Fractal Generations

“The theological challenge youth pose to the church is blunt: Are we who we say we are? Do we practice passion, transformed by a Love who never disappoints, and live by a faith so convincing that we stake our lives on it? Or are we just another sagging social convention, like Dracula, that needs young blood to survive?”

The first thing to say is that this book is definitely NOT a step-by-step how-to-manual for starting or leading youth groups. If that is what you are looking for I suggest you look elsewhere. The author, Kenda Creasy Dean, is profesor of youth ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. As the quote above points out, the problem that Dean sees in the church and in the practice of youth ministry these days is the lack of passion. She argues that most of our mainline churches don’t live out what it means to be passionate and we need to offer something for our adolescents who are searching for something worth dying for which would then provide them something to live for.

She argues that when the church does not practice its passion, youth take their passions somewhere else often filling the void left by being unable to live passionate lives with fleeting attraction to other causes, addictions and the like. Dean proposes that youth ministry must be grounded in young people’s participation in the practices of a passionate church.

Dean uses some colourful metaphors and lively turns of phrase throughout. I think my favorite metaphor is that of youth ministry taking place in the “shallow end of the theological swimming pool.”

Dean offers a theological prescription both for youth ministry and also for the whole church. Her thesis is that “a passionless church will never address passionate youth.” Come to think of it, one could argue that it will never address passionate adults either.

This book is well worth a read. It raises some interesting questions and challenges for what it means to be church today, as well as a much-needed critique of the practice of youth ministry.

This new book, edited by Dorothy Bass and Don Richter, was published in 2002 by Upper Room Books. 18 teens and 18 adults collaborate to write chapters about Friends, Stuff, Bodies, Food, Prayer, Music, Truth, Grieving, Creation to name a few (there are 20 different topics in the book). Rather than being a preachy book of don’ts, or offering predictable answers to predictable questions, the teens and their adult co-authors give some solid reflection and points of view on these different topics, and challenge teens with some practical suggestions to discover a “Way to Live” that brings God into all parts of their lives. Many of the adults who helped author this book are involved in youth theology programs like Ask & Imagine.

It makes a great book for youth groups, or for any teen who wants to see how their Christian faith connects to the world, and discover a “way to live” that faith. You can check out the Way to Live website for more information.

“...This book invites you into a community of people who don’t just go with the flow. This community’s image of ‘the good life’ is not about having lots of stuff or being more successful than other people. Instead, it’s about getting involved in the loving, challenging life of God.” Way to Live p 6

***This review is from the Ask & Imagine website***

Fractals: Alternative Resources for Worship in the Emerging Culture is a new alternative worship resource from Cityside Baptist Church in Auckland, NZ. According to the back cover of the CD…

“This is a resource for those wanting to pursue creative possibilities in worship. ...Fractals takes you through Cityside’s Sunday morning worship, their cycle of evening worship events and then through the Church Year as they celebrate it.”

There are literally hundreds of ideas for worship, ranging from ideas for multimedia worship experiences to simples prayers for use in every day worship. All the material comes on a single CD and can be adapted and used as needed with virtually no copyright limitations. The CD contains basically all text files, although there are some audio and graphic files. The flash interface is very nice to use as well. Although if you really want to you can skip the interface and copy the text files directly off the CD.

There is a whole lot of creativity and energy in this resource. And it is well worth the NZ$25 + postage. If you want to think creatively about worship and want to start exploring how to worship in a way that is more authentic and relevant to our culture and society, I highly recommend this particular publication.

If you have any further enquiries about Fractals or just want to get your hands on a copy, you can use this enquiry form.