Prof. Pat Gillen
Liberty University
Youth 301-D02 LUO
Timeless Youth Ministry: A Handbook for Successfully Reaching Today’s Youth
Reading Report #4
Introduction:
In my shorten time of experience, youth seemed to be the most targeted yet the most
missed age demographic in the church. Statistics show that after going away to college, most
churched teens simply leave and don’t come back, a lifetime of youth group leaving little impact
on their adult lives. With certain current events in my life, this issue has some great personal
relevance to me and left me wondering what the Church can do to ensure that our youth ministry
is successful. I remember hearing Ed Stetzer doing an interview about the youth in church and
he mentioned that church is no longer a priority to them once they leave for college. Through the
interview I felt that the issue that the churches haves is teens “dropping out”. The church needs
to refocus their efforts of youth ministry. The church needs to remind themselves that the youth
is not the church of tomorrow, but of today.
Summary:
Lee Vukich and Steve Vandegriff, in their book “Timeless Youth Ministry”, have helped
me answer questions that I have had. In this comprehensive manual, they cover everything from
a definition of adolescence to how to plan a yearly event calendar. Beginning with an analysis of
contemporary youth culture and contemporary youth ministry, Vukich and Vangegriff examine
the similarities and differences and provide many practical ways in which the two can be made to
intersect.
Another major part of the book focuses on teenagers and the search for identity. The
question of Who Am I? first surfaces in the age of adolescence and Vukich and Vandegriff note
that this is prime time for the Church to be training their youth that they are children of God. The
chapter entitled “A Biblical Perspective of Identity” is short and sweet but offers a great
overview of how teens—or anyone—should perceive their identity.
The core of the book discusses the purposes and goals of youth ministry. Basically, the
message is simple: Discipleship, baptism, and education. Within each of these sections, they
offer practical suggestions for hitting each aspect of these core areas. Also discussed is the
person of the youth pastor. Noting that the concept of “youth pastor” is absent in the Bible, they
define the pastor merely as one who has a focus on and specialization in youth. Vukich and
Vangegriff caution readers not to view the youth pastor as a step to “higher levels” as it often is
among clergy or unimportant (as in “he gets paid to play”) as it is often viewed by laity, but as an
integral part of Christian ministry. After all, since the vast majority of people become Christians
as children, one could argue that youth ministry is more important evangelistically than most
adult ministries.
Personal Response:
The book was an easy read. I was able to read all 464 pages with ease and comfort.
When these two guys write a book, it has been pleasing. I felt like they hit a lot of topics overall.
Yes, the book was about youth ministry, which is a broad topic, so it’s hard to have one response
for the entire book. A lot of the topics that were discussed can be made into sermons that are
relatable to the youth. One topics that has been on the top of my mind since I started in ministry
is the identity crisis that the youth is having to deal with. God created man and woman, but our
society feels they can recreate the gender column. Facebook alone has 71 different classification
for gender recognition. That is crazy! I almost feel this area of postmodernism, people are just
choosing their gender because it is the cool thing to do. That once this generation gets older they
will normalize themselves. The youth is trying to find their own image and by doing so they are
1 Lee Vukich and Steve Vandergriff, Timeless Youth Ministry: A Handbook for Successfully
Reaching Today’s Youth, (Moody Press, Chicago, Il,2002).
trying to recreate the wheel. The authors had a great point, a starting point for the defense of self-
identity, “The self is one of the important factors governing adolescent behavior. The adolescent
is developing a “self-image” and the adolescent years will be important in determining his
personality that will remain with him throughout life.”1 The actions that the youth are taking
now are building their foundation for their lives ahead. I also enjoy later on in the book that the
authors gave a lot of insight in to what group time looks like. They also gave great insight in
how to create curriculum for lesson time. Someone who did not grow up in the church or ever
been to youth group, I have been creating or guiding the ministry on the fly for the past six
months.
Conclusion:
Their conclusion is hopeful: youth are looking for Christ, Churches need to figure out
how to make them see Him. Technology will come and go; the newest and coolest thing today
will be obsolete tomorrow. The music will change ten years from now. Books on youth ministry
that were written fifteen or twenty years ago won’t help much today. The youth of today are so
different than in the past that doing life with the kids will teach us more now than ever. The most
important factor is that no matter what the method is, the message is still the same.
Bibliography
Vukich, Lee, and Steve Vandegriff. Timeless Youth Ministry: A Handbook for Successfully
Reaching Today’s Youth. Chicago: Moody Press, 2002
