Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students: A Guide for Youth Workers, Pastors, Teachers Campus Ministers

by Richard R. Dunn

Alberto is an energetic, people-pleasing eighth grader. He seems to have it all--from the junior high varsity team to his family's beautiful new home to leadership in his youth group. But he feels pressured by team members who mock his Christianity and rejected by his dad whose work requires more and more travel. His young spiritual life is in a precarious place. Last year, as a high school sophomore, Jonathan began spending time with some recreational drug users. He was confident in his ability to hang out with these guys without getting involved with drugs. But he crossed the line. Jonathan is broken and cannot find his way back to the comfort of his previous trust in Jesus. Rachel is estranged from her parents. In her freshman year at college, she is sharing an apartment with her boyfriend. She is torn between her emotional dependence on his attention and the fear that he will once again hurt her in a drunken rage. She has tried church but deemed it to be unsafe for a person like herself. This generation is the first to travel a truly postmodern pilgrimage where religious pluralism and faddish spiritual experiences are in vogue while Christianity is considered out of style. You want to reach them. But how? Richard Dunn suggests that the key is to set the pace in their lives--physically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. Pacing takes time. It requires listening to youth and digging beneath the surface. But it pays off, because pacing allows you to enter the world of an adolescent and communicate caring. In this book, Dunn shows you how to set the pace with sensitivity to the unique spiritual issues that occur during each stage of adolescent junior high, senior high and college.

Genres: Discipleship, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book has many insights to offer first-time Youth Pastors and Ministers and church youth workers, most of this is common sense. In fact, many of these same themes and topics we should all be applying to our spiritual lives regardless of our age or demographic. My biggest qualm with this book was with Dunn's use of the term "Pacing." Besides simply being a really annoying term for "walking alongside the student while setting the standard," it seems woefully inadequate for the sort of ministry that we as Youth Pastors (etc) actually engage in with our students. If we need to "pace" with our students, what are the parents doing? What are the schools doing? And (more importantly) what are our church communities doing together as a whole? These are just a few of the questions that the book left me with.

[Kyle Alt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get this book while you still can. The insights offered here are so relevant and insightful!

[Kory Monk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solid book on spiritual formation.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talbot Course: Trends in Youth Ministry