Ch. 2: “The Triumph of…”
To ask youth workers and parents: 1. What’s wrong with Moralistic Therapeutic Deism? What’s the big deal? (For further reflections on this question, see...
View ArticleCh. 3: “Mormon Envy”
To ask youth workers and parents: 1. What is your reaction to the way Mormon teenagers are formed in their families and faith communities? Is there anything you want to learn from this approach to...
View ArticleCh. 4: “Generative Faith”
To ask youth workers, educators and parents: 1. All churches try to “hand on” Christian tradition to new generations and newcomers to faith–a process the early church called catechesis. Sunday...
View ArticleCh. 5: Missional Imaginations
To ask youth workers, educators, and parents: 1. We’re halfway through this book. In the opening line of Chapter 5, Dean says: “Some would argue—maybe you are among them—that Moralistic Therapeutic...
View ArticleCh. 6: “Parents Matter Most”
To ask parents, educators, and pastors: 1. Does sharing your faith with teenagers (or your own children) feel intimidating? Why or why not? 2. Dean uses the work of Biblical scholar Walter...
View ArticleCh. 7: “Going Viral for Jesus”
To ask youth workers, educators, and parents: 1. What does testimony mean to you? 2. Look at table 7.1, “Practices Promoting Religious Articulacy in American Teenagers.” Which practice has helped you...
View ArticleCh. 8: “Hanging Loose”
To ask parents, educators, and youth leaders: 1. On p. 165, Dean describes the Celtic idea of thin places, “places where God reached through heaven’s floorboard and grabbed humans’ attention.” Think...
View ArticleCh. 9: “Make No Small Plans”
To ask youth workers, educators, and parents: 1. “When we heard that having a highly devoted faith, by definition of the study, meant relinquishing our comfortable, generic Christianity, we—like the...
View ArticleAs Annual Conference Season Comes into View…
I’ll be presenting at several annual conferences again this spring, including my own (Baltimore Washington Annual Conference). Here is a podcast they posted to get people thinking before it all...
View ArticleRaising Teens in an “Almost Christian” World
When my kids were small, the brutal murder of a family two doors down caused us to seek out a family counselor. We knew that Shannon, our two-year-old, wouldn’t remember it, but we were concerned about...
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