The 9 Best Practices for Youth Ministry
Kurt Johnston and Tim Levert
Group Publishing, 2010, 188 pp., $16.99, Group.com
Who needs another book on how to do youth ministry? When it comes to The 9 Best Practices of Youth Ministry, we all do. At first glance, the book contains topics that are similar to many other works currently emerging such as evangelism, relationships with parents and looking after oneself spiritually. What is different is that this book is well-pitched, humorous without being patronizing and is written by authors knowledgeable about youth ministry. Between them, the authors have graduate training in leadership and a Ph.D. in youth ministry, culminating in an intelligent yet highly practical book that is adaptable for ministries of any size.
This book is not a how-to on setting up a youth ministry. The authors’ suggestions for immediate application into programming, while valuable are a bit limited, as well. What this book does, however, is perhaps more important than what it is. The 9 Best Practices for Youth Ministry develops healthy leaders who consider their big-picture ministry. This book moves a youth worker beyond curriculum to looking at how to become a healthy leader and promote a culture that welcomes non-Christians and evangelizes without alienation. The principles behind this book are a welcome overhaul to modern youth ministry.
