Kenda Creasy Dean et. al: What Teenagers Are Teaching the Church About Joy

Delighted: What Teenagers Are Teaching the Church About Joy
(Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2020)

WHO: Youth experts Kenda Creasy Dean, Wesley W. Ellis, Justin Forbes and Abigail Visco Rusert

THEY SAY: “What does it mean to do youth ministry, not in order to achieve or create joy, but because of joy?”

THE BIG IDEA: Grounding youth in joy models a way forward for the church.

THE PROGRESSION:
The authors tackle three dimensions of passion, acute during adolescence, that seem basic to joy: the adolescent need for fidelity, transcendence and intimacy. Also examined are three practices that allow God to make room in young people’s hearts: friendship, celebration and confession.

“Practices do exist that help young people allow God to peel off their dragon scales—but they are not necessarily the practices that make youth leaders most comfortable.”

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Kenda Creasy Dean, Wesley W. Ellis Justin Forbes & Abigail Visco Rusert
Kenda Creasy Dean, Wesley W. Ellis Justin Forbes & Abigail Visco Rusert

Kenda Creasy Dean is an ordained United Methodist pastor and the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the author of numerous books on faith and young people, including Almost Christian (Oxford University Press) and Practicing Passion (Eerdmans).

Wesley W. Ellis is a veteran youth worker and the associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Toms River, New Jersey

Justin Forbes spent 10 years in youth ministry working for Young Life in Florida and is now the director of the Youth Ministry Program at Flagler College.

Abigail Visco Rusert is the director of the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.