in a neighborhood and showed kids how to navigate the real world. Where Walt entertained, Fred empowered. Walt was concerned about your experience; Fred was concerned about who you were becoming.
Three resets are needed: (1) Who matters more than what, (2) real transcends virtual, and (3) small is the new big. The book explains how relational presence transcends production value. We must show up, listen, and insist on intimacy. Tell your kids the truth, and don’t forget you were a kid once – as was Jesus.
The old map of children’s ministry focused on church growth, entertainment, relevance, and a “Bible-lite” approach. This leads to legalism, moralism, and moralistic therapeutic deism. The new map is actually an old map. It consists of faithfulness, lasting faith, community, and engagement with the gospel and Scripture.
Discipleship is a Dialogue
The authors argue that the single most strategic opportunity to form faith is to move the perceived deadline of spiritual formation from high school graduation to as early as possible. World formation takes place between preschool and elementary school. By the time a child reaches middle school, an entire worldview has already been established.
Church leaders can strike a better balance between formal training and informal conversations to encourage, train, and develop parents through deliberate discipleship. This will help parents feel confident and equipped to disciple their children. The book also suggests changing the language, especially from “children’s ministry” to “children’s discipleship.” Partnering with families, emphasizing the urgency of the eternal, and fostering intergenerational connections are also helpful.
I was particularly interested in the idea that there is a cost to discipleship that families must consider. Families need to realize that they must own their schedules or their schedules will own them. Discipleship is not a monologue but a dialogue. Forming Faith challenged and inspired my approach to children’s ministry—rather, children’s discipleship—both at church and in the home.
I received a media copy of Forming Faith and this is my honest review.
Gospel and Scripture
In a chapter that resonated deeply with me, the book compares the two kingdoms of Walt Disney and Fred Rogers. While Walt created an escape from the real world, Fred lived in a neighborhood and showed kids how to navigate the real world. Where Walt entertained, Fred empowered. Walt was concerned about your experience; Fred was concerned about who you were becoming.
Three resets are needed: (1) Who matters more than what, (2) real transcends virtual, and (3) small is the new big. The book explains how relational presence transcends production value. We must show up, listen, and insist on intimacy. Tell your kids the truth, and don’t forget you were a kid once – as was Jesus.
The old map of children’s ministry focused on church growth, entertainment, relevance, and a “Bible-lite” approach. This leads to legalism, moralism, and moralistic therapeutic deism. The new map is actually an old map. It consists of faithfulness, lasting faith, community, and engagement with the gospel and Scripture.
Discipleship is a Dialogue
The authors argue that the single most strategic opportunity to form faith is to move the perceived deadline of spiritual formation from high school graduation to as early as possible. World formation takes place between preschool and elementary school. By the time a child reaches middle school, an entire worldview has already been established.
Church leaders can strike a better balance between formal training and informal conversations to encourage, train, and develop parents through deliberate discipleship. This will help parents feel confident and equipped to disciple their children. The book also suggests changing the language, especially from “children’s ministry” to “children’s discipleship.” Partnering with families, emphasizing the urgency of the eternal, and fostering intergenerational connections are also helpful.
I was particularly interested in the idea that there is a cost to discipleship that families must consider. Families need to realize that they must own their schedules or their schedules will own them. Discipleship is not a monologue but a dialogue. Forming Faith challenged and inspired my approach to children’s ministry—rather, children’s discipleship—both at church and in the home.
I received a media copy of Forming Faith and this is my honest review.
February 3, 2025
Forming Faith provides a much-needed call to rethink children's ministry and incorporates significant social research and biblical principles into a gospel-centered framework for calling our kids to faith. The authors' writing is clear and compelling. The book is clearly anchored in real pastoral experience from a wide variety of contexts. Their frameworks aren't abstract "good ideas" that are disconnected from real churches. I highly recommend the book for children's ministry leaders.
The reason I give this four rather than five stars is the book seems to undervalue the usefulness of youth ministry, in favor of prioritizing children's ministry. Of course, this book is written by children's ministry leaders, so the priority of children's ministry shouldn't be surprising. I don't think children's or youth ministry leaders benefit from either group undermining the importance of the other's ministry. The reasons they give focus on the formative season of childhood, but they seem overlook the importance of youth ministry and teen discipleship. The book seems to talk about "next generation" but really is focused on children's ministry.
The reason I give this four rather than five stars is the book seems to undervalue the usefulness of youth ministry, in favor of prioritizing children's ministry. Of course, this book is written by children's ministry leaders, so the priority of children's ministry shouldn't be surprising. I don't think children's or youth ministry leaders benefit from either group undermining the importance of the other's ministry. The reasons they give focus on the formative season of childhood, but they seem overlook the importance of youth ministry and teen discipleship. The book seems to talk about "next generation" but really is focused on children's ministry.
September 3, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ This book was a fascinating read! Part I explains the problem in what we’ve made “kids church” to be (comparing Walt Disney to Fred Rogers) and then explains what the primary focus of every ministry should be about at church: discipleship. Part II discusses survey results from actual church leaders regarding what their priorities should be vs. activities they spend their time on and what they think they need to do more of to make disciples vs. what they currently do. It also provides a framework for the formational church and the formational home that gives vision for partnership between church leaders and parents to build discipleship patterns and routines naturally into both spaces.
I would have given it 5 ⭐️ if it had some practical examples of what other churches (showing various size churches, volunteer-led vs staff-led initiatives, etc.) have done and some testimonies of students who kept the faith. Sometimes it’s the unexpected things (like side bar convos) that came from the expected things (like a high school retreat) that make the most impact.
I would have given it 5 ⭐️ if it had some practical examples of what other churches (showing various size churches, volunteer-led vs staff-led initiatives, etc.) have done and some testimonies of students who kept the faith. Sometimes it’s the unexpected things (like side bar convos) that came from the expected things (like a high school retreat) that make the most impact.
August 5, 2025
This is a well researched book and a good resource for anyone who is a parent or is in children’s ministry. I liked how the book began and looked promising but I wish it could be more concise. It is relatively short read at 250 pages but building the premise itself felt too long and the constant mention of research and promise of a paradigm shift in making children’s ministry more effective was a bit repetitive. I love the facts, figures and diagrams but still it felt too academic for my taste and not something every kids ministry/ discipleship leader might enjoy reading. I love the emphasis on faithful sharing of gospel without falling into the entertainment trap and using fun just as the tool it is meant to be used. And love the concept of Belong, Believe, Become so our children have lasting faith in God. Having said that, I trust God can work in amazing ways no matter which discipleship technique is being used. This book is sadly not for me though as I feel that dependence on God which is an important aspect in any Christian ministry is missing and there is more reliance on human efforts in instilling lasting faith in God. Might have missed best parts but couldn’t read beyond ‘Intermission’ chapter.
This book was shared as in ebook format by Moody publishers in exchange for a review.
This book was shared as in ebook format by Moody publishers in exchange for a review.
January 18, 2025
If you're a volunteer in kids' ministry, a parent, a grandparent, or a kids' ministry director, I highly recommend this important book. The authors do an excellent job of explaining where we are in these roles and provide a clear roadmap for passing on the Christian faith to the next generation. They outline what Christians should believe and practice when it comes to discipling the next generation in a Post-Christian Culture. The book is filled with extensive research, compelling illustrations, and practical examples drawn from years of experience with kids and families. This is exactly the kind of resource I wish I had when I was working in kids' ministry.
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January 7, 2025“If you care about the discipleship of kids—at home and in church—this is THE book to read this year.
Biblically grounded, contextually aware, gospel driven, ministry minded.” - Trevin Wax
Biblically grounded, contextually aware, gospel driven, ministry minded.” - Trevin Wax
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews