Through their vision called the Vibrant Faith Frame, Vibrant Faith Ministries has helped congregations develop strategies to nurture Christian faith in individuals, homes, congregations, and communities for more than 15 years. In David Anderson's sequel to From the Great Omission to Vibrant Faith: The Role of the Home in Renewing the Church, he identifies what these strategies look like in a congregation. With special emphasis on Christian faith formation and community outreach, Vibrant Faith in the Congregation illustrates how congregations have successfully applied the Vibrant Faith Frame to various congregational ministries, such as evangelism, Christian education, worship and preaching, youth and family, and stewardship. An underlying theme of the book addresses the important task for the church to be missional, that is, to help people live out the gospel in word and deed in homes, congregation, community, and the larger world. 

In the face of mounting obstacles, parents and educators find themselves increasingly challenged by the task of leading people toward lives of faith. Thomas Groome has created a contemporary, holistic approach to teaching Christian beliefs and values that offers real, effective solutions for today’s parents and teachers. His guide to religious education—which aims to “bring life to Faith and Faith to life”—is a hopeful road map for reenergizing the faith community and family from the bottom up. He explores the nature and purpose of educating in Christian faith, and describes and illustrates his shared Christian praxis approach of moving from the life to faith to life. Also included are chapters on educating in faith for the life of the world, intentional Christian nurture in a secular age, and faith formation in households of faith.  

Fuller Youth Institute Executive Director Dr. Kara E. Powell and youth expert Chap Clark use research from the Fuller Youth Institute's "College Transition Project" to empower parents with positive and practical ideas to nurture within their kids a living, loving faith that lasts a lifetime. Sticky Faith delivers. Research shows that almost half of graduating high school seniors struggle deeply with their faith. Recognizing the ramifications of that statistic, the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) conducted the "College Transition Project" in an effort to identify the relationships and best practices that can set young people on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service. Based on FYI findings, this easy-to-read guide presents both a compelling rationale and a powerful strategy to show parents how to actively encourage their children's spiritual growth so that it will stick to them into adulthood and empower them to develop a living, lasting faith.

Read an introduction to the research findings, "What Makes Faith Stick During College?"

Many of the statistics you read about teenagers and faith can be alarming. Recent studies show that 40-50 percent of kids who are connected to a youth group throughout their senior year will fail to stick with their faith in college. As youth workers are pouring their time and energy into the students in their ministries, they are often left wondering if they've done enough to equip their students to carry their faith into adulthood. Fuller Youth Institute has done extensive research in the area of youth ministry and teenage development. In Sticky Faith, the team at FYI presents youth workers with both a theological/philosophical framework and practical programming ideas that develop long-term faith in teenagers. Each chapter presents a summary of FYI's quantitative and qualitative research, along with the implications of this research, including program ideas suggested and tested by youth ministries nationwide. This resource will give youth pastors what they need to help foster a faith that sticks with all the teenagers in their group long after they've left the youth room.

Read an introduction to the research findings, "What Makes Faith Stick During College?"

Distilling the research literature and translating the scientific approach into language relevant to a teacher, this book introduces seven general principles of how students learn. The authors have drawn on research from a breadth of perspectives (cognitive, developmental, and social psychology; educational research; anthropology; demographics; organizational behavior) to identify a set of key principles underlying learning, from how effective organization enhances retrieval and use of information to what impacts motivation. Integrating theory with real-classroom examples in practice, this book helps faculty to apply cognitive science advances to improve their own teaching. The seven principles include: 

1. Students' prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.
2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.
3. Students' motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.
4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned. 
5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students' learning. 
6. Students' current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning. 
7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning. 

Adolescence is a time of individuation - children are slowly finding their identity as adults, separate from their parents and other adult influences. Such a critical time of psychological development is complicated by cultural influences that shape their expectations of adulthood and color how they relate to other people and even God. The task of the youth pastor becomes to help adolescents navigate this often treacherous journey, helping young people reconcile their experience of childhood to the reality of their impending adulthood, and rooting and establishing them in a faith that can sustain them through their adult journey as well. Drawing on the insights of sociology and psychology, Jacober reveals youth ministry to be an act of practical theology, and helps youth pastors find their footing as they guide young people through adolescence.

Churches everywhere are scrambling to get linked with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But are they ready for the Digital Reformation: the dramatic global shift in the nature of faith, social consciousness and relationship that these digital social media have ushered in? Tweet If You ♥ Jesus brings the wisdom of ancient and medieval Christianity into conversation with contemporary theories of cultural change and the realities of social media, all to help churches navigate a landscape where faith, leadership and community have taken on new meanings.

Drescher explains that social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are both powerful tools for the practice of Christian faith and a great challenge to modern understandings of what it means to be a friend, a spiritual companion, or a member of a community. “What does it mean to ‘love your neighbor’ in a world in which a ‘friend’ might as easily be the kid from down the street you grew up with as a woman in Botswana whom you’ve never seen in person and only know in the context of Facebook…?” Grounded in the histories of Christianity and mass communications, Tweet If You ♥ Jesus is an accessible blend of intellectual history and case studies that will help both novices and experienced church communicators sharpen their use of social media to share resources and build Christian community. “New digital communication practices provide the opportunity to share the riches of ancient and medieval Christian traditions…while also opening our churches to the diverse spiritual perspectives of many believers and seekers…”

Too often these days, youth hear about global issues such as poverty, human trafficking, and HIV/AIDS, but they don’t get practical suggestions on how they can make a positive impact on these problems. The reality is, today’s students will be leading the way in the workforce, ministries, and education in a few short years. If they begin to understand their connection to the global community today, just imagine the way they could contribute to improving these issues in future years. What Can We Do? offers youth workers an overview of pressing global issues, along with realistic, practical ways their youth ministries can respond. By helping teens understand how their faith intersects with the struggles around the world, these youth groups can have a lasting, worldwide influence. Dave Livermore and Terry Linhart give youth workers a thoughtful, deep perspective on the pressing issues facing the world today, while also offering creative solutions for youth groups to get involved and impact the lives of people all around the world.

As the world's youth population continues to grow and interact globally in an instant through blogging, texting, and social networking, youth ministry is adapting in equal fashion. Terry Linhart and David Livermore offer advice that's substantiated by more than twenty prominent worldwide youth leaders: be prepared. Global Youth Ministry recognizes the phenomenon of global youth ministry and coordinates leading youth ministry voices in a discussion of the theological, theoretical, sociocultural, and historical issues that shape ministries around the world. Traditionally, students of international youth ministries have had to wade through a range of sources, perspectives, and agendas. This versatile book distills all that, and focuses on real-world experiences, challenges, and issues that are part of international ministries. This book is essential reading for youth ministry leaders who have a heart for missions, social awareness and spiritual empathy, and a desire to serve young people around the world.

The questions our youth have are often the same ones that perplexed the great theologians, driving them to search for God in the places God didn't appear to be--places of brokenness, suffering and confusion. What if we let these questions drive our search for God too? Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean invite you to envision youth ministries full of practical theologians, addressing the deep questions of life with a wonderfully adolescent mix of idealism, cynicism and prophetic intolerance for hypocrisy. Follow them into reflection on your own practice of theology, and learn how to share that theology through rich, compassionate conversation and purposeful experience. In Part 1 they explore theological starting points and seek to answer the question: what does youth ministry have to do with theology? In Part 2 they explore theology enacted through youth ministry practice. 

The power of a story is that it can seep into the soul or memory and transport the listener into a world where characters are palpable, settings are tangible, and experiences are brought to life, all the while arousing the energy, excitement and interest of 20,000 students at a rally, or two teenagers in a church. Finding God in the Graffiti encourages church educators and youth ministers to connect the living reality of God through the use of powerful stories and narratives that will engage the youth in their church or Christian organization. It includes a variety of innovative ways in which stories can engage youth educationally; provides a conceptual map of discipline for teaching and learning purposes; equips youth ministers to practice a repertoire of narrative methods with young people; and gives practitioners conceptual tools to reflect on their practice with insight and precision.