Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture
Jun
19
Review of Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture by Walt Mueller
By Brian Russ
Do you ever feel old? Although I just crossed the thirty yard line last summer, I sense a gap that exists between myself and the teenagers that I spend time with. I notice the gap when I attempt to text message my students and they can fire off ten text messages before I send one. I notice the gap when I mention bands like Journey or Genesis and get the “Dude, I was born in 1993” look. I also notice the gap when I see students struggling amid pressure to succeed academically, socially, and athletically, while I remember having a little more free time on my hands when I was their age.
In Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture, Walt Mueller helps people who are experiencing a culture gap with the teenagers in their churches, classrooms, neighborhoods, and homes. In a passionate, logical manner he summarizes the distinctives of today’s youth culture and then calls parents, youth workers, pastors and teachers to jump in and engage students on their turf.
Mueller encourages us to view youth ministry as a cross-cultural missionary venture. Whether you are thirty or sixty, the reality is that today’s teenagers are growing up in a culture that is vastly different than the one that you grew up in. If we want to minister to teenagers, Mueller says that we must seize the opportunity to take biblical truths and apply them specifically to the rapidly changing youth culture. In order to do so, we have to know that culture. In order to know the culture, we have to observe, listen to, and even study the culture. As we do this, we can engage the culture and take the unchanging Word of God into a rapidly changing world.
Mueller gets beneath the surface of youth culture in his excellent chapter on the postmodern worldview. We have all encountered this worldview in our lifetime, but today’s teenagers were born into a culture that breathes postmodernism. Mueller’s summary of the postmodern worldview points out several common characteristics. In the following chapter, he talks about the Millennial Generation (children born between 1982 and 2000) that is growing up in a postmodern world, and the characteristics of the generation are right in line with the characteristics of the postmodern worldview. Millennials are pluralistic, feeling-driven, suspicious of truth, media-saturated, materialistic, obsessed with appearance, crying out for redemption, and have experienced relational brokenness in their families that leaves them longing for connection. Those are just a few of the characteristics that Mueller points out, and these two chapters are extremely helpful in understanding how students tend to adopt the postmodern worldview, even if they do not know what it is.
After describing the scene of youth culture, Mueller then turns to the church and pleads for the church to engage the culture. He says that the church must set out to transform the culture, rather than conforming to it (accommodation) or running away from it (alienation). These chapters will challenge your thinking, particularly if you have sought to separate from the culture to some degree. Mueller spends time going through relevant Scripture passages on the subject, which is very helpful.
Having shown us the state of current youth culture and lovingly confronted us with the need to engage the culture, Mueller spends the last two chapters giving practical ways to effectively minister to the current generation. He points us to the life of the apostle Paul as a model and specifically applies Paul’s experience in Acts 17 to ministry in our culture. He points out the worldviews that Paul encountered in Athens that are very similar to postmodernism. He also shows us how Paul used the Athenian culture to communicate with and relate to them, all leading to his confronting their idolatry and calling them to repent and turn to the one true God. Mueller encourages us to walk through our own Athens, to study youth culture, to look for opportunities to connect with our students in the midst of their culture, and to ultimately point students who are crying out for redemption to our Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter is phenomenal, and he has an excellent list of questions to get you started in your quest to understand and engage youth culture.
Parents, youth workers, educators, and pastors need to read this book. Mueller brings a unique perspective, as he has been in the youth ministry world for quite some time and has seen his own children grow up in this culture that he studies. He has a lot of helpful illustrations and stories that will help you process all the information that he is giving you. Also, Mueller quotes many amazing authors, and you will appreciate how well researched the book is when you see the impressive bibliography.
I also encourage you to check out the website for his organization, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding: www.cpyu.org. CPYU seeks to understand culture in order to impact culture. This website has a ton of helpful articles and will be helpful as you study youth culture. Even if you are unable to read the book, you should check out the website.
May God give us grace as we seek to engage this generation with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may he use us to bring transformation to a culture that is groaning for redemption.
By Brian Russ
Do you ever feel old? Although I just crossed the thirty yard line last summer, I sense a gap that exists between myself and the teenagers that I spend time with. I notice the gap when I attempt to text message my students and they can fire off ten text messages before I send one. I notice the gap when I mention bands like Journey or Genesis and get the “Dude, I was born in 1993” look. I also notice the gap when I see students struggling amid pressure to succeed academically, socially, and athletically, while I remember having a little more free time on my hands when I was their age.
In Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture, Walt Mueller helps people who are experiencing a culture gap with the teenagers in their churches, classrooms, neighborhoods, and homes. In a passionate, logical manner he summarizes the distinctives of today’s youth culture and then calls parents, youth workers, pastors and teachers to jump in and engage students on their turf.
Mueller encourages us to view youth ministry as a cross-cultural missionary venture. Whether you are thirty or sixty, the reality is that today’s teenagers are growing up in a culture that is vastly different than the one that you grew up in. If we want to minister to teenagers, Mueller says that we must seize the opportunity to take biblical truths and apply them specifically to the rapidly changing youth culture. In order to do so, we have to know that culture. In order to know the culture, we have to observe, listen to, and even study the culture. As we do this, we can engage the culture and take the unchanging Word of God into a rapidly changing world.
Mueller gets beneath the surface of youth culture in his excellent chapter on the postmodern worldview. We have all encountered this worldview in our lifetime, but today’s teenagers were born into a culture that breathes postmodernism. Mueller’s summary of the postmodern worldview points out several common characteristics. In the following chapter, he talks about the Millennial Generation (children born between 1982 and 2000) that is growing up in a postmodern world, and the characteristics of the generation are right in line with the characteristics of the postmodern worldview. Millennials are pluralistic, feeling-driven, suspicious of truth, media-saturated, materialistic, obsessed with appearance, crying out for redemption, and have experienced relational brokenness in their families that leaves them longing for connection. Those are just a few of the characteristics that Mueller points out, and these two chapters are extremely helpful in understanding how students tend to adopt the postmodern worldview, even if they do not know what it is.
After describing the scene of youth culture, Mueller then turns to the church and pleads for the church to engage the culture. He says that the church must set out to transform the culture, rather than conforming to it (accommodation) or running away from it (alienation). These chapters will challenge your thinking, particularly if you have sought to separate from the culture to some degree. Mueller spends time going through relevant Scripture passages on the subject, which is very helpful.
Having shown us the state of current youth culture and lovingly confronted us with the need to engage the culture, Mueller spends the last two chapters giving practical ways to effectively minister to the current generation. He points us to the life of the apostle Paul as a model and specifically applies Paul’s experience in Acts 17 to ministry in our culture. He points out the worldviews that Paul encountered in Athens that are very similar to postmodernism. He also shows us how Paul used the Athenian culture to communicate with and relate to them, all leading to his confronting their idolatry and calling them to repent and turn to the one true God. Mueller encourages us to walk through our own Athens, to study youth culture, to look for opportunities to connect with our students in the midst of their culture, and to ultimately point students who are crying out for redemption to our Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter is phenomenal, and he has an excellent list of questions to get you started in your quest to understand and engage youth culture.
Parents, youth workers, educators, and pastors need to read this book. Mueller brings a unique perspective, as he has been in the youth ministry world for quite some time and has seen his own children grow up in this culture that he studies. He has a lot of helpful illustrations and stories that will help you process all the information that he is giving you. Also, Mueller quotes many amazing authors, and you will appreciate how well researched the book is when you see the impressive bibliography.
I also encourage you to check out the website for his organization, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding: www.cpyu.org. CPYU seeks to understand culture in order to impact culture. This website has a ton of helpful articles and will be helpful as you study youth culture. Even if you are unable to read the book, you should check out the website.
May God give us grace as we seek to engage this generation with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may he use us to bring transformation to a culture that is groaning for redemption.