ADOPTIVE YOUTH MINISTRY

Kids desperately need healthy, committed adults who can help them thrive in their faith and become active participants in the life of the church. This requires the efforts of the whole faith community. Chap Clark, one of the leading voices in youth ministry today, brings together twenty-four experts from a variety of denominations and traditions to offer a comprehensive introduction to adoptive youth ministry, a theologically driven, academically grounded, and practical youth ministry model. The book shows readers how to integrate emerging generations into the family of faith, helping young adults become active participants in God's redemptive community.

I contributed the book’s final chapter, “A Call to Adoption: Integration of Youth Ministry to the Church”.

ENDORSEMENTS.

Chap Clark has brought together many of youth ministry's finest thinkers to create this incredible book. Each perspective reflects a unique and important grasp on the ever-changing world of youth ministry. Chap is this generation's youth ministry professor, and his insight is deeply appreciated and respected. I will tell everyone I know in youth ministry to read this book.

— Jim Burns, president, HomeWord; author of Confident Parenting and Creating an Intimate Marriage

For those of us committed to ministry with young people, the task is more complicated than ever before. We need to move into the lives of young people in ways that are more biblically shaped, more sociologically aware, and more practically effective. Chap Clark has done us a great favor by providing insights from a wide range of thoughtful and mature leaders who have given decades to youth ministry. Ponder the insights and let them shape your life as you offer yourself to young people in Jesus's name.

— Ken Knipp, vice president of training, Young Life

It is not very often a new framework for understanding youth ministry comes along. Chap Clark has given us a new way to understand, evaluate, and facilitate youth ministry. Adoptive Youth Ministry is a wonderfully original contribution to the academy and student ministry praxis. Those of us in youth ministry and those of us teaching youth ministry will long be grateful for this new paradigm.

— Len Kageler, professor of youth and family studies, Nyack College

Chap Clark and his colleagues change the adoption paradigm by using the term adoptive, shifting from top down to peer to peer, from organizational to organic, and from perceived efficiency to heartfelt authenticity. Adoptive Youth Ministry will change the character and culture of your student ministry.

— Ron Hunter, director and cofounder, D6 Conference; author of The DNA of D6: Building Blocks of Generational Discipleship

Chap Clark has brought together today's brightest youth ministry minds to compile the definitive guide for the theory and practice of reaching teenagers.

— Jim Candy, youth ministry veteran, author, and church planter