We made it!
We made it through the whole book. I have to admit, there was some skimming involved in this book. I feel that the book has certainly brought up some interesting statistics, questions, and possible solutions. I remember at the beginning of the book people posting about being frustrated or offended by the questions he posed or statements he made. As I previously posted, I feel he was very deliberate. He wanted to push you hard enough to ask yourself the needed introspective questions. Would I have done this the way he did, no, but I'm sure we have differing personalities. It was effective enough to get done what he set out to do from the beginning. I feel he wanted us to take a very hard look at how we feel/view Youth Ministry and things related to it. I really try to objectively look at myself when posed with a question. I am more inclined to do this with at the scientific training I received in college. I feel that is truly a great benefit from college and schooling. I feel lots of people have not got this idea down solid, although they attest to SCIENCE being the answer. I, however, was exposed to tons of junk in college that was discussed at length in the book.
I had talked to most people who are posting their book reviews and it seemed that the overall consensus was the book was getting pretty repetitive. I think it was Annette who said something like "I was waiting for......". She was waiting for the author to give this final analysis or conclusion that never seemed to come. Either way, it was a good book in that we read lots of statistics and concepts that challenged us to re-think our views on a lot of things. I knew things were not so great in the United States but I didn't realize it was so bad in Europe. I really liked that he included lots of questionnaires and such. It was good to see the statistics and the more subjective questions with the statistics of how many people felt that way.
He talked a lot about appologetics, which is absolutely needed with this generation versus the last few generations. We definitely need to give an intelligent answer for the hope that is within us. I'm sure everyone will agree that knowledge itself is not enough, we must have knowledge and action. I believe it was socrates that believed with more knowledge we were more virtuous or more good but we know better as christians (with any amount of experience or honesty with ourselves). Just because we know what is right, that doesn't mean we will do it. Paul talked about his struggles with this concept. He knew what was right but he did what was wrong.
All in all, I believe the biggest thing I can take away from this book is the idea that change in okay in church. I knew this was the case but didn't realize how extensive my preferences were. Annette said we have talked about this during Worship practices. We talked about the changes with the summer experiment. I know the book talked about it not being sinful to not have sunday school. I was challenged and still am to be sure my choices in how I exercise my faith is based on exact biblical scripture or personal preference. I know it isn't wrong to follow preference but when that keeps you from spiritual growth of self and the body I believe it can be.
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