Have you noticed how passionate and articulate teenagers can be about anything except their faith?

Eavesdrop on a conversation amongst teenagers and you’ll hear them talking passionately about many things: Friends. Video Games. Relationships. Celebrities. The Environment. School (well, scratch that).

But try to engage many young people in a conversation about faith, and you may as well prepare yourself for blank stares. Read more…

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This FANTASTIC book, edited by Dorothy Bass and Don Richter, was published in 2002 by Upper Room Books.

18 teens and 18 adults collaborate to write chapters about Friends, Stuff, Bodies, Food, Prayer, Music, Truth, Grieving, Creation to name a few (there are 20 different topics in the book). Rather than being a preachy book of don’ts, or offering predictable answers to predictable questions, the teens and their adult co-authors give some solid reflection and points of view on these different topics, and challenge teens with some practical suggestions to discover a “Way to Live” that brings God into all parts of their lives. Many of the adults who helped author this book are involved in youth theology programs like Ask & Imagine.

“Way to Live” can be easily ordered through the Anglican Book Centre, or on line through www.amazon.com. It makes a great book for youth groups, or for any teen who wants to see how their Christian faith connects to the world, and discover a “way to live” that faith.

Visit the Way to Live website for more information.

“…This book invites you into a community of people who don’t just go with the flow. This community’s image of ‘the good life’ is not about having lots of stuff or being more successful than other people. Instead, it’s about getting involved in the loving, challenging life of God.” “Way to Live” p 6

How could you use this book?

• Janine in Alberta used it as the basis for a confirmation class with teens.

• Jenny in Toronto used it as a study book with a group of youth to talk about 6 different faith practices they could follow during Lent.

• The Ask & Imagine program uses the different ‘practices’ in this book as the basis for peer teaching sessions.

• Dan in British Columbia gave it to senior youth at a weekend retreat and used it for theme talks.

• A parish in Southern Ontario used it as their Sunday Morning program with 13-15 year olds, using the 140 page  Way to Live leader’s guide (download it free here) to help them plan sessions.

• Christyn gave it as a gift to each of the graduates from a youth leadership training program in her Diocese.

You can get Way to Live from the Anglican Book Centre, from Augsburg Fortress, or from Amazon.com

staff Published books Youth Ministry 'How To'

This brochure was specially produced for us for  Generation 2008 by Augsburg Fortress/Anglican Book Centre.  In case you lost or didn’t get a paper copy, here’s all the information in electronic format.

Top Resources for Youth Ministry

The choices were made, not by publishers, but by youth ministers themselves.  Almost all of these resources were recommended by Diocesan Youth Ministry staff from across Canada as their “must haves’ for youth ministry.

staff For Leaders, Liturgy and Worship, Published books

review by Michael Messenger

‘I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself… I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.’

With these words, author and campus ministry leader Donald Miller begins a meandering narrative about life, faith and meaning, chronicling through a series of essays his personal journey toward an authentic Christian spirituality…

Through careful observations that are at times hilarious and poignant, he shares his doubts, grapples with the paradoxes of Christianity and searches for joy. He explains how he came to ‘throw out Christianity and embrace Christian spirituality.’

While I was an undergraduate, Read more…

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