Australian Evangelical Perspectives on Youth Ministry offers an outstanding collection of essays that advance the theological and pastoral conversation regarding ministry to children and young people. Edited by Dr Ruth Lukabyo, who, along with most of the authors, is rooted in Sydney Anglicanism, the book aims to “stimulate readers to think more deeply about discipleship and the principles and assumptions that drive us, based on the rich treasures of God’s word” (p. xi).
This is the key contribution of the book. In a field often obsessed with praxis, this book addresses the theological, pastoral, and social foundations of ministry. It both sets the challenge and guides us in the task of seeking “clarity in our theology, working from first principles to refine and revise our ministry practices accordingly” (p. 64).
Before proceeding, it is important to address the title, which may unintentionally limit the readership of this book. The essays are not confined to youth ministry; at least three chapters specifically address ministry to children. Additionally, the Australian perspective does not imply that the book is relevant only for ministry in Australia. Instead, the Australian Evangelical approach to theology and ecclesiology informs each author’s work. Lukabyo describes this approach as “Reformed theology, biblicism, congregationalism, a commitment to evangelism, and a rigorous pragmatism” (p. xi).
Like some edited collections, the chapters may initially seem to lack a cohesive throughline. However, the arrangement into four areas wisely preserves the broad priority of theological analysis before reflecting on ministry practice. This does not mean the early chapters lack ministry insights or that the latter chapters are devoid of theology. One of the strengths of each contribution is the natural synthesis of theology and practice at every step.
“Part 1: Identity” (chs. 1–2)combines a socio-cultural analysis of the stories we use to understand young people today with a comprehensive theological treatment of human identity based on Paul’s letter to the Romans. In these chapters, Graham Stanton and Lionel Windsor encourage us to view children in the church through the Bible’s teaching on human identity set within God’s story of redemption.
“Part 2: Church” (chs. 3–6) was, for me, the heart of the book, as it encourages us to examine assumptions about what church is and what church is for. This section is underpinned by the Knox-Robinson schema of ecclesiology, which argues that church is the gathering of God’s people to hear God’s word rather than a more general term for God’s people in the world (p. 64). In chapter 4, Chase Kuhn convincingly demonstrates the biblical grounds for viewing church this way and explains the implications for discipleship in contexts that tend to be dominated by age-specific ministries. In chapter 3, Timothy Paul Jones offers a re-balance to his earlier definition of family ministry, which emphasised family as church and exhorted parents to fulfil their responsibility to disciple their children (p. 41). Here, he envisions the other side of the coin, where intergenerational connections, like those described in Titus and Ephesians, are intentionally fostered to reflect church as family, which in turn creates a powerful witness to a society characterized by segmentation (p. 60). In chapter 5, Tim Beliharz utilizes the sociology of “third place” to explain the significance of the environment of church community in faith development. Finally, in chapter 6, Mike Dicker uses the Anglican formularies to demonstrate the historic precedence in Anglicanism for children to be considered “full participants” or “full members” of the church (pp. 119–20). Much writing on children and youth ministry neglects the theological rationale for gathering; this blind spot is significantly addressed by these chapters.
“Part 3: Culture” (chs. 7–9) incisively articulates aspects of the context in which our ministry takes places and offers robust biblical correction to these influences. The section begins with a historical-social review of Sunday Schools in colonial Australia. Ruth Lukabyo’s chapter (“The Success of Colonial Sunday Schools and Their Ongoing Usefulness Today”) acknowledges problematic aspects with this approach but maintains Sunday Schools were not intended to silo churched children from adults (p. 143). They served a social need now met by schools, but through studying their history we are encouraged to reflect on the nexus of family, church, and school in the faith formation of children (p. 143). Andrew Errington’s essay (“The Joyful Task of Being Free”) exposes the hidden restrictions in applying the modern axiom that people ought to be free unless their actions threaten harm to others (p. 148). He highlights the Christian vision of freedom located solely in Jesus as not only countercultural but also “welcome” for young people who are often aware of the dangers of their own desires (p. 162). The final essay in this section, by Danielle Treweek (“The Place of Singleness in Christian Theology and Culture”), focuses on God’s purposes for singleness, an area of Christian culture that has historically conceded too much ground to secular thinking (p. 175). Given that children and youth are “single,” it is vital that their understanding of their purpose—their place in God’s community, relationships, and marriage—is not shaped by the secular story of singleness and romance but the biblical story. Treweek’s chapter faithfully and wisely lays out this story.
“Part 4: Discipleship” (chs. 10–13) begins with Vivian Cheung’s chapter (“Paul and the Gift”), which summarizes and offers critical reflections on John Barclay’s recent work on “gift” in Paul’s writings and explores its “Implications for Youth Ministry Practice” (p. 194). Her purpose is to sharpen the way we communicate God’s incongruous grace and model this in countercultural Christian communities. This is followed by Bill Salier’s essay (“Faithful Teaching About Sin in the Light of Child Development”), which encourages us to buck the trend of the therapeutic culture and address the biblical doctrine of sin (p. 205). To this end, Salier draws on both developmental psychology and theology to inform how to teach concepts of sin in age-appropriate and theologically faithful ways to children and young people. The final two essays by Timothy Escott (“The Path to Wisdom”) and Andrew Spalding (“Nothing New Under the Sun”) provide theological and pastoral principles for discipleship derived from the “tender strength” of the Ancient Wisdom found in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (p. 244). On the basis of the remarkable resonance between Qoholeth’s quest and navigating life in the post-modern age (p. 247), Spalding proposes a model of discipleship that transcends the generational and social trends that dominate youth ministry today.
There are many strengths to this collection of essays. The first is the enormous breadth of themes tackled and the depth in which they are considered. Anthropology, sin, ecclesiology, church history, singleness, developmental psychology, sociology, ethics, discipleship, and wisdom are all examined to further ministry to children and young people. A second methodological strength is the sustained engagement with other scholarly literature. The thirteen authors bring us into conversation with a diverse range of dozens of Christian thinkers from the Reformers to contemporary theologians. This approach helps to ensure the application of the book is not constrained to a particular time or cultural context and sets up the reader with next steps for deeper engagement with topics that sit beyond the scope of this book.
Another strength is the book’s focus on principles rather than advocating a specific model of ministry. Echoing comments on Ecclesiastes, the book teaches us “how to think, not what to think” (p. 263). This focus on foundational thinking enables the content to be more widely applicable. The “application of theology in each context is difficult work” (p. 83) and, perhaps not surprisingly, at times I felt some chapters could have gone further in exploring practical implications. Yet these are the very areas I need to think through in my own context.
I have served in both children’s and youth ministry and also in school chaplaincy for the past 25 years, and at each stage, I have required different resources to develop my skills and thinking. I have benefited from books on curriculum and presenting talks, ministry structures and programs, leadership, and pastoral care. This collection provides something unique. It engages with a multiplicity of disciplines while rigorously adhering to the primacy of Scripture to set the standard for theologically driven ministry practice. The scholarly nature of each essay and the focus on theology and ministry foundations tilt the book towards ministry leaders. However, all who long for children and youth to grow as mature disciples of Jesus will benefit from reading these contributions, either selectively or as a whole collection.
