Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts
Thom S. Rainer and Sam Rainer III
B&H Publishing Group, 2008, 272 pp., $19.99, www.bhpublishinggroup.com
“(More than) two-thirds of young church-going adults in America drop out of church between the ages of 18 and 22!”
You work so hard as a youth leader to introduce teens to Christ and His church, but how do we keep them connected? The research of the father-son Rainer team explores the dropout trend in the church and the top 10 reasons people leave. As a follow-up to their book Simple Church, the Rainers discuss their findings and offer suggestions on becoming an essential church, not only to re-church those who left but eliminate dropout in the first place by applying the principles of Simplify, Deepen, Expect and Multiply.
I found the book to be redundant, and much of the information could be found in the introduction and final application chapters. While you may not need to read it cover to cover, Essential Church serves as a reference tool and reminder of how we can structure an experience for youth to make church a vital part of their lives.
