Name of Resource: Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Year: 2010

Available Where: anywhere – I saw a copy at Barnes and Noble but ordered mine from Amazon ($16 right now)

 

General Description: Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton University Press, always provides a thoughtful, in-depth look at youth ministry issues. Almost Christian is no different. She digests the information gathered through the National Study of Youth and Religion (previously written about in Soul Searching by Christian Smith.) The most well-known part of the study was the conclusion that young people today follow a faith described as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” The main thrust of the book is that the fact that young people ascribe to this “faith” tells us that older generations are following, teaching, and living out this “faith” too – young people don’t just live in a vacuum that is producing this incorrect faith. Dean does a tremendous job of determining what this information means for us as youth workers and for the church as a whole. She does an excellent job of describing what is happening among young people, and the church as a whole, today, and she offers recommendations for how we can proceed from here. While Dean offers some helpful recommendations for the future, they are by no means a quick-fix, “follow this model and your ministry will be perfect” kind of solution. Rather, she offers some deep principles that we might consider as we lead young people as part of the Church.

 

Target Audience: Those of us who serve in professional youth ministry need to read this book. Dean is one of the wisest voices in our youth ministry world, and it would be a disservice not to hear what she has to say. Beyond that, I think this book would be very helpful for parents, volunteers, or other church leaders (even if they don’t work in youth ministry). Just a warning that it is pretty deep, so someone who isn’t quite as involved in the youth ministry “trenches” may have a bit of a harder time getting it… but those who commit to reading it will benefit tremendously.

 

Pros/Cons: 

 

Some positives: It’s worth purchasing this book for the first 25 pages alone. Dean synthesizes many of the ideas that are floating around among church leaders today… this first chapter is filled with my underlining and notes saying, “Like Francis Chan said in Crazy Love...” or “I just read this in Radical!” If you’re familiar with these other books, these pages are a great way to summarize them. If you are unfamiliar, then this might be a great chance to pique your interest! I can’t say enough good things about Almost Christian. I read it very quickly because I was dying to absorb as much as I could from this wise woman, and I think I am ready to read it a second time a month later! We live in a world, and a Church, that is changing fast, particularly among young people. Dean offers some great wisdom for this changing world while drawing us back to our unchanging Savior.

 

Some negatives: This book is based on a lot of sociology. There are a few points where I started to get bogged down by some unfamiliar concepts, but those sections only last a few pages, so it is worth reading past them to the end of the book. People might criticize the book for being too “cultural” and not “Scriptural,” but Dean does a great job of basing her ideas in her deep Christian faith. Obviously, Dean is not a Lutheran author, so if you are someone who finds yourself seeking only Lutheran perspectives, you might not want to choose this book.

 

Review by Kelly Sipan

Director of Christian Education

First Lutheran Church, El Cajon

 

Name of Resource: Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Year: 2010

Available Where: anywhere – I saw a copy at Barnes and Noble but ordered mine from Amazon ($16 right now)

 

General Description: Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton University Press, always provides a thoughtful, in-depth look at youth ministry issues. Almost Christian is no different. She digests the information gathered through the National Study of Youth and Religion (previously written about in Soul Searching by Christian Smith.) The most well-known part of the study was the conclusion that young people today follow a faith described as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” The main thrust of the book is that the fact that young people ascribe to this “faith” tells us that older generations are following, teaching, and living out this “faith” too – young people don’t just live in a vacuum that is producing this incorrect faith. Dean does a tremendous job of determining what this information means for us as youth workers and for the church as a whole. She does an excellent job of describing what is happening among young people, and the church as a whole, today, and she offers recommendations for how we can proceed from here. While Dean offers some helpful recommendations for the future, they are by no means a quick-fix, “follow this model and your ministry will be perfect” kind of solution. Rather, she offers some deep principles that we might consider as we lead young people as part of the Church.

 

Target Audience: Those of us who serve in professional youth ministry need to read this book. Dean is one of the wisest voices in our youth ministry world, and it would be a disservice not to hear what she has to say. Beyond that, I think this book would be very helpful for parents, volunteers, or other church leaders (even if they don’t work in youth ministry). Just a warning that it is pretty deep, so someone who isn’t quite as involved in the youth ministry “trenches” may have a bit of a harder time getting it… but those who commit to reading it will benefit tremendously.

 

Pros/Cons: 

 

Some positives: It’s worth purchasing this book for the first 25 pages alone. Dean synthesizes many of the ideas that are floating around among church leaders today… this first chapter is filled with my underlining and notes saying, “Like Francis Chan said in Crazy Love...” or “I just read this in Radical!” If you’re familiar with these other books, these pages are a great way to summarize them. If you are unfamiliar, then this might be a great chance to pique your interest! I can’t say enough good things about Almost Christian. I read it very quickly because I was dying to absorb as much as I could from this wise woman, and I think I am ready to read it a second time a month later! We live in a world, and a Church, that is changing fast, particularly among young people. Dean offers some great wisdom for this changing world while drawing us back to our unchanging Savior.

 

Some negatives: This book is based on a lot of sociology. There are a few points where I started to get bogged down by some unfamiliar concepts, but those sections only last a few pages, so it is worth reading past them to the end of the book. People might criticize the book for being too “cultural” and not “Scriptural,” but Dean does a great job of basing her ideas in her deep Christian faith. Obviously, Dean is not a Lutheran author, so if you are someone who finds yourself seeking only Lutheran perspectives, you might not want to choose this book.

 

Review by Kelly Sipan

Director of Christian Education

First Lutheran Church, El Cajon