LeavenVolume 10Issue 1 Youth Ministry Article 10

1-1-2002

The Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, Doug FieldsEleanor A. Daniel

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Recommended CitationDaniel, Eleanor A. (2002) "The Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, Doug Fields," Leaven: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 10.Available at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol10/iss1/10

~~BOOk Reviews~~ ::c

-p-:..---- MARKUS H. McDoWELL AND ELEANOR DANIEL, EDITORS

The Purpose-Driven Youth MinistryBy Doug FieldsGrand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. 395 pages.

The author of The Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry,Doug Fields, is the youth minister at SaddlebackCommunity Church in Southern California, a modelchurch for many seeking to grow a megachurch.Fields is an experienced youth minister of morethan twenty years and also is an instructor for YouthSpecialties. His experience lends credibility to hematerial presented in his book

The book is an obvious playoff the title ThePurpose-Driven Church written by his pastor, RickWarren. But that in no way detracts from the valueof the book.

Fields contends that youth ministry must be builton nine components-the power of God, purpose,the potential audience, programs, process, plannedvalues, parents, participating leaders, and persever-ance. The nine components form the outline for thebook. Each is developed with one or more chapters.

The book contains many useful anecdotes set offfrom the main text. For example, he says, "Copyingsomeone else's program always led to failure," "Iwas spending all my time doing the work of Godwithout being a person of God," and "God doesn'tneed a program in order to work. He doesn't evenneed me." Each chapter closes with a section entitled"Making It Personal," followed by questions for dis-cussion.

Fields insists that effective, biblical youth pro-grams must be driven by five external purposes-evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, andministry-and that these be balanced in any congre-gation. For many youth workers, this section alonemakes the book worth reading.

Field's analysis of audience is also helpful.Building on the paradigm in The Purpose DriveChurch, he points out that in any youth ministrythere are five different groups. The communityconsists of those who could be reached, but arenot a part of the ministry. The crowd is made upof those who are involved in the program, but withlittle commitment beyond attendance one hour aweek. The congregation is made up of those whoare involved in fellowship activities, more involvedthan the crowd, but less involved than the next twogroups. The committed are those who are seriousabout discipleship and are growing in their relation-ship with God. The core consists of those involvedin ministry. The groups described proceed from thelargest numbers to the smallest.

Programming must be carefully selected to reachthose for whom a particular program is intended.In Fields' opinion, every church should program toreach each group.

The chief limitation of the book is that it assumesthat youth programming is somehow outside thecommunity of faith. Beyond his chapters on theparental component of youth ministry, he spendslittle or no time describing how young people area part of the entire community of faith and how toaccomplish good intergenerational communicationby which the faith can be communicated from onegeneration to another.

Overall, however, I recommend this book as agood read with helpful resources for churches insearch of a biblical paradigm for youth ministry.

ELEANOR A. DANIELDr. Daniel is Dean and Dorothy Keister WalkerProfessor of Christian Education at Emmanuel Schoolof Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee.

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Developmental Assets: A Synthesisof the Scientific Research onAdolescent DevelopmentBy Peter C. Scales and Nancy LeffertMinneapolis: Search Institute, 1999.282 pages.

In the forward to Developmental Assets: ASynthesis of the Scientific Research on AdolescentDevelopment, the writers explain,

It is not news that the youth of America facechallenges to their health and positive develop-ment that are unique for this century.... Manypeople act as if there is little that can be done toaddress the problems.... The news is not thatyouth have problems, nor that the problems canbe addressed by prevention programs, albeitwith often less-than-desired or unsustainedeffects. Rather, Scales and Leffert present uswith a different conception of American youthand their development, one that merges anunderstanding of the basic processes involvedin adaptive (i.e., positive, healthy) developmentwith a clear action agenda, with "applications"involving community-based strategies and theengagement of public policy. (x)

The book is a compendium of research aboutadolescent development organized in a way to dem-onstrate the Search Institute's determination of theexternal and internal assets that allow healthy devel-opment of teenagers. It begins with an introductionfollowed by two major parts: four chapters dealingwith research related to the external assets and fourchapters relating to the internal assets. The workconcludes with a postscript entitled "Lesson fromthe Research." Each of the 8 main chapters is filledwith reviews of research studies in adolescent devel-opment.

The list of research reviewed is extremely impres-sive. Forty pages at the end of the book present the1200 studies examined and cited. A few of these datepack to the 1970s or 1980s, if they are especiallyrelevant; however, the bulk of the studies cited werecompleted in the 1990s, making this work very rel-evant. The book is an outstanding tool for any inter-ested in youth ministry and youth development.

The authors conclude with their findings about thethemes discovered in the literature and how those

themes relate to what the Search Institute is doing.They draw eight conclusions.

• The asset framework is a solidly supportedway of communicating essential features ofhealthy development during adolescence.

• Some categories of assets, as well as individualassets, have a stronger research base than oth-ers. The research is particularly confirming ofthe power of support, boundaries and expecta-tions, constructive use of time, and commit-ment to learning. There is limited research onthe effects of the empowerment assets.

• Although it is quite comprehensive, the frame-work of the 40 assets does not capture every-thing young people need.

• The assets are interdependent.• The asset framework raises numerous critical

questions about adolescent development thatremain to be addressed by researchers.

• The assets are important for all youth, but thelevels and patterns of assets that work forindividual youth in different contexts seem tovary--e.g., among African American youth,urban contexts, and middle school transition.

• Building developmental assets is only partof what communities need to do to ensurehealthy development for all adolescents.

• Supportive and caring relationships are morefundamental than programs to the process ofenhancing or building assets.

These conclusions have significant implicationsfor community leaders, families, and churches.Additionally, they suggest that researchers need tocontinue to extend their research into new areas thatrelate to adolescents.

Though some questions are left unanswered by thebook-and one can hope those will continue to beaddressed in the future-we can conclude with theauthor:

In the final analysis, we can say with agreat deal of confidence that the assets workto reduce young people's risks and promotetheir well-being, but a vast uncharted territoryremains to be explored to learn precisely howthe assets help youth achieve those develop-

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mental goals. Focusing on developmentalassets clearly puts all of us on the right path-asresearchers, policy makers, funders, communityleaders, and those who work with youth andtheir families-but our journey has just begun.

ELEANOR A. DANIELDr. Daniel is Dean and Dorothy Keister WalkerProfessor of Christian Education at Emmanuel Schoolof Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee.

A Fragile Foundation: The Stateof Developmental Assets AmongAmerican YouthBy Peter L. Benson, Peter C. Scales, Nancy Leffert, andEugene C. RoehlkepartainMinneapolis: The Search Institute, 1999. 185 pages.

A Fragile Foundation contains the report of thefindings of the Search Institute's extensive researchinto the developmental assets and deficits of adoles-cents in the United States. Complete with charts andstatistics reporting the findings, it provides a helpfulanalysis of the status of adolescents in our country.

The book begins by stating:

In recent years, the United States has engagedin much collective hand-wringing about prob-lems and challenges facing young people. Oneopinion poll after another shows that youth-related issues top people's lists of concernsand priorities. People consistently ask politi-cians and other leaders to improve education;reduce youth violence; prevent young peoplefrom using alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs;or declare "war" on some other youth-relatedproblem.

While most people agree that somethinghas gone wrong, there is much less agreementabout how to make more things go right. Yet,a growing number of experts and leaders inyouth development, education, prevention,juvenile justice, public health, and other fieldsare calling for a new focus on building a solidfoundation that can help young people cope andthrive." (v)

The Search Institute concludes that everyoneplays a part in contributing to the current situation.Additionally, everyone can playa part in correctingthe problems of our youth.

The report is organized into five chapters. The firstprovides a background about assets and the people

surveyed. Chapter 2 focuses on the experiences ofyoung people in regard to developmental assetswhile chapter 3 examines the deficits. Chapter 4then builds links between the developmental assetsand deficits and risky behavior. The final chapterpulls everything together and gives suggestions forapproaches to youth programming and relationships,using the information gained in the study.

The Search Institute identified 40 of what they call"assets." These are of two kinds of assets-inter-nal and external. External assets include support,empowerment, boundaries and expectations, andconstructive use of time; while internal assets consistof commitment to learning, positive values, socialcompetencies, and positive identity. Data was gath-ered from 99,462 teenagers in grades six throughtwelve. These teens came from 212 communitieswithin 25 of the United States. This sample is but apart of the more than 500,000 young people of thesame age in more than 600 communities who havebeen surveyed in the past decade. About 3 out of 5(63%) young people have 20 or fewer of these assetsin their lives; only 3 of 10 had more than 30.

This study showed the clear link between deficitsand at-risk behaviors. For example, two-thirds ofthose with fewer than 10 assets were problem alco-hol users while only one-tenth of those with 31-40assets were. Though the percentages differed some-what from one at-risk behavior to another, moreassets always predicted a far less likelihood of at-risk behavior-alcohol abuse, drug use, tobacco use,illicit sex, etc. With every increment of 10 assets,percentages of at-risk behavior declined, usually by10-15%.

The final chapter asks, "What is preventing usfrom strengthening the foundation?" The answer:

• Adult silence about boundaries, values, andexpectations.

• Fragmentation of and competition among manysocializing systems for teens.

• Age segregation and the general disintegrationof the public from building meaningful con-nections with youth.

• High levels of parental absence in the lives ofchildren.

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• Isolation of people of all ages within neighbor-hoods.

• Overexposure to the mass media without criti-cal examination of its messages and images.

• Barriers to healthy development such as pov-erty, lack of access to programs and services,and families without the skills to nurture andsupport their children.

• Adult fear of involvement and a sense thatyouth are someone else's responsibility.

• Schools, religious institutions, and other youth-serving organizations that are not equippedto be sources of support, caring, and positivechallenge.

The authors insist that the problems can beovercome with a concentrated effort by all thoseinvolved in the lives of youth-parents, schools,churches, and communities.

This book is absolutely essential for every personinvolved with youth. Reading it and heeding it couldwell make the difference in our communities andchurches.

ELEANOR A. DANIELDr. Daniel is Dean and Dorothy Keister WalkerProfessor of Christian Education at Emmanuel Schoolof Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee

After Paul Left Corinth: TheInfluence of Secular Ethics andSocial ChangeBy Bruce W WinterGrand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. 344 pages.

In the introduction to this fascinating multidisci-plinary study, Bruce Winter explains, "The aim ofthis book has been to gather for the first time allrelevant extant material about life in the first centuryin the Roman colony of Corinth from literary, non-literary, and archaeological sources. This has beendone in order to understand what happened to itsChristian community after Paul left Corinth, for theorigin of many of the problems Paul dealt with in 1Corinthians can be traced to culturally determinedresponses to aspects of life in Corinth."

Readers today may be tempted to ask, "Why didPaul not deal with some or all of these problemswhile he was there initially?" Winter's thesis isthat "Paul did not deal with many of the problemsreflected in I Corinthians because either they hadnot arisen during his time in Corinth, or they haddone so in a way different from that in which theywere now encountering them."

In chapter I, "The Enigma and the Cultural Settingof 1 Corinthians," Winter reviews archaeological,numismatic, epigraphic, literary, and non-literaryevidence that demonstrate that the dominant culturaland social ethos that influenced the world of theChristian community in Corinth was Roman. Thisfact has not always been sufficiently appreciated.

As the subtitle suggests, the book falls into twomajor sections. Part I (chapters 2-9) focuses on theinfluence of secular ethics on the Corinthians. PartII (chapters 10-13) examines the social changes thatinfluenced the Corinthian Christians after Paul left.

In chapter 2, Winter examines the nature of theteacher/disciple relationship in secular education.The zealous loyalty of pupils typically involvedpromoting the merits of their teacher and criticizingthe deficiencies of rivals. This sheds much light onthe strife and rivalry that Paul tries to counter in 1Corinthians 1-4.

Chapter 3 sets forth how Roman criminal lawgenerally dealt with instances of adultery and incestwithout leniency. Winter suggests that the CorinthianChristians may have hesitated to condemn the youngman mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5 because they tookpride in his high social status.

In chapter 4, Winter explains how Roman civil lawfavored those of a higher status, so that Paul wasjustified in calling Roman judges or juries "unjust"(6: 1). Winter also suggests that rival Christian lead-ers in Corinth were using the civil courts to pursuepetty personal grievances against their rivals, as wascommon among their pagan neighbors.

Chapter 5 presents evidence that some elitedefended their hedonistic lifestyle on the basis ofPlatonic teaching on the immortality of the soul.Since physical senses were given for pleasures andwere useless after death, why should anyone foregosuch pleasures in this life? Winter proposes that

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some Corinthian Christians held similar views (evi-denced by Paul's quotation, "All things are permit-ted") and so engaged in excessive eating and drink-ing and sexual immorality at dinner parties withtheir neighbors.

In chapter 6, Winter explains that it was menof high status who covered their heads with theirtogas while praying or sacrificing in pagan cults.Accordingly, men in the Corinthian church whoprayed or prophesied with heads covered likelywanted to call attention to their own status.Similarly, wives who prayed or prophesied withouta veil, the sign of marital status, looked like theindependent, promiscuous "new wives" of the earlyRoman empire. Winter also suggests in this chapterthat the angeloi in 11:10 were "messengers" sent byinquisitive outsiders to gather information about theChristians' meeting.

Chapter 7 argues that at the Lord's Supper, someCorinthians were following the dinner "etiquette"of their secular companions. The social "haves"devoured their own meal and got drunk, while thehungry low-class "have-nots" were left looking onas slaves did at private dinners.

Chapter 8 proposes that some CorinthianChristians invoked the name of Jesus in cursingtheir adversaries (12:3), just as they had previouslyinvoked pagan gods.

In chapter 9, Winter suggests that the house ofStephanas, unlike others in the Corinthian church,had transformed conventional patronage by servingthe needs of the saints rather than their own personalambitions.

In chapters 10 and 11, Winter argues that the"present distress" mentioned in 7:26 is a grain short-age in the region and related social unrest. Wintersuggests that some Christian married couples, takingthis famine as a sign of the beginning of eschatologi-cal birth pangs, were considering sexual abstinenceas a means of avoiding pregnancy during this time ofcrisis. The situation also prompted engaged couplesto consider whether they should marry as planned.

Chapter 12 discusses the shifting of the IsthmianGames from Corinth to nearby Isthmia and the intro-duction of a new federal imperial cult in the regioncentered in Corinth. The privileged elite of Corinth

were invited to dine at banquets connected with theIsthmian games and imperial cult. Winter suggeststhat such dining rights were the rights claimed bythe "strong" in 1 Corinthians 8.

In the final chapter, Winter suggests that Paul'sinstruction that the Corinthians eat whatever meatwas sold in the marketplace (l0:25) may indicatethat kosher meat was no longer being made availablethere for the Jewish community, as was apparentlydone in major cities in the empire.

After Paul Left Corinth is not an exposition of ICorinthians, nor does it explore how Paul arguedhis response to the situation. Winter plans to writea sequel in which he will examine the role of Paul'stheological background and the nature of his rhe-torical arguments in responding to the problems inCorinth. Winter notes that space limitations pro-hibited him from interacting extensively with NewTestament scholarship on 1 Corinthians.

This groundbreaking study will provide studentsof 1 Corinthians with many new insights and muchfood for thought. The book also prompts preachersand teachers in the church to reflect on the influenceof secular ethics and social change on Christianstoday.

KEN L. BERRYMr. Berry is a translation consultant with World BibleTranslation Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

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