My first two years...

Youth Ministry 3.0

Would I recommend this book to others?
Mm... I don't know.


So after a month of mayhem trying to get a hold of Marko’s new book I was finally able to get my hands on a copy. The local book store had it but supposedly Zondervan made them take the book off the shelf because its official release date isn’t until a later date, and a bunch of other craziness that delayed me getting it. Either way now I have it and have read it.

With much anticipation and excitement I have been left absolutely frustrated. Though I can’t pin point exactly why, it could be because it reminded me too much of being back at Eastern University in my 8:30 YMIN101 course, or it could have been that he used too many big words, or I was in a bad mood the day I read it, either way I’ll do my best too explain my thoughts.


Synopsis:
So short synopsis: Marko gives us a break down of what youth ministry has looked like in the past 50 years and takes us up to the present showing us the changes and “evolution” that has taken place. He then goes into a deeper look into where we are at now and the direction in which we need to head, which he would label as “Youth Ministry 3.0”. Incarnational ministry, passion, belonging, and simply being present are all descriptions of what Marko’s saying we need to practice in order to meet where youth ministry has currently landed itself.

Alright, I’ll cut to it, with my frustration comes much disappointment. There was nothing new, radical, or revolutionary about 3.0. Which I guess is basically saying I on the most part agreed with where Marko thinks youth ministry is and should be heading. I think there were great reminders in saying we’ve moved past the 2.0 style of programs and presenting the gospel to the students through only large group gatherings. This is a book that simply puts an emphasis on, and clarifies, where most of us youth pastors have seen youth ministries veering in the past several years. And I guess I wished there was more.

A good percentage of my frustrations come with the fact that Marko never gives us clear cut examples of what it would look like to do 3.0. In fact he says he doesn’t quite know. Though this evoked frustration from me, I think this is quite genius because it causes us to think through what it would look like for our own ministries. I think a point within this is him saying “it’ll look completely different for each ministry” and by giving us an example, is not only putting it in a box, but possibly veering towards youth ministry 2.0. Meaning he’d basically be saying “this is the lay out and how it should be done programmatically” which would have been counterintuitive to 3.0. (hope that makes sense)

Let’s end with the positives. I like that the book was hardback, I tend to destroy paperbacks no matter how careful I am with them. There was great commentary by others on the sides of each page, though it could at times be very distracting, I found it on the most part helpful and encouraging. At many times, I found myself saying “oh thank God, I’m not alone.” The most important part of this book is that it causes one to THINK what this would look like in our own ministry and leaves us with many questions. Which is now the perfect seg way to mine.


Questions:
How does one buy into incarnational ministry and yet not become the students “buddy”?